Cenovus Reviews

Former Employee – worked at Cenovus as a contractor for less than a year

Pros – Flexible work hours, every other Friday off, overall satisfied workforce, free drinks in kitchens, nice offices, strong corporate culture, lots of opportunity for training, most of the workforce have been there a long time

Cons – Lots of staff on contract for years, seems to be nepotism, oil and gas industry can be unstable at times

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend – I'm optimistic about the outlook for this company

Current Employee – been working at Cenovus as an intern for less than a year

Pros – People were amazing and the pay was good

Cons – None that I know of

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend – I'm optimistic about the outlook for this company

Current Employee – been working at Cenovus full-time for more than 10 years

Pros – A good place to work, many nice people

Cons – Overemphasize social/networking. Downplay qualifications, skills, education.

Advice to Senior Management – Be consistent with promotion policy

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend – I'm optimistic about the outlook for this company

Current Employee – been working at Cenovus full-time for more than a year

Pros – good money, lots of vacation, good camp. the company really seems to care about their employees.

Cons – management is a little behind the times and engineering is clueless at best. there is a definate bias toward employees who have relatives that work/worked there.

Advice to Senior Management – remember that quality is more important than quanitity when it comes to employees at head office

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend – I'm optimistic about the outlook for this company

Current Employee – been working at Cenovus as a contractor for more than a year

Pros – Good envioronment, nice people. Some interesting projects. Depending on project you might be colocated with your teamates which is a huge plus. Showers at some of the facilities so you have a place to clean up after a lunch workout.

Cons – Innefective, disconected upper management; lack of focus and direction in IT projects; outdated software development patterns and practices.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

Current Employee – been working at Cenovus full-time for more than a year

Pros – - take really good care of employees
- depending on your role and department, lots of opportunity for advancement and career development
- perhaps one of the best O&G majors to work for in Calgary
- excellent employee benefits and competitive salarys
- consultants can convert to employees

Cons – - has taken to an outsourced model for a lot of corporate services
- lots of contractors in roles that could be filled by employee as consultant rotation is fairly high
- IT employees are pretty few - stay away from that department as there is little employee
opportunity
- high consultant to employee ratio often means you end up teaching consultants how to do the job that is required often.
- some consultants are impacting ability of employees to be efficient

Advice to Senior Management – - ensure all teams have good succession planning
- younger staff (if they don't feel there is a succession plan for them), will jump ship too easy if they are not mentored and coached in their career.
- reduce the # of consultants in the services teams. you may be able to have far fewer consultants compared to employees and reduce operating costs
- did I mention to reduce the # of consultants?
- reduce your campus size to increase span of control and increase cross-department engagement.
- develop some real GOALS for your management team. I.e. I want you to reduce your operating costs by 5% and then ask the staff how to save that costs.
- not a lot of strategy or direction (i.e. NAV is nice as a target, but were is the strategy - targets to meet that NAV and the goals to show our accomplishments and milestones?)
- don't be scared to challenge the status quo. because it's working, and you've done it that way since ENCANA days, is it the right way to do it?
- embrace technology to increase your competitive advantage to your peers. You are a O&G technology company - you could no longer call yourself just an O&G cause your tech is where we shine - extraction tech, drilling tech, information tech, and people tech all define Cenovus. Cenovus could be a O&G Tech company. The oil we get is a by-product of our tech.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend – I'm optimistic about the outlook for this company

Current Employee – been working at Cenovus full-time for more than 3 years

Pros – Great place to work and learn

Cons – None that i can think of

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend – I'm optimistic about the outlook for this company

Former Employee – worked at Cenovus as an intern for less than a year

Pros – Safe place to work. You will learn lots of stuff

Cons – cant remember or nothing to complain

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend – I'm optimistic about the outlook for this company

Current Employee – been working at Cenovus full-time for more than a year

Pros – Great people and a good organizational culture.

Cons – Education and background is not always recognized. Great people, however the business processes were weak. Transparency and good cost processes need improvement.

Advice to Senior Management – Stop going with the flow and remember this is a business.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

Former Employee – worked at Cenovus as a contractor for less than a year

Pros – I entered the environment with much hope, expectation, and excitement. The culture at first appeared to be easy going, and the atmosphere was friendly...on the surface. People were cordial and helpful.

Cons – As a contractor I was let go for asking a question to which they thought I should know the answer. I felt as though there was a negative undercurrent in the office that caused much fear in the staff.

Very low tolerance of people, and poorly managed department. Projects never seemed to have an end in sight, and leadership was lacking. Perhaps this is the reason why so many people in IT are leaving, or have left.

Advice to Senior Management – Value the people who have offered their services to Cenovus. Judge less through credentialism, and more through the person's abilities and experience.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend