LyondellBasell Reviews

Pros

Autonomous with a flexible work schedule

Cons

No recgonition, poor management decisions, promotions based on show versus substance

Advice to Senior Management

Stop punishing those who are willing to share bad news and offer suggestions for improvement.

Pros

The people and the experience of working for a big company. For engineers there is definitely problems to go after and solve.

Cons

Moral is at an all time low. The CEO continues to beat down on it's employees. Management doesn't focus on the right things.

Advice to Senior Management

Get a strategy to keep people in the company, right now it's like they could care less about people leaving.

Pros

Company has stabilized financially. There are decent advancement opportunities, although not as many as there once was.

Cons

The company's senior management tries to rule by fear. They do not reward high performers adequately. There is continuous pressure to perform at a high level, but there does not seem to be any incentive to do so. Company seems to use the buddy system for promotion of people, especially those who personally know the Manufacturing VP. The company is changing, trying to adopt a culture like a larger company, but it doesn't match that with larger companies' pay.

Advice to Senior Management

Treat your employees with respect. Reward good performance with good pay and bonuses. Stop playing buddy politics by only promoting and hiring outsiders from ChevronPhillips or those who have worked at the Clinton site.

Pros

If you enjoy working in confined quarters where everyone can hear your thoughts, or in a sweat factory for uneducated and unskilled Managers, this is the place for you.

Cons

Departments are understaffed and employees over-worked. There is no work-life balance. Positions and promotions are still given via the Good ol' boy network. It is not what you know, but who you know.

Advice to Senior Management

LYB is the epitome of "Who Moved My Cheese" in reverse. Many individual contributors have done nothing more than lay back and get fat off this company as members of the Good ol' boy network.

Pros

Decent pay compared similar industry

Cons

Micro managed and very little HR concern for operations employees

Pros

Good people with a lot of talent working there. Colleagues are willing to share knowledge and help each other. Nice location downtown Houston with easy access to parking and to the Shops at the Park. Lots of places to find solace during a break. Very nice amenities (ex, break rooms, rest rooms). Successful turnaround from bankruptcy and positive response from Wall Street.

Cons

Senior management of some organizations is completely lacking in true leadership skills (other than technical competence). Complete disregard for employee feelings/opinions. Very inadequate communications regarding expecations and performance. People feel stressed, wondering day-to-day if their job will be eliminated. I would describe certain senior managers as just plan mean, cold and uncaring. Firing people at whim, never mind telling responsible managers to "have fun" when firing someone is uncalled for. Extremely long hours with very little appreciation shown. Very political environment; senior management is under dictatorship from the CEO and most run scared of him. Focus on making money is important for any company, however doing so at the expense of employee morale at any level is unacceptable.

Advice to Senior Management

Give honest feedback to employees, even if it's a tough message. Everyone needs a course correction now and then but do so showing the employees a little dignity and respect. You would likely learn a lot if you put in place a program to have an objective third party contact prior employees 3 months after they have terminated for their anonymous opinions and constructive criticism, and use that information to take a good look at what will turn employee attitude and respect for management around Putting complete focus on enhancing the bottom line rather than the work environment may put money in the bank in the short-term, however will be a self-destruct strategy in the long-term.

Pros

The pay is good.
Lyondell is a great name to have on a Resume.
EHS commitment

Cons

Autocratic leadership. Gallogly likes to play the heavy and is always right, just ask him. Better yet, tell him that there may be other issues may need to be considered.

If you are a workaholic it is a great place to be. If you want to be respected and have any kind of work / life balance this is not the place. The philosophy is to grind you up and spit you out.

I never realized how bad it is at LyondellBasell until I went somewhere else.

Advice to Senior Management

There is no point. Your favorite dictator is more likely to listen to advice.

Pros

Great team atmosphere (we are in this mess together..so let's help each other mentality)
Very competent direct colleages (although leaving company in increasing pace)
Great business to be in
Above average compensation

Cons

Company morale is vey low and overall atmosphere is negative
CEO an sr management are destroying the company
CEO has only read '80 management books and uses that stile. Rule by fear and gap closures....
Employees and management are scared of the CEO and therefore controproductive and commercially wrong decisions are taking.
Employees in the company have given up and stopped caring.
Company changes benefits one sided. Jobs are relocated and employees have to apply on their own jobs which in the meantime have been downgraded to a lower compensation level.
This company and especially the CEO/senior management behaves very unethical.
No trust anymore in employees from senior management.
No rsspect for employees and customers from sr management. They only care about their own compensation and how good they are in cutting cost.

Advice to Senior Management

Please find the time to read a management book or two which has been written in the past 10 years.
Showing off that you work 18 hours a day and never see your family is not a positive thing to be proud of, it's really sad.
Recognize it's not you making this company excel but the employees. With the current disconnect between sr management and employees we are only riding the wave in the industry. That is why we did well so far, not because of you.
Morale doesn't start within the employees themselves Jim. You might have read this in one of your management books from the '80 but it is incorrect. Morale starts with hope, a vision on a more positive future, and then the little rhings like recognition and compensation. Don't cut cost for the sake of it as people don't understand it when the company is making billion profits each quarter and you are waliking away with millions and millions a year. Here is the disconnect.

Pros

The people at the site are really good to work with. Unfortunately the general feeling is, "We're all getting shafted from above, so let's at least get through this together."

Cons

Salary, especially those lower in the tech ladder levels, is very poor. Rule by fear is generally how employees are managed.

Advice to Senior Management

Any advice here would fall on deaf ears. The only way this company is going to improve it's standing with employees is if the CEO leaves along with his entire staff.

Pros

It is interesting and challenging to work in a truly international company with different cultures and colleagues from around the world.

Cons

The company culture has changed significantly to the negative side since the new CEO and subsequently lots of his "buddies" came on board. I guess everyone in the company understands that costs need to be cut, that's not so much the issue. What is really frustrating is this double-face game they play. They pretend to be such a caring organization, they talk about ethics, and at the same time they couldn't care less... it's all on posters, videos, everywhere, but it's not honest! They talk about cultural diversity while they are not even willing to acknowledge that there is any other culture than the U.S. culture. Employees who have made serious contributions over years - often decades - are laid off over night, ironically most of the times the ones that were willing to speak up and provide their own view - not wanted anymore. We are told on posters to "act like entrepreneurs", in fact we are micro-managed and controlled as if we were criminals who are only looking after their own benefit. I sometimes wonder how we could become that global leader we were (yes, already before!) if we all were so stupid and selfish. Talent and knowledge are not respected, everyone is told that there is a young person waiting around the corner to take this job.

Advice to Senior Management

Show some respect, show some confidence and trust in the employees that have helped make this company so successful. And not only on posters! If you say it, live it! Acknowledge that the world is more than just the United States of America, and people, business, markets are different - yes, they are! At least TRY to understand that. Investors are surely important for our company but keep in mind that we should not forget about our CUSTOMERS!