Devon Energy Employee Reviews about "oil and gas"

Pros

Great Benefits, Work Environment, and Culture

Cons

Ups and down of oil and gas

Pros

Great building, good benefits (except insurance), good mix of smart folks, lots of community involvement. Continuing education opportunities are there, and the company supports industry events.

Cons

Inept leadership, refusal to focus on what actually matters (I.e. selling oil and gas), micromanaging, and lack of clear plan.

Advice to Management

Trust your technical team, focus on what matters, be transparent, and quit the “good old boy” nonsense.

Pros

good employee support and benefits

Cons

cyclical oil and gas markets

Pros

Family atmosphere and great teamwork all across the board.

Cons

Industry is oil and gas so there will be ups and downs.

Pros

The Records Management department instilled a lot of trust and independence in the position over time. It began with thorough training/shadowing to become familiar with the ins and outs of oil and gas records management, and ultimately turned into allowing me to be very independent once they saw what kind of work I could produce. The pay was generous, and they allowed me to work part-time during the school year (in... addition to full-time summers) while most interns only are allowed to work summers. They also always made it clear that school came before work, and I respected that very much because they were always understanding and flexible with my schedule. Lastly, I was never "pigeon-holed", I was exposed to various aspects within the department so it kept things interesting. I was also offered benefits after being there awhile, which was very nice for being an intern.

Cons

Honestly, there weren't many major downsides that I can think of. The supervisors and employees within the department were all very nice and helpful. A significant downturn in the oil industry led to a round of layoffs, so unfortunately I was not able to secure employment in the long-term, but the company can not be blamed. It happened at a lot of firms, not just Devon. I wish management was a little more... straight-forward about the layoff situation rather than keep things vague, but other than that it was a wonderful experience that I thoroughly enjoyed.

Advice to Management

There is not much advice for me to give. Management was very competent and I appreciated that they respected my work and gave me a lot of responsibility.

Pros

Great pay and benefits, lots of great people working with you and willing to help you out. The corporate office works 9X10's (off every other Friday), and the field offices wear jeans most days.

Cons

Oil and Gas isn't as stable as other industries, and Management in the corporate office has a hard time understand what the field actually does and what it takes to do the job. Chances for advancement aren't good unless you are in the corporate office.

Advice to Management

Take some time to go to the field offices and find out the key roles of what each department does, including administrative, accounting and assistant foreman.

Pros

Continuous great place to work, good salaries, flexible work schedule, on premise workout center, Doctor and cleaners. Great food court and near brick town.

Cons

Oil and gas business with recent RIF

Pros

Great company to work for when Oil and Gas is strong. Attracts excellent employees. Provides reasonable pay and good benefits. Tries to reward excellence. Pushes all to "do the right thing" at all levels... at least until they're losing money. Would recommend to others once oil and gas rebounds... just be ready for the cyclical cuts within the industry likely every few years.

Cons

Major layoffs have been enacted due to present poor commodity environment. More layoffs likely to come if prices remain low. Company is very reactionary to changes in market. Can be very hard to integrate into the team as support and training is not fully developed for the non-professional positions. Knowing the right people can be more important than work and dedication at times.

Advice to Management

Would have been better to take into account the glut of oil reserves in the market and started trimming excess costs and drilling earlier. Continually dropping the oil deck pricing only after the bottom has been passed (and continuing to increase oil production rates) wasn't going to stop the fall without outside market changes.