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    HomeBusinessExxon employees are quitting in droves over company's strict culture, report says 

    Exxon employees are quitting in droves over company’s strict culture, report says 

    Exxon Mobil is experiencing its highest employee attrition in decades, with disgruntled workers complaining of a strict, fear-based company culture, according to a new report.

    In the past two years, even as Exxon reaped record profits, it has lost 12,000 employees globally, less than half of whom were laid off, according to a lengthy report in Bloomberg Businessweek on Thursday.

    Citing interviews with more than 40 current and former Exxon employees, the report detailed how many bristled at a culture they describe as stagnant and overbearing.

    In one instance, at a virtual town hall last year, Exxon’s global IT vice president Bill Keillor reportedly exploded when workers peppered him with tough questions about compensation and remote working policies in a rare show of defiance.

    Keillor snapped and said that anyone who wanted to be a ‘hotshot’ should go work for Amazon, adding ‘good luck to you,’ people in attendance recalled.

    Exxon disputed the article’s characterization of its corporate culture as untrue, with a spokeswoman saying that isolated incidents had been blown out of proportion.

    Exxon Mobil is experiencing its highest employee attrition in decades, with disgruntled workers complaining of a strict, fear-based company culture

    Exxon's global IT vice president Bill Keillor reportedly exploded when workers peppered him with tough questions about compensation and remote working policies

    Exxon’s global IT vice president Bill Keillor reportedly exploded when workers peppered him with tough questions about compensation and remote working policies

    ‘Like nearly every company, attrition increased in the last two years, but we don’t see that as a long-term trend,’ Exxon said in a statement. 

    ‘Importantly, we are seeing good results when hiring top talent for roles throughout the company, at entry-level and for senior executive positions,’ the company said. 

    A titan in the oil industry with a 140-year history, Exxon does have a reputation for old-school corporate management practices that can seem out of step with the time. 

    Acronyms and jargon are ubiquitous, and to rise through the ranks, employees must operate under a strict hierarchy with stringent rules, according to Bloomberg.

    One such rule requires workers to hold the handrail at all times on staircases. While it was written primarily with oil rigs and refining plants in mind, the rule is strictly enforced, even in corporate offices. 

    The exterior of the ExxonMobil Houston campus is seen above. Workers at the office are required to hold handrails on stairs, though the rule was intended primarily for oil rigs

    The exterior of the ExxonMobil Houston campus is seen above. Workers at the office are required to hold handrails on stairs, though the rule was intended primarily for oil rigs

    The sun sets on an ExxonMobil natural gas rig in the Gulf of Mexico in a file photo

    The sun sets on an ExxonMobil natural gas rig in the Gulf of Mexico in a file photo

    Dar-Lon Chang, a mechanical engineer who left the company in 2019 after nearly two decades, told the magazine: ‘Upper management doesn’t like to hear bad news, so to stay at Exxon long term, you have to drink the Kool-Aid.’ 

    ‘This doesn’t sit well with younger people and especially those concerned about the climate crisis,’ said Chang, who said that when he joined Exxon in 2003, he believed it would play a key role in shifting the world away from fossil fuels.

    Instead, Chang said he was disappointed, alleging the company repeatedly rejected potential investments in renewables over profitability concerns.

    Another incident troubled some Exxon employees of color, when the company issued an edict in April 2020 banning ‘external position flags’ from its main corporate flagpoles, such as Gay Pride and Black Lives Matter.

    Former Exxon worker Dar-Lon Chang (above) said: 'Upper management doesn't like to hear bad news, so to stay at Exxon long term, you have to drink the Kool-Aid'

    Former Exxon worker Dar-Lon Chang (above) said: ‘Upper management doesn’t like to hear bad news, so to stay at Exxon long term, you have to drink the Kool-Aid’

    Because the rainbow Pride flag had flown on the same poles a year earlier, some black employees were outraged, suspecting the policy targeted the BLM flag specifically.

    Exxon insisted in a statement that diversity is ’embedded in our core values.’ 

    ‘The idea that ExxonMobil’s culture is what these employees say it is doesn’t hold water for two reasons: how many people join this company each year and how long people stay,’ a company spokeswoman said. 

    ‘No culture is perfect and it’s far too easy to take a few data points and paint with a broad brush, but that doesn’t produce an accurate portrait.’ 

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