Good Pay, Great Technical Personnel, Poor Management - Refining Engineer ExxonMobil Employee Review

3.0
26 Dec 2009
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

-Intellectually challenging - constantly changing environment means new and interesting problems to solve -Nice balance between white- & blue-collar workers - can have a stimulating technical discussion with an engineer in the hallway and relax with a down-to-earth operator in the field -Great technical support structure via central ExxonMobil Research & Engineering division -Rotates personnel often (18mo - 2 yrs) so you can experience a variety of jobs; can also be a drawback, see cons -Good cash compensation, but benefits lag; see cons -Large global presence creates the possibility for travel

Cons

-Closed-door ranking and rating system whereby employee is forcibly ranked top-to-bottom by a group of supervisors and represented solely by one's own supervisor. Problematic because the employee's success depends on his/her supervisor's ability/willingness to represent the employee and also on the opinion of other supervisors who are likely not familiar with the employee's work. -Many managers are "yes" men/women who are unwilling to take personal ownership or risk to protect his/her employee from low-value work -Managers stay in position for a short period of time before being rotated elsewhere, so decisions are very short-sighted. There is no incentive for managers to take a risk on long-term changes that would benefit the site -High-stress environment, long-hours, poor morale -Benefits lag; no bonuses, healthcare premiums are higher than other companies

Explore other reviews about ExxonMobil

5.0
15 Mar 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Great people and culture - Everyone is nice and wants to do good work.

Cons

Lots of security and locked down tech and hard to find what's available.

2.0
30 May 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Good pay and a pension

Cons

Everything else. Benefits are lackluster, Flex Your Day policies are elusive. The company changes everything all the time so that a large portion of your time is spent finding new links to things on the portal, figuring out who to contact in various departments and in what country just to get a simple answer to a question. No one stays in the same role long enough to get good at their job. Morale is terrible.

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