Pros
Multiple large sites in the Houston area Good positions in the chemical markets Flexible Refinery that can run a wide range of crude slates Opportunities for young engineers to get a lot of experience The company will be able to coast on the legacy of Lyondell's Reliability Culture for another few years before the losses in experienced engineers are truly felt.
Cons
The Pre-Bankruptcy Lyondell culture was focused on Reliability via excellent technical personnel The Lyondellbasell culture is all about cost control; employees cost and spend money so they must be controlled It used to be a company philosophy to have excellent 20+ year Engineers to provide technical continuity and mentor the next generation but that has been effectively eliminated since the Basell merger. After about 10 years there is little to no hope for promotion on the technical track and with the stated goal of paying 50% of market reference for compensation no real reason to stay. Promotion onto the management track is largely by the buddy system emphasizing buddies from outside the current company talent pool. The drain of technical talent over the last 2 years has left few mentors and even those that are left have very little time to actually teach. Management philosophy and the major losses of technical talent has made for a non-existent work-life balance for the remaining technical personnel. An upper manager bragged that they have not been on vacation with their family in 20 years and a different senior leader stated that they had been at work while a spouse went through cancer treatments showing. That is attitude of upper management towards work-life balance and they expect that from their employees.
