Imperial Oil reviews

Overly process-driven dinosaur company with no ability to change its course. Its a very old company, and so you can expect the worst in terms of corporate hierarchy, politics, risk-avoiding culture, and its prehistoric employee ranking system. There is a huge population of baby boomers that refuses to retire - this has proven to be a big problem for the company. First, it prevents young people from moving up. Second, many of the boomers looking to retire take their technical knowledge with them in hopes of being hired back as consultants in retirement. If you are looking to move up in the company, prepare to relocate to several remote locations where the company operates its assets - this is a big part of "putting in your time" for a successful career. Overall, the lack of transparency regarding your career and the political games that take place in middle and upper management make it a miserable place to work. This place just can't compete in 2016. Avoid at all costs.

Horrible safety track record - sweep things under the rug to look good on paper. Bad corporate culture - dreadful coming into work, with no organization or direction from managers and HR. No corporate or team events. Managers tend to not show up for meetings, and are not available for a 5 minute chat. Opportunity “ceiling” - can only move up so far into the company ranks as an Imperial Oil employee. Any management positions above middle management are filled by ExxonMobil personnel. Racism - I have experienced persistent racism throughout my 12 year career with this company, with HR unwilling to take any action. Pressure - constant pressure from business teams to complete projects under budget, leading to safety, environmental and reliability concerns which cost more in the long term. Environmental track record - environmental initiatives are only undertaken if they will appear in the public eye, if not, the company turns a blind eye to environmental concerns. Ranking system - Imperial loves to judge your performance by assigning a number to you. You are judged compared to your team members. This leads to internal issues within the team as you are constantly competing with one another. Everyone on the team is assigned a number, which determines your eligibility for salary increases or promotions. Politics - the CEO consistently bashes on various political parties, blaming them for the bad times that Imperial is going through. Promised that a new SAGD project, Aspen, would come online if there was a political party change in Alberta, as there would be lower risk in proceeding to execution (persuading us to vote for his political party of choice). The results end up in his favour, yet the project is still suspended. CEO and upper management - Upper management appear to act as “elites” other than the upstream SVP John Whelan. There have been multiple instances where employee questions in forums were laughed at or turned into a joke. When the CEO was asked to join in on some of the diversity group activities, he walked past without replying or acknowledging the individual. All in all, I have worked for many companies throughout my 40 year career in the Canadian Oil and Gas industry, and Imperial would definitely be ranked the worst. Looking forward to retiring next year, and moving away from this completely mismanaged and racist company. Would recommend any experienced personnel or new graduates to stay away from this company.