Dari rig zones.
Sedikit hiburan di situasi yang agak tidak tenang ini.....
"They are especially keen to hang
on to engineers and geologists, who were in short supply during the
boom years."
Lam-salam
O'
Oil Industry Strives to Limit Its Layoffs
NEW YORK (Dow Jones Newswires), March 9, 2009
As oil companies cut costs amid slumping energy prices, they are
determined not to repeat the mistakes of the 1980s oil bust, when mass
layoffs left the industry ill-prepared for the eventual rebound.
The lack of a clear consensus on how long the slump will last has
presented the industry with a difficult choice. Companies can lay off
workers and risk being understaffed
if prices recover quickly, or bear the cost of employing more workers
than needed during what could be a prolonged period of slow activity
and lower revenues. A few of the largest oil companies, such as Exxon
Mobil Corp. and Chevron Corp., have large cash reserves after years of
high oil prices, but most smaller companies spent heavily during the
boom years and are now scrambling to cut back.
Some companies have announced layoffs. Houston-based oil major
ConocoPhillips last week began laying off more than 1,000 employees in
Alaska and elsewhere. Schlumberger Ltd., the world's largest
oilfield-services company by revenue and market value, is laying off
about 5,000 employees world-wide, about 6% of its work force, while
Halliburton Co. is cutting an unspecified number of jobs.
But so far companies have avoided the mass layoffs seen in the
1980s, when a glut of oil drove prices below $12 a barrel and tens of
thousands of workers lost their jobs. They are especially keen to hang
on to engineers and geologists, who were in short supply during the
boom years.
Exxon Mobil and Chevron continue to move mammoth projects forward.
"What you're hearing is caution, and some effort to be optimistic,"
said Diana Hoover, an employment lawyer with Houston-based law firm
Mayer Brown, who has oil-industry clients.
The 1980s energy bust decimated the industry's work force, leaving
companies without the experience and expertise they needed when prices
rose and work picked up again.
Most of the layoff victims left the business for good, while the
industry's boom-bust reputation scared away potential recruits. The
result: a "lost generation" of oil workers whose absence has been felt
well into the 21st century.
"It really came back to bite them," said Abby Foster, a human-resources
consultant with Deloitte Consulting.
Industry executives say they have learned their lesson. Lawrence
Pope, executive vice president for administration at Halliburton, said
when recruitment and retraining costs are taken into account, layoffs
can actually prove more costly than retaining workers.
"Our driving focus here will be to work hard to try to minimize the
personnel reductions, as opposed to past practice when that was almost
the first thing we did," he said.
Schlumberger Chief Executive Andrew Gould said his company is
willing to make sacrifices in order to hold on to valued workers.
"We're happy to lower prices, but we want to keep our people busy
because we don't want to lose them," Mr. Gould said.
Ms. Hoover, the employment lawyer, said some companies are still
quietly making cuts. "The vast majority [of energy companies] are going
through restructurings even though they may not be as public about
them," she said.
Companies see the slowdown as an opportunity to cut low-performing
workers, Alex Preston, president of The Energists, a Houston
headhunting firm, said.
But companies said they are reluctant to stop hiring altogether. Mr.
Gould said Schlumberger is working to maintain its contacts on
university campuses even as it hires fewer graduates.
"You talk to faculty all the way through the downturn. They
understand economics, but what they hate is when you come to campus,
you do a big song and dance, you hire a bunch of people and then you
disappear for five years," Mr. Gould said.
John Richels, president of Devon Energy Corp., said the company is
maintaining the internship program it developed to recruit new
engineers and geologists.
