ExxonMobil reviews

The demoralizing effect of the forced ranking system. Only 10 - 20% of the managers over the course of my career have expressed a genuine interest in employee development. For the other 80 - 90%, I have encountered everything from indifference around employee development, an unwillingness to share important performance results (like a drop in ranking without an explanation other than "tough rank list"), and a punitive approach to frank discussions on managing business risks. For individuals that drop in the annual ranking, it can take years for an employee to find out about the drop. Meanwhile the behaviors that supposedly facilitated the drop cannot be corrected, and employee frustration builds following the reduced frequency and magnitude of salary treatments.

At ExxonMobil, pretty much everyone thinks they're going to be the next CEO, but I guess that's to be expected at place where they recruit with that in mind. This gives way to a terribly homogeneous workforce (even if there is diversity of race and gender - see Advice to Management). In a culture where everyone wants to lead, collaboration suffers, innovation lacks and progress is inhibited. The rating & ranking process is shrouded so it's hard to get a good understanding of what's really valued and what is not. Some managers are fairly open about the process, while most are tight lipped. No surprise, then, that this leads to misinformation, speculation and confusion.