Exxon has plans to reduce its office employee count in the United States by between 5 and 10 percent over the next three to five years, Bloomberg has reported, citing unnamed source familiar with the matter.
According to them, the culling will be based on the company's performance evaluation system that should identify the weakest links in the workforce.
According to a spokesperson, however, who commented on the report to Bloomberg, the plan is unrelated to Exxon's job cut plans and is part of regular annual performance reviews.
The Bloomberg report is almost identical to another one from June last year. That report also cited unnamed sources who said the number of employees let go in 2020 would be between 5 and 10 percent of the supermajor's U.S. office staff.
Later in the pandemic year, in October, Exxon confirmed the report, saying it would let go 1,900 employees, most of them at its management offices in Houston, through voluntary and involuntary layoffs.
"These actions will improve the company's long-term cost competitiveness and ensure the company manages through the current unprecedented market conditions. The impact of COVID-19 on the demand for ExxonMobil's products has increased the urgency of the ongoing efficiency work," the company said at the time.
Also in October, Exxon said it would lay off some 1,600 people from its European workforce.
"Proposed changes are subject to local information and consultation processes as applicable in each country and result from insight gained through reorganizations and work-process changes made over the past several years to improve efficiency and reduce costs," Exxon said in a statement.
In addition to the job cuts, Exxon has substantially reduced its presence in Europe, selling all its operations in Norway and putting up for sale stakes in 15 North Sea fields.
By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com
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Irina is a writer for Oilprice.com with over a decade of experience writing on the oil and gas industry. More