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Occidental Petroleum

Is this your company?

The worst company I have ever known of - Anonymous employee Occidental Petroleum Employee Review

1.0
Mar 29, 2020
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Absolutely nothing positive about Oxy.

Cons

Upper management are some of the most worthless and worst decision makers in all of history. The Anadarko deal was an atrocious and dismal decision which absolutely ruined the company, and ruined many of the employees through layoffs and many more to come in the future, along with compensation cuts for all employees. The entire company is extremely silo'd. The right hand never knows what the left hand is doing. So much wasted work is performed because of this. Despicable business practices are common place. Numerous cases of harassment and discrimination have been raised to HR, but they sweep everything under the rug and still allow those practices to continue, and completely support those managers and executives. There is absolutely no trust by executive and upper management for the employees. Oxy was one of the last companies to institute work from home due to the Coronavirus, because they could not trust their employees, and they didn't care if their lives were on the line. As another example, simple low cost workovers had to to all be approved by the CEO, even before the Saudi and Russia market share war led to a drop in prices, because executive management does not trust employees to do their jobs. It is a completely micro-management culture, with most managers and executives dictating exactly how work should be performed. They want trained monkeys, and not independent thinkers. There is no accountability, even from the top. Executive management blames everything on external factors, not learning from their mistakes. As an example, executive management blames the downfall of the company on the Opec+ price war and the coronavirus, not once recognizing that they made one of the worst decisions in history with the Anadarko purchase (which was ridiculed throughout the industry even at the time). Another case in point is that when they made 30% salary cuts across the corporation, the CEO couldn't even be bothered to make the announcement, but she put it on one of her subordinates to deliver the message. Another case in point, is that when dealing with Icahn in determining control of the corporation, the CEO only cared about saving her job, and made a deal with the devil in order to do so. She also instituted a poison pill against investors from buying a large number of shares in the company, because she wanted to retain as much control as possible. The pay, benefits, and working environment are worse than most companies. Therefore, the quality of employees at Oxy are much less than at other Oil & Gas companies I have encountered. Also, many of the best left with the voluntary separation package, leaving behind a ton of dead weight. There is a ton of backstabbing throughout the company, especially against the talented and the innovators. Oxy is more interested in having individuals who tow the line and do exactly what they are told by incompetent upper management. Worst company I've ever known of or worked at, and I have worked at many throughout my long career. STAY AWAY!!!

Explore other reviews about Occidental Petroleum

5.0
Jun 9, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Great culture and environment. Work life balance is great.

Cons

The Pay could be better.

1.0
Jun 4, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Good pay and good bonuses. Nothing else worth mentioning of any positive value.

Cons

At Carlsbad, NM operations 98% of professionally credentialed management and supervision have quit or been fired. The remaining management and supervision hold at best a high school diploma, and half of these people are functional alcoholics. Exceptionally poor design and execution of facilities with multiple facilities burned to the ground each quarter. Additionally, there is zero training and zero development for employees. If you're expecting quality employment with professionals this isn't the company, look elsewhere. Generally speaking OXY management, supervision, and employees hold exceptional poor ethics and morals with non-stop lying from employees, refusal to participate, and supervision lacking base knowledge. Since they've hired 99% uneducated and unskilled individuals the company culture has taken a nose dive for the worse, with expectation of several hundred additional employees quitting. Each year about half the operations group employees quit, it's literally a revolving door.

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