What is interesting to me is that from reading and asking around, Shell seems to be the first big energy company that is going this route. ExxonMobil, BP, etc have not done IT outsourcing in a big way and are probably looking at Shell to see how good/bad this turns out to be.

IT is huge in oil and gas, no question about it. From trading to exploration to downstream. Screwing up is not an option, Shell already has problems recently in Sakhalin, Nigeria and with their reserves. I'm sure this outsourcing thing is going to be looked at very carefully.

Still, there's no way to know how it'll be on the individual level.

Not to discourage you or anything but I asked a friend who's part of the project team in Shell. Their project team there has pretty high standards, the entry level is the infrastructure consultant I believe and that requires > 10 years working experience.

Someone correct me if I'm wrong

Outsourcing is a worry for people in general because there is the a possibility that they would

- lose jobs
- lose money
- lose benefits
- get more work

I've never been outsourced before, my experience is from the Motorola/Freescale staff who were. Since the typical contracts don't state numbers of people etc. and instead concentrate on SLAs (eg. 4-hour response time for any urgent incidents), the outsourced company will have leeway in deciding whether they need 10 people or 100 people to do the job.

Let's say they do hire the 100 people, then decided that over time Shell isn't calling enough to justify 100 people, instead of firing those 100 people, they just dump EDS or BP or whatever else workload on that group instead.

And you're absolutely wrong, CSA is a subsidiary of CSC which is a global Fortune 500 company with stocks trading in the NYSE. They are very active in outsourcing, along with the Indian giants Wipro and Tata Consultancy. Good luck


This post has been edited by tishaban: Apr 5 2007, 10:25 AM

They only give 5% off Shell minyak when you're a Shell staff? That's only like RM25-30 savings per month for me. I thought it'd be more....

Damn kedekut these oil & gas companies. Shell profit for 2006 was > US$25 billion. Exxon Mobil profit for 2006 was > US$30+ billion....

5% and 3% discount je? meh....

What about those people who have been stating that the make 15k or 20k or whatever per month working on oil platforms abroad and stuff? Do they still get the same increment? Although I suppose many people here wouldn't mind a 3% increment on a 20k salary

Interesting stuff so far. I've gotten an offer from SITI as well but not from CTS.

Haha, BMW Malaysia has an offer now, only RM 2600+ monthly for a BMW 320! That is if you can afford the RM 25k downpayment and ~RM7k annual insurance

I doubt that Shell HR reads LYN and they definitely can't respond officially here. Why not contact them directly and ask?

Haha and the lady has a PhD!

My informal phone interview was about one hour. Actual interview was longer.

I had two formal face to face interviews, in addition to the phone interview. Basically technical & process in the first interview and HR stuff in the second.

What I have heard is outsourcing is 90% confirmed.

But I agree with dino, if you're good and have real skills, don't worry about outsourcing. 70% higher pay is a large chunk to save, you could still live the life you have now and have a big chunk of money at the end of the year

Only the Shell HR can answer your questions properly but what I have heard is any permanent employee will be compensated with 2 years salary if you're let go during the outsourcing. Also I doubt that they will relocate SITI anywhere within the 1st year of outsourcing, far too many changes at the same time.

Yes, the possibility of redundancy is there, but it's minimal. The idea is to minimize the changes during the transition so that there is as little disruption to business as possible. Also I do have to admit that the overall HR there is very much *unlike* any other company, they actually do tell you everything they know. Sorry, I can't disclose a whole lot more on a public forum Good luck in your decision making.

The previous limit was RM200k per person per year for medical benefits. I'd be happy if they matched that and gave me a bigger paycheck.

Giving up transport allowance for loan benefits (if that's what you mean) doesn't make any sense if you actually calculate the cash equivalent. Even if you took the full loan allowance at BLR + 0.5%, you're getting barely 70% of the cash equivalent. On top of that, you get your allowance immediately but you can only start doing the loan after a certain period of time with the company. Problem is, a whole lot of people out there seem to think that the loan benefits are a good thing. Weird I tell you...

Haha I thought you rejected the offer

Yes medical coverage is unlimited for all Shell permanent employees for everyone in your immediate family. No panel clinics whatsoever, but they do limit the hospitals to the big name hospitals only. Of course you pray to god that you never get to test that "unlimited" figure ever....

Also don't worry too much since outsourcing is 90% certain. If you go for an interview for a permanent position HR will tell you that figure.

You're missing out so much excitement in your life by not joining

---

Added on September 16, 2007, 10:20 pmvvv, there hasn't been an SRD since at least the beginning of 2007 if I recall correctly. I don't know why but I suspect one of the main reasons is the outsourcing...


This post has been edited by tishaban: Sep 16 2007, 10:20 PM

The hospital list is the "big name hospitals" eg. all the KPJ hospitals, Sunway, Pantai etc. if you need major or specialist treatment. You cannot go to small hospitals eg. pretty much all the PUSRAWI's out there since they don't meet Shell's "high" standards for safety. Unlimited literally means unlimited, they will send you overseas if treatment is not available in Malaysia. If it's just fever, cough, cold, go anywhere you need.

I suggest you call up HR and ask them to walk you through the exact benefits you get depending on the department you join and your level. There is a whole lot of stuff there that is based on those particulars.


This post has been edited by tishaban: Sep 17 2007, 01:56 AM

1. Can't say, depends a lot on your experience and how much they want you and how well you did in that interview. If I were to guess it'll be 5+k after allowances.

2. No it's not good

3. Outsourcing will start in mid 2008

4. Yes

5. Outstation folks get to stay at a hotel for 3 weeks while they look for a place to stay in KL. I think it's at Cyberview Lodge. Not sure if it applies for everyone though.

Shell has been interesting so far. The benefits that Shell employees get that people don't usually talk about are:

- if a public holiday falls on Saturday, it's replaced by that Friday instead. 2007 was a bumper year with I think 4 public holidays falling on a Saturday which means 4 long weekends!

- personal development is very much emphasized. You can arrange with your boss to have half a day each week for online training. People can just do online training and get certified, all on company time and money, without getting bonded. It should be related to your job of course. If you're in the leadership track then you get even more attention.

- health & safety are emphasized significantly, to the point where if I stop at a zebra crossing and a car stops to let me pass, I'm 95% sure that the driver works in Shell I'm happy to see that Malaysians can be as good as the Europeans safety wise when their work environment is conducive.

- many teams are truly global teams, there is a fair number of foreigners and a fair number of Malaysians going for short/long term assignments overseas as well. If you're good you'll get the chance to go somewhere.

However there are things I don't like as well...

- people are just not very competitive. They're too laid back, the side effect of being in a rich company.

- promotions are still somewhat age related, it seems as if you need to be a certain age before you can be promoted to a certain level. Sometimes this can be only in name eg. you can be just an analyst and still make RM15k per month or more.

Just my own gripes with Shell