Pros
- Pay and Benefits On-Par. While not the best or highest, it's fair pay. Raises, Bonuses, and Performance Management is opaque without much insight into decisions. - Development opportunites for young engineers is excellent. The program is well-defined and supported. Significant responsibilities from the outset provide visibility and experience. - Operational Excellence is solid. The safety portion is ingrained in the company culture. There is clear expectations and understanding around safe work practices.
Cons
- Work/Life Balance is poor. Plant personnel recieve 9-80 scheduling, but frequently were not allowed to take the day. On-call and overtime scheduling was frequent and excessive. It causes employee burnout and mistakes. - Engineering bench-strength is poor and weakening. Experienced engineers are not cultivated or supported the way college new-hires are. Industry in general has an issue with the 'age-gap' in engineering, but Lyondell has done little do retain experienced talent. -Operate too lean. The above two issues could be rectified by increasing staffing levels. By operating too lean long-term, it stifles movement, promotes 'silos' of talent, and increases burnout. - Low/MId-Level Management manage from fear. Managment is afraid to delay projects or run over budgets to execute the project correctly. As a result, improper engineering design is allowed to propagate and causes long-term issues.