LyondellBasell reviews

3.6

67% would recommend to a friend

(1,110 total reviews)
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Peter Vanacker

60% approve of CEO

51% positive business outlook

LyondellBasell has an employee rating of 3.6 out of 5 stars, based on 1,110 company reviews on Glassdoor which indicates that most employees have a good working experience there. The LyondellBasell employee rating is in line with the average (within 1 standard deviation) for employers within the Manufacturing industry (3.5 stars).

Reviews by job title

1K reviews
1.0
Sep 5, 2012
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

History of good technology, great diversity, opportunity for growth and movement.

Cons

The worst problem used to be dealing with the bureacracy common to larger corporations but when the economic hit of 2008 after a leveraged buyout at a premium price put them in chapter 11 the management hired to bring them out has become the greatest threat to the long-term viability of the company (and certainly a short-term bane to anyone still employed there). There is little ability for or focus on building or innovation, but instead increasing profits by operational discipline as close to the point of starvation as possible. Margins increase. Special dividends are paid out. Share prices go up. Large share holders of the short term investor/stock option insider variety are thrilled but the company is being sucked dry of talent, energy and drive to succeed. Unfortunately the company is less and less staffed by people who love what they do and problems such as safety issues, poor stability of processes, flagging customer focus, loss of flexibility and creativity are an ever increasing threat. This takes time to work start showing up in lost contracts and flagging revenue, however. If this direction is not changed before too much downward momentum develops, eventually this will leave a dry husk of a company and a poorly served market as the legacy of current management (though the blame could be laid at the feet of their successors if the helm is changed too late but before bottom is hit). There is much talk about rewarding performance but staff is continually cut, R&D spending slashed, benefits culled, and morale plummets internally while the company is currently more profitable than ever. To management "performance" means buying stock and getting your reward as a dividend not working towards ensuring the company maintains leadership in the industry.

1.0
Aug 26, 2012

Terrible Experience

Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

it was work and kept me employed

Cons

lack of information sharing, lack of clear/concise direction, distinct difference in approach to managing internal and external resource which led to lack of integration of external resources, lack of direction on approved project work.

2.0
Aug 20, 2012
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Multiple large sites in the Houston area Good positions in the chemical markets Flexible Refinery that can run a wide range of crude slates Opportunities for young engineers to get a lot of experience The company will be able to coast on the legacy of Lyondell's Reliability Culture for another few years before the losses in experienced engineers are truly felt.

Cons

The Pre-Bankruptcy Lyondell culture was focused on Reliability via excellent technical personnel The Lyondellbasell culture is all about cost control; employees cost and spend money so they must be controlled It used to be a company philosophy to have excellent 20+ year Engineers to provide technical continuity and mentor the next generation but that has been effectively eliminated since the Basell merger. After about 10 years there is little to no hope for promotion on the technical track and with the stated goal of paying 50% of market reference for compensation no real reason to stay. Promotion onto the management track is largely by the buddy system emphasizing buddies from outside the current company talent pool. The drain of technical talent over the last 2 years has left few mentors and even those that are left have very little time to actually teach. Management philosophy and the major losses of technical talent has made for a non-existent work-life balance for the remaining technical personnel. An upper manager bragged that they have not been on vacation with their family in 20 years and a different senior leader stated that they had been at work while a spouse went through cancer treatments showing. That is attitude of upper management towards work-life balance and they expect that from their employees.

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