It is hard to provide precise feedback on a 90,000 employee corporation. I have seen employees who have absolutely loved their groups, but also employees who have absolutely disliked their groups. Everything ultimately comes down to the group you work. I didn't want to leave Shell, but I had no choice. I became jaded, lost motivation, so I had to try my luck elsewhere. I am much happier now.
Shell is enormous. You often go missing, and don't understand what value you add to the company. It has so many complex bureaucratic processes that make it somewhat inflexible and inefficient. While you can always change groups or projects in theory, it is practically impossible to change groups until you finish your four years assignment. Even after you finish a four year assignment, there is no guarantee to find a new role.
Younger engineers are frequently treated like high school students and are not given enough freedom to use their creativity. The claim is employees can create their own career path, but in reality, it comes down to what your discipline wants. If you are not hired in a discipline you desire, it is extremely difficult (almost impossible) to change disciplines.
Higher level management are excellent, but the intermediate management are mediocre. Just because someone has a PhD or has been around for 25 years doesn't make him/her a good team lead. I came across very brilliant technical people who were total failures as managers. Unfortunately, there are many of them at Shell. The last thing you want is a technical manager with no people, organizational, or management skills. It RUINS your life.
There are too many unnecessary practices at Shell. You often spend more time focusing on these unnecessary practices than focusing on work.
Shell claims to be the most innovative company. They may be the leading company in deep water exploration, but the term "selective innovation" would fit them better. The IT infrastructure is appalling. They still use the slow Internet Explore, older versions of Microsoft Office, poor expense statement portal, etc. There are times that you spend days and weeks for an IT problem to get fixed.
Safety is important at Shell. However, I always got the impression that there was a greater focus on carrying a hot cup of coffee with a lid than process safety. It gets annoying after few months when they treat adults like kindergarten students over little safety issues such as coffee, how to warm up food in the microwave, etc. I picked up an injury in my hand because of poor office ergonomics. Which one is more important, office ergonomics or carrying a hot cup of coffee with a lid? Some perspectives needs to be added.
Shell also makes you believe that they are the only company taking safety seriously where in fact many of the safety policies they practice are common industry practices.
Shell has become famous in industry for over-promising and under-delivering. I was with Shell from 2008 to 2015. Only one time a project met its deadlines and was under-budget. Projects often go over-budget with a huge margin. Something doesn't seem right when a company continuously goes over-budget and can't meet its deadline.
Shell isn't the most competitive company in terms of salary and benefits. HR acknowledges it, and they openly say that they are not planning to be the most competitive company. I received a considerable raise after I changed companies.
The gap between HR and employees is large, and people always complain about it. HR often provides little to no help to employees. Many “lessons learned” meetings are scheduled, but no follow up action is taken on them. This is a very common practice at Shell.
Stay away from P&T unless you are well established in your role and have at least 10 years industry/ Shell experience. Shell P&T charges sites to do projects for them. See Shell P&T as an internal consulting company. The fact that Shell charges Shell makes no sense. Not only they charge sites, but the rates are outrageously high. Shell P&T claims that by charging sites, they keep the cash flow within the company. Sites claim they don’t care who they pay as long as they can get what they want at a lower rate. Third party contractors normally get the job done a lot less expensive than Shell P&T. This situation creates negative chemistry between Shell P&T and sites. Of course, managers in Shell P&T don’t see the tension because they don’t go to sites, but employees feel it on daily basis. If you work in Shell P&T, you constantly need to keep your eyes open for new projects because you don’t want to be in a situation that you charge overhead when your projects get cancelled. So not only you need to perform your daily projects but also need to be a good sales person to sell yourself to a group and keep your eyes open for other projects. This situation will easily distract people from their day to day job duties.
