When the music stopped, the glitter settled and the lights came on. - Project Engineer bp Employee Review

3.0
25 Dec 2016
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Great pay and benifits. Very collaborative, diverse and inclusive environment. Lots of smart people. Good work-life balance. Fairly easy to move to other parts of the company.

Cons

Nearly all researchers across the company were laid off in 2015. This is the second time the company has taken such a U-turn on R&D. After a decade of frivolous spending on renewable energy, the company abandoned the effort completely. There is a top-down change in strategy every few years which leads to a lot of wasted effort. The company has a serious identity crisis. In the past the company could tolerate this waste and a huge overhead because of low oil prices and few competitors. Today the national oil companies (e.g. Aramco, Petrobras) and smaller leaner companies are pretty much up to speed on oil exploration and refining. Without research and development, BP has very little to bring to the table going forward. The layoffs have also created an hourglass demography with a lot of well-connected old men and some new graduates, but very few experienced young people. With such a demographic there is very little organic change and continuous improvement - which may explain why there is a top-down reorg every few years. These reorgs always push out the middle demographic which perpetuates the problem.

Explore other reviews about bp

5.0
4 Mar 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Great 1-1 relationship with manager and ability to work on various projects.

Cons

Create cohesiveness throughout the various interns in each office.

5.0
24 Jun 2026
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Supportive team environment with good learning opportunities and exposure to large-scale projects. Compensation and benefits are competitive, and the company offers strong brand recognition and career development resources.

Cons

Decision-making can be slow due to layers of management, and processes sometimes feel overly bureaucratic. Workload and priorities can shift quickly, which may create stress depending on the team.

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