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There's nothing like a lawsuit to jumpstart diversity programs Over the years, Texaco hasn't had any shortage of public exposure. The nation's No. 2 oil company was stung in 1996 by racial discrimination litigation. Since the settling of that lawsuit (to the tune of $176.1 million), Texaco has gone out of its way to improve its public image - company CEO Peter I. Bijur plans to spend over $100 million to enact new minority hiring and quality-of-life policies within the company. Texaco had also been a model for the kinds of small, strategic deals that until recently characterized Big Oil. However, recent meg-mergers such as the proposed Mobil/Exxon and BP/Amoco deals are transforming the landscape of the industry, forcing Texaco to consolidate operations and lay off workers. The rumor is also in effect with speculation that Texaco is a prime target for a takeover, particularly by Chevron or Royal Dutch/Shell. A colorful history Texaco owes much of its inception to a personality as colorful as the state from which the company drew its name. "Buckskin Joe" Cullinan, a former Standard Oil worker, cut his teeth in the burgeoning Pennsylvania oil market before heading for Texas in 1897 to set up shop for himself. With funds from a New York friend, Cullinan started Texas Fuel in 1902, renamed the Texas Company a few months later, which then began selling its products under the name Texaco. A deal with Standard of California resulted in Caltex, which marketed Saudi Arabian oil overseas. In 1983, Texaco bought Getty Oil for $8.6 billion, a deal now seen as more trouble that it was worth. Getty had already agreed to be acquired by Pennzoil resulting in a Texas court ordering Texaco to pay its rival $10.53 billion. Texaco sought bankruptcy protection and eventually settled with Pennzoil for $3 billion. Doesn't anybody compete with each other any more? Texaco has since unloaded its chemical operations and increased its interest in natural gas. The company owns half of Star Enterprise and markets fuel and lubricants at 22,000 gas stations. In the late '90's, Texaco formed a number of joint ventures to counter the lowest oil prices the industry has seen in decades. In 1998, Texas and Shell formed Equilon Enterprises, merging their refining and marketing business in western and Midwestern U.S. With the creation of Motiva Enterprises, Texaco, Shell, and Saudi Aramco will jointly run refining and marketing operations in the Gulf Coast and east coast. Texaco and Chevron also own a 50-50 stake in Caltex Petroleum, an industrial fuel and lubricant business focused in Africa, Asia, Australia, and the Middle East. The world v. Texaco Call it a curse but Texaco continues to suffer from bad publicity and legal problems. Texaco is still fighting a 1993 class action lawsuit which accuses the oil company of contaminating Ecuador's drinking water. In 1999, the company agreed to pay $3.1 million to settle a federal gender bias inquiry. The newest class action suit was filed against Texaco and its affiliate, Star Enterprise by a group of African American employees that said they should have been included in a 1998 discrimination settlement. Texaco also recently announced it would cut 13 percent of its exploration and production staff, a 5 percent dip in its total workforce. Despite all this, some people are actually starting to take notice of some of the changes Texaco is actually making. In 1999, 44 percent of new employees and 22 percent of promotions were minorities. Before 2001, the company plans on spending $1 billion with minority- and women-owned vendors. In addition, all employees are required to attend diversity traiing programs. Taking on the world All the bad publicity has not stopped Texaco from moving into more global markets. It is currently seeking to be the first foreign company to sell power in Japan in a venture with Japanese refiner Koa Oil Co. The deal is still tentative, but the venture would follow in the footsteps of similar moves in Brazil, Thailand, the Philippines, and Indonesia. Texaco is also seeking to invest in Saudi Arabia's energy sector, not just in the gas sector, but also the in development in the neutral zone between Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, the only sector open to exploitation by foreign companies.
Being an intern can really pay off at Texaco. According to one insider, interns "have the first opportunity at jobs. These people also make great money for the summer too." Texaco also does campus recruiting throughout the year. Favorite stops include Texas A&M, University of Texas, and the Colorado School of Mines. Campus interviews, says one employee, "are not technical-just social skills orientated and a first screen on grades and background. We generally use grades and classes to assume technical skills." Exploration applicants who make the first cut are invited to a company location for a day. "There will be someone assigned to coordinate your visit," says one insider. "They arrange airline/hotel and ground transport- everything is paid for. This person is important in the final evaluation- don't be late, don't overspend or ask for special things, anything that makes extra work for this person is not a good idea. They may pick you up at the hotel or airport, that will be their first impression of you." The day consists of lunch, interviews with technicians and managers, and a 5 to 10 minute visit with the department head who controls hiring. The department head will rely on opinions of the staff to hire or not and this first impression. "Ask a lot of questions about what the people have on their walls," advises one employee. "Generally, we show you more technical stuff than you show us. Show interest. Ask about any dots or arrows on their maps, they have special interest in that and can talk for hours- so you are off the hook, just listen for a while." Staff members then fill out evaluations which later go to human resources or management, culminating in a department head's final decision. "If you come across as a 'nice person', and a team player," says one employee, "you will do alright." But don't expect a quick answer. "Texaco is known to be slow to respond," says one insider, "so we have lost good people who do not wait to take other jobs." Texaco's hiring web site has it all: info on college recruiting, campus visits, interviews, internships, scholarships and a wealth of job descriptions. Check out the site at www.texaco.com/jobs for all of the details. The site also provides information on ways to work abroad for the company - Texaco currently has 350 U.S. employees working abroad. The company is currently looking for engineering majors, and those with experience in accounting and financing. To apply, resumes can be sent to the company's main office or major branch offices by fax or regular mail. To ease the procedure, resumes can be sent through a company web page. Resumes are stored in a national database for several months and are matched to needs within the company. The company also advertises in newspapers and trade magazines.
A boom and bust cycle While Texaco offers "excellent" salaries and "top-notch" benefits, some employees criticize the company's "short-sightedness" and "lack of any long-range plan." "Management lives and dies by the quarterly stock report to shareholders," says one recently laid-off employee who spent 18 years at Texaco. "While the salaries are usually very good, there is never any job security. It also looks to me as though management is currently setting themselves up for a takeover target." According to one employee, "bad business decisions are driven by a short term outlook, which is still very much the culture at the executive level of Texaco." But even Texaco's high salaries may be coming to an end. "There is talk of pay reductions," says one insider. "Some other majors did this the last bust cycle - now Texaco can too." Resentment from the bottom up The lofty positions managers hold within Texaco, not to mention limited career opportunities, irks some employees. "At Texaco, best money is management, and they also don't have as many layoffs by percentage as worker bees (technicians like me)," says one employee. "But competition is greater as the company gets smaller and opportunity to move into management is smaller." Another employees complains "I still believe who you know is more important than what you know or what you accomplished. I've seen too many managers remain in their positions or even promoted despite a track record of bad business decisions." Another employee complained about the lack of training given to new workers. "In the organizations I worked with (exploration and production 'upstream'), they are basically 'sink or swim' situations," he says. "Don't expect much support when you first start out. You will be expected to dive-in and learn as you go by asking questions." We are not Microsoft Employees describe the company's culture and dress code as slightly conservative. Says one employee, "Many people think all major corporations are ultra-conservative, formal cultures. That isn't the case at Texaco. Managers, even at the CEO level are on a first name basis." At the same time, another employee says, "We are not Microsoft." Dress code ranges from suits and ties at the manager level to Bugle Boy or Dockers slacks and shirts for lower staff members. According to one employee, "New York headquarters went to casual Fridays- the CEO was quoted 'it will be nice to wear a button-down'- so not too casual there." No workaholics here Employees praise Texaco's flexible work hours which includes a popular 9/80 work schedule- employees work 80 hours over 9 days with every other Friday off or 9 hours per day Monday through Thursday and 8 hours on the Friday you work- and a 4/10 program. "The company insists that employees not become workaholics," says one employee. Perks includes health spas, frequent flyer mileage for international travelers, "vacations when we ask for them and even a few half days are allowed to get out of town early." Progress on the diversity front Since settling an anti-discrimination lawsuit in 1996, Texaco "has made and is making a concerted effort to do hundreds of millions of dollars of business with minority and women owned vendors." Adds another employee, "There are programs in place which allow women to realize their potential rather than accepting the traditional roles that they have held."
Janet L. Stoner Human Resources
Exploration and production;Marketing, manufacturing, and distribution of fuel, lubricants, and gas
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