Delivers work/life balance, but red tape and processes still prevail over common business sense. - Petroleum Engineer bp Employee Review

4.0
Feb 22, 2009
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Flex fridays and casual office environment and culture generally live up to warm and fuzzy, good work life balance image, although flex fridays have been taken away from some groups in other areas of the company. Vacation time relatively weak compared to competition, but management in generally flexible if there are family issues that limit your work availability. Salary is reasonable, but much better can be had in industry, new bonus structure is good (if you have a good relationship with your supervisor), disappointing otherwise. Benefits are solid. Worldwide work locations with opportunities for advancement if you toe the company line and keep your opinion to yourself.

Cons

Alot of processes and red tape, trumping common sense more often than not. It's often unclear who is accountable and who makes decisions with constantly shifting management priorities. Too many layers of management that are reorganized and shuffled every 12 to 18 months and regularly roll out non-value adding initiatives that create a ton of work for technical staff, get some manager a promotion, and leave unrealistic expectations for the next manager. Internal job postings are "just for show", new roles and promotion opportunities are largely pre-determined and based on diversity and politics rather than merit. Alot of dead weight across the org charts, with several good people having left recently.

Explore other reviews about bp

5.0
Apr 20, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Amazing place to work in Oil n gas

Cons

Too much organizational changes in short term

4.0
Apr 23, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Benefits are better than most companies - great matching, HSA, pensions, and bonuses. The culture was great too, middle management was a pleasure to work with.

Cons

It’s easy to get stuck in one position if you’re a high performer. Seemed like if you’re good at your job you get stuck there while others get a lot more mobility. The options I had to move were all within the same sphere, great if you like what you are currently doing but not so much otherwise. Also, expect a re-org every 2-3yrs, change can be good but it was often disruptive during my tenure.

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