Downstream is not the place to be at Chevron - Anonymous employee Chevron Employee Review

2.0
31 Dec 2010
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

- Benefits and 401k are very good - Salary is competitive - Work life balance can be good but it depends entirely on where you work and your manager - Leaders try hard and most are quite intelligent - Co-workers are pretty nice and want to do well

Cons

- If you demonstrate capability and ability to execute, management will assign you more and more work while others that are less capable enjoy their "9/80" schedule (every other friday off) - Recent cuts in Downstream have created a logjam at middle management - Baby boomers are firmly entrenched in their jobs and not going anywhere soon - Downstream is a very tough business to be in, but the company focuses mostly on the Upstream and Gas opportunities. Those businesses can afford much higher cost structures than Downstream, hence Downstream is loaded with unafforadble support costs. - Those in the P&L businesses 'get it' and typically execute, those in the support groups largely are clueless to how the business runs - So many processes and more focus on process development and recording rather than simple executiion - Downstream and business unit leadership constantly coming up with new visions and strategies - Managers and Leaders ask for more and more from their people and then hold supervisors accountable for over-working their teams (how do they think the work gets done???)

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5.0
24 Apr 2026
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CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Lots of resources, great people

Cons

Can feel siloed at your role

1.0
24 Feb 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

The paycheck still clears (for now, until your role is moved to Bangalore or Manila). ​The 9/80 schedule used to be a perk, but it’s hard to enjoy a Friday off when you spent the previous four days hunting for a desk like a game of musical chairs.

Cons

The RTO Charade: Leadership loves to talk about "collaboration," but the 4-day Return to Office (RTO) is clearly a quiet layoff tactic. They want people to quit so they don’t have to pay severance. The "Invisible" Office: It’s impressive how Mike Wirth can demand everyone be in the building while simultaneously removing the basic infrastructure of a workplace. No assigned desks, no storage, and literally no trash cans. Apparently, "Human Energy" includes carrying your own garbage home and spending 30 minutes every morning wandering the floor looking for a monitor that actually works. Leadership Vacuum: Les Copland is the definition of a CIO "yes man." Instead of standing up for the integrity of the tech stack or the US workforce, he’s overseen the systematic gutting of IT. It’s a race to the bottom to find the cheapest labor possible outside of the US, leaving the remaining domestic staff to clean up the inevitable mess. The War on American Workers: There is a blatant, aggressive push to minimize the American footprint. We are being phased out in favor of massive outsourcing hubs. You aren't a valued engineer here; you’re an overhead cost that Mike Wirth is looking to delete.

6
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