Top U.S. oil producer Exxon Mobil is preparing to cut its U.S. office workforce by between 5 percent and 10 percent every year for the next three to five years, Bloomberg News reported.
The job cuts will target the lowest-rated employees relative to peers as part of an ongoing performance assessment program and will therefore not be classified as layoffs. The affected employees have not been notified yet.
The planned reductions come at a time Exxon is facing a massive task of re-charting its course to appease investors frustrated with the company’s apparent overspending. The company lost three board seats to hedge fund Engine No. 1 after last month’s annual shareholders’ meeting.
Exxon spokesperson Casey Norton said the company has had this performance assessment process in place for several years and it’s entirely unrelated to any workforce reduction plans.
The company last year announced plans to reduce its global workforce by 14,000 by the end of 2021. Exxon had around 72,000 regular employees as of end-2020.