What do L4 managers (first line) even do? Honestly, most of them just show up to ranking meetings and focus on protecting their own spot. Then they run a few routine chit‑chat check‑ins with their direct reports, maybe take the team out for frozen yogurt once in a while. But seriously, what is it that they actually do?
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@de How much is his salary manager, cl28?
Ours barely comes to office , he loves "WFH".
@OP ours spends ours in WC.After all, great ideas come from sitting on toilet
@pd Frankly, all but one of my 12 or so managers here is how you have just described.
@nr Buddy, I’m quitting here. Will be out in the next few weeks. But it has nothing to do with my manager not working hard or being online. A vast majority of my managers were constantly working late nights throughout my decade here, and especially my current one. I haven’t had one that wasn’t at their desk working almost the entire day and then any time I had to work after hours, they were online too.
I’m not praising them or Exxon in any way, but I’m just surprised to hear all of your managers are taking coffee chats all day or not doing work. Maybe it’s just a different between finance and other functions?
I worked in two other major companies before joining EM, and my managers there were not only technically strong but deeply involved in understanding every direct report’s challenges and actual workload. When I came to XOM, it was scary to have a manager who had no idea what I did. I kept wondering who was supposed to evaluate my work if my own manager wasn’t even aware of it.In this corrupt system instead of focusing on your job, you end up worrying about how people are trying to narrate your work for you.
Those days ended four years after Exxon acquired Mobil in 1999. In order to qualify for a management position, you do not have to be qualified in the process or technology that you are managing.
I have seen entry level managers reading "What is Catalytic Cracking 101 textbooks?" because they did not know what catalytic cracking was.
@OP A long time ago in a company that was at least functional, the role of first line supervisor was assigned to someone with recognized technical skills. Not only did they do the administrative stuff but they had done your job and were expected to mentor you and ensure technical excellence. My last supervisor couldn't do my job if his life depended on it!
@g9 Make suer you use your EM laptop/phone posting these BS. I'm confident you are doing great job in LinkedIn already
@kk That shows up as a green phone. Not a green dot on zoom.
@g9 they are often online perpetually as their company supplied phones are on.
@jj architects?
@g1 Yeah but two layers of architects... Can we reduce that by 50%?
@gr My manager sits right next to me? Both on campus. Why would I check their time zone?
The only time I ever saw our manager actually working was when he was busy building a case to push out one teammate .Documenting “issues,” coordinating with HR, and hustling behind the scenes to get the guy kicked out before PIP season even started. That was his peak productivity. He was telling every one he is busy working with management and HR
@g9 How cute! Did you check their time zone as well? You know that EM isn't just EMHC, right?
My manager and I were both working 60+ hour weeks this past year. Every time I’m on past 9pm, they are online as well.
Not sure what teams y’all are on where the managers aren’t kept busy.
Complain about emtec all you want, but we’re with one less layer than the rest.
@e2 In EMTEC there are some organizations which their first line managers are L4 . They get rid of L5/L6 ones
@OP which company are you talking about? In upstream, first lines are not L4s (L4s are executives - DMs). L5/L6s are first lines.
I hear them always saying competition is harder in management ladder. Actually this is an opportunity to take initiative and open a frozen yogurt shop on campus at least gets them to L3 level
I assume L4 managers spend their time on rankings, frozen-yogurt diplomacy, and managing the spiritually beige population of middle-aged men in company issued polos who think condescension is a personality.
Frozen yogurt shop on campus has closed…
We could save so much money by eliminating this layer of management - especially if there is no longer frozen yogurt on offer.
Our manager delegates everything to his direct reports .one handles events and group meetings, another screens resumes and recruiting, two senior members assign projects to team, and even the monthly group meeting is basically his admin reading out whatever’s new in the organization. I’m not joking: I genuinely have no idea what he does. But he’s CL 28 and getting paid well.
In the rare event that my manager is at their desk they usually appear to be staring into space with an empty email inbox on their screen.
Day in the Life of an XOM Manager:
I wake up at 8. By 8:15 I’m at Starbucks securing my daily caffeine. At 9, I have a “coffee chat” with someone in management. At 10, another coffee chat — this time with my pets on the team. At 11, I wander around campus scouting lunch options. At 12, I eat with my golden child, the one who’ll write my KOF. At 1:30, I have a coffee chat with my boss’s boss. At 2:30, I roam around looking for free snacks. By 3 PM, I head home after a very productive day.
Coffee chats, arts and crafts, slide edits, and synergizing!
@c2 ours was taking the team to fro yo place only days he was sure his bodies were on site and also people he didn't like were out.
@bg Frozen yogurt place CLOSED! Probably because nobody is even getting that for their teams anymore.
@OP Ours doesn't even take us for frozen yogurt.