Shell reviews

4.0

74% would recommend to a friend

(13,601 total reviews)
avatar

Wael Sawan

62% approve of CEO

62% positive business outlook

Shell has an employee rating of 4.0 out of 5 stars, based on 13,601 company reviews on Glassdoor which indicates that most employees have a good working experience there. The Shell employee rating is in line with the average (within 1 standard deviation) for employers within the Énergie et exploitation des ressources naturelles industry (3.7 stars).

Reviews by job title

14K reviews
4.0
Jul 21, 2014

Some annoyances, but hard to say no

Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Good pay, good benefits, good job security, office culture is generally pretty relaxed. They say that work/life balance is important, and they mean it. You can have a lot of flexibility as long as you get your work done. There are opportunities to work almost anywhere in the world. Most managers are easy enough to work with and care about your professional development. The upper-level leaders are really committed and seem to do a good job. The new CEO looks like he'll do a good job.

Cons

The corporate stuff is annoying. It takes forever to move projects along or make decisions because a million people have to review or approve or something. It does matter who you know, even though they claim it doesn't. People who are identified as 'high leadership potential' get promoted at lightning speed, even though the process is supposed to be equal. There are some incompetent managers in middle management that make you wonder how on Earth they got there. If you're unfortunate enough to get one of those, your satisfaction with your job can go in the tank, fast. The feel-good nature of the company means it can be difficult to get honest feedback sometimes. It seems like no one wants to hurt anybody's feelings or say anything negative. People who have been here a long time are almost like robots. You can see it happen as the new hires get indoctrinated into the culture. If you put together any halfway decent piece of work that wasn't directly required, people act like you're a genius.

1.0
Oct 15, 2012

Bottom Up Culture will do Wonders

Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Only for the Corporate Executives -Good travelling policies -Good Increment -Good Benefits (by spending company's money through Corporate cards)

Cons

As Ops - Decisions made are painfully slow and are not consistent at different levels - Promotions requires Written Test, Oral Test and even Simulated Test ( Singapore only!!! There's no guarantee you will pass) - Rewards are pathetic for Ops (as good as none) - Cost cutting are always on OPs level, Corporate spend like mad

2.0
Sep 27, 2011
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

If you come in as a "high potential" and are very young, you are golden in this company. Once you have this label you can essentially do no wrong -- even if you perform poorly, it is perceived that you have just been put in a job that does not match your strengths. Also, if you want to come here and just be an OK performer and never be promoted, this is a good place to be. You can park here and be forgotten for 10 years without anyone noticing.

Cons

If you are not a designated "high potential", and there are many reasons that this can happen that have nothing to do with your actual real life potential or performance, then it can be very challenging to be promoted or even move laterally into positions that are seen as glamorous. Even if you perform very well, your raise and bonus will never compete with a high potential who does poorly. If this sort of thing gets under your skin, then do not come to Shell, because it is rampant -- there is a 2% ruling class that gets everything and if you are not in that club very shortly upon joining (again, many reasons this can go the wrong way -- for example if you have the wrong manager who runs the evaluation process the wrong way) then it will never change.

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