SLB reviews

3.9

74% would recommend to a friend

(11,632 total reviews)
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Olivier Le Peuch

84% approve of CEO

60% positive business outlook

SLB has an employee rating of 3.9 out of 5 stars, based on 11,632 company reviews on Glassdoor which indicates that most employees have a good working experience there. The SLB 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

12K reviews
4.0
Jan 9, 2013

Field Engineer

Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Multicultural environment, at some point no other person at your table comes from the same country. Diversity is one of the strengths of this company. The people you interact with everyday are awesome. We have some of the most talented people on Earth working here and the attitude is really professional most of the time. Career advancement is at your pace after initial training, so you can grow very quickly or stay in the same position as long as you like. Also you can change functions if you qualify, for example recruiters are not HR specialists but rather were Field Engineers in the past. Same goes for HSE, Upper Management, Instructors, Logistics, Research, etc. Great training programs. You get to work with the best technology in the industry. Borderless career which means also global exposure and many opportunities to travel and relocate in very interesting places. Competitive salary. Good benefits, specially for families.

Cons

First years it is a lot of work, you feel there is no time to rest and it is very hard on families. Stress level is high and recognition is low, this kind of helps the company to keep only committed employees but also takes a toll on them. Salary is good but lower than similar positions from some competitors; even inside the company the salaries vary a lot depending where in the world you work and if you come from a "merged" (acquired) company. Since attrition is high, you see a lot of people getting promoted without deserving it. This may sound good to you but it is really depressing when the manager you report to has no idea (or less idea than you) on what they are doing. And this might happen in all big companies, but there is a lot of bureaucracy, a lot of paperwork and restrictions, so even when they ask you to contribute or help in a project you may become frustrated that a seemingly easy task takes months and even years to be completed.

1.0
Aug 23, 2012
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

- Good training system, processes well-defined. - Good place to start a career.

Cons

- Under-trained managers (i.e. : new managers who were not from manufacturing experience taking up manufacturing role especially during new factory setup, HR manager who was a secretary previously, managers who blamed their subordinates for their own mistakes, etc.) - Rules which are out of this world, which does not apply to a typical manufacturing setup (i.e.: For instance, one cannot drive >15km/h within the factory compound. So how does the security proves that you drive >15km/h? There’s no concrete proof that one have violated the speeding rule. So, if the security guard don’t like you, he/she can just simply say that you are driving >15km/h. Another interesting rule is, one MUST reverse park & before reverse park, one must horn first to let people around you (if there’s any) that you are reversing. Every staff must take driving test which is conducted every 2-3years.) - Maybe the plant setup is still new, but I noticed a lot of double standards. For instance, when we travel from Penang to Norway, their daily allowance was only RM100/day (USD33/day). McDonald’s in Norway is about RM80/meal (USD25/meal). So, go figure. Conversely, when they travel from Norway to Penang, they were given RM500/day (USD160/day).

4.0
Aug 17, 2012
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Excellent technical training program Good career growth opportunity Technical leader in the oil & gas industry

Cons

Relently implement processes, rules and procedures and do not listen to the employees High working pressure and tough work environment High attrition rate due to unhappy employees Under-trained managers Decreasing benefits and compensations

Viewing 286 - 288 of 11,632 Reviews

Glassdoor has 15,087 SLB reviews submitted anonymously by SLB employees. Read employee reviews and ratings on Glassdoor to decide if SLB is right for you.