ConocoPhillips Company (NYSE: COP) is an American multinational energy corporation with its headquarters located in the Energy Corridor district of Houston, Texas in the United States. It is also one of the Fortune 500 companies.[2] ConocoPhillips is the fifth largest private sector energy corporation in the world and is one of the six "supermajor" vertically integrated oil companies. It sells fuel under the Conoco, Phillips 66 and Union 76 brands in North America, and Jet in Europe. ConocoPhillips was created through the merger of Conoco Inc. and the Phillips Petroleum Company on August 30, 2002
Employees – We initiate dialogue with our employees and seek their input in our day-to-day activities. In addition, we offer numerous opportunities for employees to provide their thoughts on the company, including opinion surveys, town hall meetings and one-on-one employee development discussions. Our most recent survey of employee opinion, conducted in 2008, yielded an exceptional employee participation rate of 88 percent, excluding retail store employees. Results of this survey revealed a number of areas in which the company received favorable responses, as well as some in which employees feel that improvement is needed. The information gathered through such surveys helps management address issues that are important to employees, including safety, environmental preservation, and employee compensation and retention.
Shareholders – We communicate financial and operating performance with our shareholders through company reports and Securities and Exchange Commission filings, annual shareholders meetings, quarterly earnings releases and conference calls, and presentations to securities analysts. Further, we make Internet links to these events and other information available on our Web site. Our annual proxy statement provides a full listing of formal requests filed by shareholders, and we maintain a process for shareholders and interested parties to communicate with the board of directors.
Governments – We engage with local, state or provincial, and federal governments in the key areas of public policy and regulatory oversight that affect existing and future company operations and business. In certain circumstances, we work with governing bodies and regulatory agencies and engage in proactive exchanges of information. Major areas of interest for government stakeholders are taxation, environmental and economic issues.
ConocoPhillips endorses the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative, which seeks to ensure that revenues paid to governments by companies working in resource-rich countries contribute to sustainable development and poverty reduction. Read further information on our economic transparency statement.
Communities – Wherever we operate, our major projects and business units engage with local communities in a variety of ways, including consultations on specific projects, public forums or community investments. The company has various organized groups and programs that engage the community to discuss issues and concerns. Although specific areas of interest for communities can vary widely, recurring themes include the availability of employment and other economic opportunities, local environmental issues such as air and water impacts, emergency response procedures, and the company’s contribution to local social investment.
Customers, suppliers and contractors – The most common avenue for communicating with these stakeholders is our secure extranet site, where business partners can access financial information, interactive processes and fuel-purchasing procedures.
To maintain and strengthen relationships with long-term customers and suppliers, the company initiates frequent conversations, correspondence and meetings. As an example, our regular and informative interactions with suppliers cover topics such as our long-term needs, on-site performance expectations and our position and requirements concerning diversity, ethics and other sustainability issues.
As with our employees, we believe safety is the most important issue in our work with contractors. We address this in our operations by working with contractors on various comprehensive safety training and educational programs.
At all ConocoPhillips locations across the globe, we seek to attract and develop local talent, build capacity and identify local and global leaders.
Diversity and inclusion is about creating a work force that represents the global communities in which we live and work and ensuring an environment in which every individual’s contributions are valued. A diverse and inclusive environment challenges our way of thinking by bringing together a variety of talents, backgrounds and experiences, and serves as a catalyst for new ideas and innovation.
Discovering and developing the best ways to make our differences work – for the good of our enterprise, our employees, our vendors and our communities – is an ongoing process. We believe that these contributions and differences drive our competitive business advantage, stimulate personal growth and ultimately create success for the company. In our most recent employee opinion survey, ConocoPhillips maintained a high level of satisfaction for creating an environment where people with diverse backgrounds can succeed.
Managers and supervisors are instrumental in developing and progressing global diversity and inclusion initiatives. In 2008, this was reinforced and renewed by communication from our CEO to employees about the importance of enhancing our focus on people through four key areas:
Development – Providing career-long learning and development opportunities that maximize every employee’s potential and performance.
Retention – Valuing all employees’ contributions; and providing challenging and rewarding jobs, as well as competitive compensation that is linked to performance.
Recruiting – Hiring the best talent from around the world to support our global operations.
Global Outreach – Partnering with professional organizations that can both help us in how we approach diversity and provide us greater access to diverse talent in our recruiting efforts.
Our businesses and corporate staffs incorporate People Plans into their five-year operating plans. These plans include the strategies and tactics that are needed to ensure the optimum workforce size and capability over time. We monitor the progress on our People Plans twice a year to help drive accountability. We review demographic information on nationalization, recruiting, attrition, promotion, and the identification and development of future leaders. These metrics plus the efforts taken are used to assess progress and ensure that operating plans are successfully executed. The results of these metrics and efforts are assessed and tied to the performance-based incentives for managers and supervisors.
ConocoPhillips capacity to recruit individuals to the oil and gas sector has historically
proven to be difficult, due to the lack of available courses in some resources-focused
towns and cities, such as Darwin. Only a limited range of public and private
secondary schooling options are available for employees’ dependents in Darwin and
while some tertiary education options are available for dependents, only a narrow
range of courses is available compared to other state capitals. These situations
present employee retention challenges for ConocoPhillips and an enhancement of
existing university courses and school infrastructure through additional funding would
support ConocoPhillips and other oil and gas companies’ capacity to attract families
to relocate to Darwin and then retain them longer term.
Additional funding for schools and universities could create an additional incentive to
attract and retain families to these resources-focused regional cities and towns to
seek employment on resources projects, having the comfort their children will have
access to quality education throughout their primary, secondary and tertiary
schooling.
Health
Current health standards in some regional towns and cities do not have basic funds
in place for key diagnostic and therapeutic medical services. This has, on occasion,
created difficulties for ConocoPhillips with the attraction and retention of personnel in
Darwin.
The Australian Government should consider reviewing the standards in the quality of
heath-care delivered in hospitals in key resources-focused regional towns and cities,
to ensure they can maintain a high standard of healthcare now and in the future with
increased population growth.
ConocoPhillips’ knowledge retention model. The red circle demonstrates how training, collaboration, access to knowledge, and individual performance work together to enhance business objectives. The blue circle shows that people, technology, learning, and knowledge are required to help the organization achieve its objectives
As shown, “collaborating to build a better company” is one of four primary knowledge-sharing activities supporting the business. The prominence of collaboration within this framework demonstrates ConocoPhillips’ ongoing commitment to collaboration, support for collaborative endeavors, and recognition of the benefits that teamwork brings to the organization.
• Continuing to use existing methods or develop new methods to attract
people to the workforce who are local to the region, as well as those from
under-represented groups;
• Implementing a local content strategy to participate in, or establish programs
to assist qualified local and regional businesses, with tendering opportunities
for providing goods and services for the Project;
• Building collaborative partnerships with government and community
organisations, to enhance the capacity for employers to provide jobs and for
local people to develop skills and obtain employment (e.g., through
APLNG’s existing Community Skills Scholarship programme);
• Working with government, the community and industry to plan for potential
cumulative impacts and to share information about potential impacts and
mitigation measures;
• Ensuring contracts with suppliers and contractors are aligned with Australia
Pacific LNG's sustainability principles and objectives;
3. The Debtors seek authority under sections 105 and 363 of the Bankruptcy Code to implement a back end loaded key employee retention and severance program (as described more fully below, the "Key Employee Retention Program"). The purpose for the Key Employee Retention Program is to minimize management and other key employee turnover, retain talent in a tight labor market and motivate key employees (each a "Key Employee," and collectively, the "Key Employees") to: (a) continue to provide essential services during this critical juncture in the Debtors' existence; and (b) remain employed by the Debtors throughout these chapter 11 cases.
The Debtors' ability to maintain their business operations and preserve value for their estates is dependent upon the continued employment, active participation and dedication of the Key Employees who possess irreplaceable historical knowledge, experience and skills necessary to support the Debtors' business operations, including, without limitation, the Debtors' finances, systems, operations, properties and assets, personnel and management. The Debtors' ability to stabilize and preserve their business operations and assets will be substantially hindered if the Debtors are unable to retain the services of their Key Employees.
The Debtors prior bankruptcy filing and uncertainty surrounding the future of their operations has had a significant and adverse effect on the morale of their employees. Unless an incentive plan is expeditiously implemented, the Debtors senior management expect that a number of the Key Employees will resign.
The Debtors' situation is unique in that following the confirmation of the Debtors' plan of reorganization in March, 2000, as part of their post-confirmation program to streamline operations and reduce general and administrative operating expenses to the fullest possible
extent, the Debtors' workforce was reduced from 122 employees, as of March, 2000, to 74, as of the Petition Date. As a result, in the view of Debtors' management, each and every current employee is critical to the Debtors' operations and the Debtors' can ill afford to lose any employees at this time. Indeed, the Debtors' retention plan recognizes the importance of retaining employees at every level and not just senior management and executives.
Increased employee responsibilities, the general level of stress visited upon a debtor in possession's key employees and other burdens occasioned by the Debtors' status as debtors in possession may lead some of the Key Employees to resign in the near future and pursue alternative employment despite the Debtors' need for their continued services. Also, competitors of the Debtors and other parties have begun, and will undoubtedly continue to seek, to hire the Key Employees.
The Debtors can not afford to lose the Key Employees for many reasons, including: (a) the difficulty of replacing such employees because experienced job candidates often find the prospect of working for a chapter 11 company unattractive; (b) finding suitable replacement employees is improbable unless the Debtors retain executive search firms, with their attendant fees, and incur further costs in the form of signing bonuses, reimbursement for relocation expenses and above market salaries to induce
Employees – We initiate dialogue with our employees and seek their input in our day-to-day activities. In addition, we offer numerous opportunities for employees to provide their thoughts on the company, including opinion surveys, town hall meetings and one-on-one employee development discussions. Our most recent survey of employee opinion, conducted in 2008, yielded an exceptional employee participation rate of 88 percent, excluding retail store employees. Results of this survey revealed a number of areas in which the company received favorable responses, as well as some in which employees feel that improvement is needed. The information gathered through such surveys helps management address issues that are important to employees, including safety, environmental preservation, and employee compensation and retention.
Shareholders – We communicate financial and operating performance with our shareholders through company reports and Securities and Exchange Commission filings, annual shareholders meetings, quarterly earnings releases and conference calls, and presentations to securities analysts. Further, we make Internet links to these events and other information available on our Web site. Our annual proxy statement provides a full listing of formal requests filed by shareholders, and we maintain a process for shareholders and interested parties to communicate with the board of directors.
Governments – We engage with local, state or provincial, and federal governments in the key areas of public policy and regulatory oversight that affect existing and future company operations and business. In certain circumstances, we work with governing bodies and regulatory agencies and engage in proactive exchanges of information. Major areas of interest for government stakeholders are taxation, environmental and economic issues.
ConocoPhillips endorses the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative, which seeks to ensure that revenues paid to governments by companies working in resource-rich countries contribute to sustainable development and poverty reduction. Read further information on our economic transparency statement.
Communities – Wherever we operate, our major projects and business units engage with local communities in a variety of ways, including consultations on specific projects, public forums or community investments. The company has various organized groups and programs that engage the community to discuss issues and concerns. Although specific areas of interest for communities can vary widely, recurring themes include the availability of employment and other economic opportunities, local environmental issues such as air and water impacts, emergency response procedures, and the company’s contribution to local social investment.
Customers, suppliers and contractors – The most common avenue for communicating with these stakeholders is our secure extranet site, where business partners can access financial information, interactive processes and fuel-purchasing procedures.
To maintain and strengthen relationships with long-term customers and suppliers, the company initiates frequent conversations, correspondence and meetings. As an example, our regular and informative interactions with suppliers cover topics such as our long-term needs, on-site performance expectations and our position and requirements concerning diversity, ethics and other sustainability issues.
As with our employees, we believe safety is the most important issue in our work with contractors. We address this in our operations by working with contractors on various comprehensive safety training and educational programs.
At all ConocoPhillips locations across the globe, we seek to attract and develop local talent, build capacity and identify local and global leaders.
Diversity and inclusion is about creating a work force that represents the global communities in which we live and work and ensuring an environment in which every individual’s contributions are valued. A diverse and inclusive environment challenges our way of thinking by bringing together a variety of talents, backgrounds and experiences, and serves as a catalyst for new ideas and innovation.
Discovering and developing the best ways to make our differences work – for the good of our enterprise, our employees, our vendors and our communities – is an ongoing process. We believe that these contributions and differences drive our competitive business advantage, stimulate personal growth and ultimately create success for the company. In our most recent employee opinion survey, ConocoPhillips maintained a high level of satisfaction for creating an environment where people with diverse backgrounds can succeed.
Managers and supervisors are instrumental in developing and progressing global diversity and inclusion initiatives. In 2008, this was reinforced and renewed by communication from our CEO to employees about the importance of enhancing our focus on people through four key areas:
Development – Providing career-long learning and development opportunities that maximize every employee’s potential and performance.
Retention – Valuing all employees’ contributions; and providing challenging and rewarding jobs, as well as competitive compensation that is linked to performance.
Recruiting – Hiring the best talent from around the world to support our global operations.
Global Outreach – Partnering with professional organizations that can both help us in how we approach diversity and provide us greater access to diverse talent in our recruiting efforts.
Our businesses and corporate staffs incorporate People Plans into their five-year operating plans. These plans include the strategies and tactics that are needed to ensure the optimum workforce size and capability over time. We monitor the progress on our People Plans twice a year to help drive accountability. We review demographic information on nationalization, recruiting, attrition, promotion, and the identification and development of future leaders. These metrics plus the efforts taken are used to assess progress and ensure that operating plans are successfully executed. The results of these metrics and efforts are assessed and tied to the performance-based incentives for managers and supervisors.
ConocoPhillips capacity to recruit individuals to the oil and gas sector has historically
proven to be difficult, due to the lack of available courses in some resources-focused
towns and cities, such as Darwin. Only a limited range of public and private
secondary schooling options are available for employees’ dependents in Darwin and
while some tertiary education options are available for dependents, only a narrow
range of courses is available compared to other state capitals. These situations
present employee retention challenges for ConocoPhillips and an enhancement of
existing university courses and school infrastructure through additional funding would
support ConocoPhillips and other oil and gas companies’ capacity to attract families
to relocate to Darwin and then retain them longer term.
Additional funding for schools and universities could create an additional incentive to
attract and retain families to these resources-focused regional cities and towns to
seek employment on resources projects, having the comfort their children will have
access to quality education throughout their primary, secondary and tertiary
schooling.
Health
Current health standards in some regional towns and cities do not have basic funds
in place for key diagnostic and therapeutic medical services. This has, on occasion,
created difficulties for ConocoPhillips with the attraction and retention of personnel in
Darwin.
The Australian Government should consider reviewing the standards in the quality of
heath-care delivered in hospitals in key resources-focused regional towns and cities,
to ensure they can maintain a high standard of healthcare now and in the future with
increased population growth.
ConocoPhillips’ knowledge retention model. The red circle demonstrates how training, collaboration, access to knowledge, and individual performance work together to enhance business objectives. The blue circle shows that people, technology, learning, and knowledge are required to help the organization achieve its objectives
As shown, “collaborating to build a better company” is one of four primary knowledge-sharing activities supporting the business. The prominence of collaboration within this framework demonstrates ConocoPhillips’ ongoing commitment to collaboration, support for collaborative endeavors, and recognition of the benefits that teamwork brings to the organization.
• Continuing to use existing methods or develop new methods to attract
people to the workforce who are local to the region, as well as those from
under-represented groups;
• Implementing a local content strategy to participate in, or establish programs
to assist qualified local and regional businesses, with tendering opportunities
for providing goods and services for the Project;
• Building collaborative partnerships with government and community
organisations, to enhance the capacity for employers to provide jobs and for
local people to develop skills and obtain employment (e.g., through
APLNG’s existing Community Skills Scholarship programme);
• Working with government, the community and industry to plan for potential
cumulative impacts and to share information about potential impacts and
mitigation measures;
• Ensuring contracts with suppliers and contractors are aligned with Australia
Pacific LNG's sustainability principles and objectives;
3. The Debtors seek authority under sections 105 and 363 of the Bankruptcy Code to implement a back end loaded key employee retention and severance program (as described more fully below, the "Key Employee Retention Program"). The purpose for the Key Employee Retention Program is to minimize management and other key employee turnover, retain talent in a tight labor market and motivate key employees (each a "Key Employee," and collectively, the "Key Employees") to: (a) continue to provide essential services during this critical juncture in the Debtors' existence; and (b) remain employed by the Debtors throughout these chapter 11 cases.
The Debtors' ability to maintain their business operations and preserve value for their estates is dependent upon the continued employment, active participation and dedication of the Key Employees who possess irreplaceable historical knowledge, experience and skills necessary to support the Debtors' business operations, including, without limitation, the Debtors' finances, systems, operations, properties and assets, personnel and management. The Debtors' ability to stabilize and preserve their business operations and assets will be substantially hindered if the Debtors are unable to retain the services of their Key Employees.
The Debtors prior bankruptcy filing and uncertainty surrounding the future of their operations has had a significant and adverse effect on the morale of their employees. Unless an incentive plan is expeditiously implemented, the Debtors senior management expect that a number of the Key Employees will resign.
The Debtors' situation is unique in that following the confirmation of the Debtors' plan of reorganization in March, 2000, as part of their post-confirmation program to streamline operations and reduce general and administrative operating expenses to the fullest possible
extent, the Debtors' workforce was reduced from 122 employees, as of March, 2000, to 74, as of the Petition Date. As a result, in the view of Debtors' management, each and every current employee is critical to the Debtors' operations and the Debtors' can ill afford to lose any employees at this time. Indeed, the Debtors' retention plan recognizes the importance of retaining employees at every level and not just senior management and executives.
Increased employee responsibilities, the general level of stress visited upon a debtor in possession's key employees and other burdens occasioned by the Debtors' status as debtors in possession may lead some of the Key Employees to resign in the near future and pursue alternative employment despite the Debtors' need for their continued services. Also, competitors of the Debtors and other parties have begun, and will undoubtedly continue to seek, to hire the Key Employees.
The Debtors can not afford to lose the Key Employees for many reasons, including: (a) the difficulty of replacing such employees because experienced job candidates often find the prospect of working for a chapter 11 company unattractive; (b) finding suitable replacement employees is improbable unless the Debtors retain executive search firms, with their attendant fees, and incur further costs in the form of signing bonuses, reimbursement for relocation expenses and above market salaries to induce
Last edited: