Dear HR,

Dear Mr. XOM,

Thank you for the question. It is true that ExxonMobil has stated that it is not using its Performance Improvement Plan as a layoff. However, articles in Business Insider and Forbes have claimed otherwise. Forbes states that ExxonMobil expanded the amount of workers which fall into the “Needs Significant Improvement” category, which is the category most likely to experience layoffs. By expanding this category they were able to reduce headcount without using “layoffs” in the traditional sense.

This change happened to occur at a time when ExxonMobil was truly struggling as a company. Forbes stated in an article at the time that after a plunge in oil prices, ExxonMobil had a first quarter loss of $610 million.

An ExxonMobil spokesperson made a statement at the time denying that ExxonMobil’s goal was to reduce employees through their talent evaluation process. However, many ExxonMobil employees including some quoted in the Business Insider article insisted that the move was in effect a layoff.