Employees at Shell (LON: SHEL) appear to more upbeat about working at the supermajor than they have been in years.
A survey of the company’s 93,000 personnel carried out last year returned “some of the highest scores” the group has seen “in a decade”.
After a torrid few years for oil and gas, during which thousands lost their jobs, things are looking up for the sector once more.
Europe’s concerted energy security drive has given fresh impetus to the industry, and companies are planning for the long term once more.
“Our people are as engaged as ever”, Shell chief executive Wael Sawan told investors during a presentation in New York.
He also hailed the company’s staff as the “heart of the show”, while reinforcing the need for “accountability” and “discipline” at all levels.
“We have a great workplace culture,” Mr Sawan said, and “we work hard on improving this further.
“For example, through our drive to become one of the most diverse and inclusive companies in the world today – 30% of our senior leaders are women.
“This management team’s opportunity is to fully mobilise the tremendous energy amongst our people to deliver the targets and ambitions that we have set for ourselves.”
Mr Sawan, who took over as CEO from Ben van Beurden at the start of the year, used Shell’s 2023 capital markets day to put his stamp on the London-listed company.
He unveiled a strategy to increase shareholder returns through buybacks, and cut adrift businesses that don’t pass muster.
Underpinning the plan is financial “discipline”, and Shell’s board said, “only the most attractive projects will receive funding” going forward.
Asked how he intends to “distil the philosophy” down through the group, Mr Sawan said the the “first sprint is a cultural sprint”.
He added: “What we’re trying to do is to embed a culture through the organisation that is going to be able to withstand the test of time. We have a great set of values as a company, but what we haven’t done consistently is deliver our promises -so how do we do that day in and day out?
“Firstly, I touched on how we’re going to drive accountability through the business lines, deeper into the organisation. That’s everything from how we work manuals of authority, to expectations at various leadership levels.”
“It’s going to be a step up in the performance cadences that we have. For example, Sinead (Gorman, Shell CFO), and I will meet with our business directors on a very regular basis – once every couple of weeks – to get into the detail, expedite the decision making and really get the interventions that are needed earlier. We’ll look to cascade down that philosophy deeper into the organisation, and how we set up that ecosystem will play through over the coming months.”