The company has deteriorated badly in the last few years. The work environment is a toxic "us vs. them" tug of war between Saudis and expats which creates a very unhealthy and unproductive workplace. Business lines have to classify the two groups separately and justify the existence of their expats annually. The reward system for Saudi managers favors elimination, not development and retention.
You will most likely be put in a group that requested you to fill a short-term gap or need and once you solve the immediate short term problems that brought you there you are essentially on notice to be replaced and to get out. I recall 7 different supervisors over a 2-3 year period. Whoever requested you will likely be long gone before you arrive anyway.
Most expats in my estimation and experience last 2-3 years. A few make 5, and a very small percentage make 10 or more. The benefits are back-ended with the pension awarded at 5 years and continuing medical at 10/55. I have been seeing a pattern where they keep their American expats 8-9 years then shed them just before they are retirement eligible. Your chances of making the full benefit retirement period are very low, everyone knows that, and a large percentage exit at 5 years when they pension vest. With zero development and zero opportunity to move to any other job around the company the pension vest date is the only thing that keeps them there beyond the first couple of years.
A short term financial shot in the arm a
ProsSalary and relatively low cost of living
ConsSegregation and toxic, unhealthy work environment
Aramco is a giant oil company with a government culture. The money is good.
Aramco by some yard sticks is the largest oil company in the world ... and it is run like a big company. They have policies and procedures in place that were drafted decades ago. The foundation of the drilling organization was laid when the countries energy industry was being run by foreign oil companies ... and for the most part is sound. There is a culture of pushing local Saudi personnel up the organization chart ... which I think all countries promote. The rigs are very old and at least partially manned by combinations of non-English-speaking crews ... which can make coordination and team-building a challenge. There are operational idiosyncrasies that take some adjusting to (Mud Cap Drilling and no roller reamers or VBR's) and like many drilling organizations the morning report is critical and the paperwork load gets heavier by the week. The company pays well, but drilling foremen earn it. The work schedule is 14 days on and 7 days off for direct hire foremen (which they call liaisonmen). They sometimes do not have two foremen for every rig and sometimes do not have enough people to allow scheduled days off. When you work your days off, you are paid for the time ... but receive no replacement time off or additional vacation/retirement/etc accrual. The housing scheme makes it very difficult to get a "nice" place to live in the company camp (small town) until you have 5 or 10 years under your belt ... and "drilling" people are restricted to living in specific camps. The job
ProsGreat pay and benefits if you can stand the schedule.
Great opportunity to develop new skills, experience people from around the world, and learn about Saudi Arabia.
Great opportunity to develop new skills, experience people from around the world, and learn about the people of Saudi Arabia.
The official working hours are from 7 am to 4:00 pm, and I enjoyed the early morning start time. It was great to have the opportunity to transfer to different positions within Saudi Aramco to learn new skills and continue to develop professionally. The collaborative communication skills with the international workforce were beneficial skills to learn as clear communication is necessary to efficiently complete work assignments. Another benefit of working for the company was taking on new responsibilities and expanding in areas beyond one’s comfort zone. The work atmosphere was overall positive, and the other employees were always helpful. In addition, the Saudi employees were enjoyable to talk to as everyone has a unique personal story.
The company has many layers of management, but the immediate managers were good to work for. The company's overall culture was positive; people have different working styles; it is important to know there is more than one way to successfully complete projects. One of the hardest parts of the job is dealing with the heat and humidity when walking to the car or between buildings. It was great to develop personally and professionally beyond my expectations. The best part of the job was meeting many interesting people and learning about each person.
ProsFamily time, benefits, new opportunities, Meeting Interesting People
New employees usually are placed in transactional roles to learn how the business works and become familiar with policies and procedures. The culture is one that values humility, respect, politeness and friendliness.
They also value mental toughness and resiliency, but this demonstrated over years of work. Many senior people find it challenging to revert back into a transaction role when they first come. The work environment is friendly and there is a definite need to mentor and help the young Saudi men and women to become more proficient as professional in the Supply Chain Management functions (or indeed any other).
Once you establish a good reputation as an mentor who helps other team members and has a strong work ethic, you begin to experience demand pull requests. This is how I ended up working on a project requested by the Sr. Vice President.
Like many jobs, is all about team work and collaboration and establishing relationships and giving of yourself or the good of the team. Mentoring and helping some of the young professionals was the most rewarding part of the job for me.
ProsA sense of professional pride accomplish very challenging cross departmal tasks.
ConsChange happens very slowly there, so if you are used to fast change management, you have to re-calibrate your expectations.
- Responsible for verification of Estimates for Design,Procurement,& Construction.
- Responsible for processing/verification of Monthly Progress Certificates for Design,Procurement, Construction & Commissioning) as back-up for invoices.
- Responsible for processing of Invoice for Design,Procurement & Construction.
- Uploading/creating of Service Entry Sheets thru SAP for Estimated Amount, Progress Certificates, Invoices, Change Orders and Incidental Costs.
- Prepares related documents for Change Orders for Purchase Requisition & issuance of Purchase Order, ie.(Scope of Work,Price Proposal,Negotiation Strategy,Signatory Sheets,Change Order Settlement Sheet)
- Prepares Monthly Invoice Accruals as per estimated amount for Design,Procurement & Construction
- Verification of Employee Expense Reports,ie.(Travel Orders & back-up documents)
- Preparation/verification of Incidental Costs,ie. (Telephone Charges,Office equipments,Couriers,etc.)
- Prepares Weekly & Monthly Project Progress Report for submission to Satorp Services department.
- Assigned in Project Control Services Dept ( Post PMT Closeout Team) with task of verification of various invoices , Creation, Revoking & Release of Service Entry Sheets thru SAP for various invoices
Responsible for screening, interviewing and recruitment efforts for Pipelines, Distribution, Terminals engineering, and Marketing Supply and Joint Venture (M&SJV) Business lines in Saudi Arabia Focused on relationship building and partnerships with Engineering Leadership & HR Personnel Sourced and screened all Reliability, Integrity, I&C, Facility, Process, Project, EHS, Chemical, and Electrical Engineering candidates prior to Hiring Manager review in a fast paced environment Communicated company benefits and compensation to prospective candidates Promoted the Saudi Aramco culture to candidates by attending local and out of state Career Fairs including O&G Workshops such as SEG, SPE, AIChe, SPWLA
Maintained and managed requisitions of 50-75 positions Knowledgeable of Chemical, Electrical and Mechanical engineering O&G disciplines (Mid/Downstream) Sourced and facilitated onsite 2-5 days hiring workshops with Saudi Aramco Engineering Management Reported workforce plans and statuses to executive leadershi
• Controlling and monitoring Honeywell, Siemens and Johnson control systems. Especially HVAC and Fire Alarm system.
• Monitoring the CCTV and controling the Access Control System.
• Responsible for checking the work permit and maintain the safety measures.
• Prepare and inspect the material gate access and visitor management system.
• Experience in handling the water leak detection system(LDS)
• The devices which are used for the BMS (Building Management System) are mainly branded with Honeywell Inc. But also worked with the controls like Staefa, Johnson Controls, and Siemens.
• Experience in HONEYWELL- HVAC and FIRE SYSTEM.
• Experience in JOHNSON CONTROL –HVAC system
• Experience in SIEMENS –FIRE ALARM system
• Performed pre-testing, pre-commissioning of all the equipment involved and related to HVAC Control Panel-DDC, Building Management System (Honeywell Care) and fire alarm systems.
• Handle emergency situation and take immediate action.
Batch drilling 7 to 9 lateral, dual and multi lateral wells.Typical day at work consisted submitting morning report, Morning meetings with all parties involved of current operations, lias with Drilling superintendent, organise and supervise daily operations, pre plan and organise up and coming operations.
I earned a great deal about logistics, organising, timing in delivery and deployment of equipment utilising a very small work environment
Management had engineering backgrounds, lacked hands on experience which cause un necessary delays in basic drilling and down hole problems. But always paid on time.
Co-workers were excellent, similar backgrounds and very thorough.
Hardest part of the job had to be balancing logistics.
All round to be part of a team and enjoy what I do best.
ProsWorking with good rig wise people.
ConsWorking with engineer type, 0 drilling experience bosses.
Reporting at work for 8hrs/day weekdays. During my stay with the company I learned how to manage my time skedule properly. I've done a very close relationship with my co-employs not withstanding my status with the management. There's an instance during one summer when a power failure happens in the building where I am working. It lasted for a couple of hours and I almost painted due to severe hot temperature. When ruling king during that time passed away, news spread among us that we all will receive a bonus check equivalent to a monthy salary. It is a royal tradition in that kingdom to give people a token of gratuity when a head of state perished. I almost jumped for joy although I know that the nation is grieving.
Prosprovided food allowance whenever i performed overtime.
Consuneasy movement during my early days because of the different attitude of locals towards us.
One of the best places I have ever worked! Great work/life balance, generous benefits package, interesting work culture. The work was challenging and rewarding. My skills were allowed to develop and grow. New opportunities were available to me. There was great inter-department cooperation.
There were extremely busy times and other times when there was a chance to hone skills and take classes, which were provided and sponsored by our Human Resources group.
The company sponsored many citizenship opportunities. There were many volunteer activities, which enabled me to meet team members from other groups in the company.
The company rewarded perfect attendance, and provided a large gym and various exercise and health programs.
Compensation was competitive with other Houston companies, enabling Aramco Services Company to acquire the brightest and best talent in all departments.
Administration / Document Controller works
- Ensure Original drawings are filed, maintained and controlled.
- Ensure status of books, relief valve files, specifications, manuals, calculations and mechanical completion and commissioning files are maintained properly.
- Removal of obsolete documents in compliance with quality system requirement & Supervise activities of technical documents in central filing room/ document control room.
- Ensure all updated drawings are scanned and replace old micro-films with new scanned Tiff files.
- Ensure activities allocating new drawing numbers, providing document ID code for electrical drawings and hard copies.
- Communicate to the relevant personnel are done as per procedure.
- Log all outgoing and incoming correspondences and maintain electronically.
- Copy, distribute, and file all correspondence in accordance with Filing Index.
- Perform scanning/copying of large volume documents as required
- Receive and maintain a log of all incoming/outgoing letters and transmittals, faxes, memos, MOMs...etc.
- Identify to SKE&C/ Contractor Document Control any changes to agreed distribution matrices of PMT personnel required to receive/review design documents
- When appropriate, provide assistance to secretaries in the packing and process transmittal of documentation for shipment via Federal Express or DHL
- Write distribution on faxes, make copies and distribute
- Provide a weekly status of all outstanding correspondences and foll
ProsFree meals
ConsLunchbreak
5.0
Senior Maintenance Engineer | Dhahran | Dec 6, 2019
Productive challenging and enjoyable company
I work 5 days a week 7 am until 3 pm.learned lots of experience and applied my educational experience in engineering and management. Working as Mechanical Engineer with Maintenance & Project Support Group, Materials Handling Engineering & Support Division, Materials Planning & Systems Department from 1990-2012 involved in all kind of BI 1900 Projects and Maintenance of SAUDI ARAMCO facilities; I am also involved with consultancy on business, Planning and Budget scheduling for future projects including contracts procurement and implementation ; prior to this, I was a Consultant, Mechanical Engineer with Electro-watt- Bechtel Projects on Aluminum Bahrain for their 640 Megawatts Power Plant Combined Cycle Process on mechanical, civil and utility lines, I am also a mechanical designer and process, production controller with Phillips Electrical Company in Manila and Chief Process Engineer, Product Design with Delta Motors Corporations, automotive assembly plant in Metro- Manila. I am a computer literate completed advance studies on computers and teaches computer course and can operate, produce programs and design using Microsoft products, auto-cad 2004; micro-stations 8e; excel; access; windows XP; Office 2003; and other software. Furthermore, also working as a part-time supporter as a consultant for Aims International Design & General Services Group at present. I have extensive experienced in Utilities having the course completed at King Fahad University Petroleum & Minerals las
High Saudi management turn over, glass walls and ceilings for expats
Working level peers (including most of the young Saudis I met) were professional and enjoyable to work with. In my group the projects were real as they had been vetted and deemed important for maintaining capability, but there was clearly a lot of waste, overstaffed ineffective initiatives, and fiefdom building all around. Control of business processes showed high variability. The Saudi supervisor level and up had a lot of turn over and there was also high variability in the skills and attitudes of the leadership. The power distance is too large. The CEO is never seen or heard, except for the obligatory letter at the expected times.
In 2020 they laid off hundreds of expats, irrespective of the needs and workloads of their divisions. At least I was in good company as many of my good friends and I were forced to quickly pack up, pull our kids out of their schools and social circles, and exit the kingdom. The expat community in Dhahran was amazing but it's being decimated. Work life balance, vacation time, overall pay and benefits were good, but they are all being eroded. There are a lot of serious sacrifices being there. Be cautious when considering making that move.
ProsExcellent opportunity to work with a truly diverse workforce., Central location provides excellent travel opportunities, Freedom to explore Saudi Arabia, Europe, Africa and Asia., Working in a Muslim nation helps calibrate what you have read in mainstream media., Most of the Muslims I worked with were conservative peace loving and kind.
ConsVery difficult to move from position you are hired into., Promotions and transfers are mostly for Saudis making career growth difficult., Rights freedoms and transparency in Saudi Arabia are still a question mark.
Good Paying company with Supervisor who empowers employee
Saudi Aramco is one of the biggest oil supplier in the world, working here is challenging and rewarding at the same time. My division- Office Services, focus is on giving services to all office users in the company, which includes request for office renovation, toilet and conference room upgrades and building new office buildings.
The work here is challenging because we are always in time pressure. For example, a newly transferred Manager is requesting for full office renovation of a wing that has a capacity of 200 office users, most of the request will require us to finish the job on a short period to avoid disturbing the daily operation of the requestor. As an estimator and work control of projects team, I make sure that I can review the design and produce justifiable cost estimate which includes materials and manpower to be used in the project. In addition, I need to submit all of the documents to the Contracts department for bidding of the contractors and afterwards doing planning with them. All of this must be done quickly and with less or zero mistakes.
Though it is stressful at times, the job and environment is rewarding. Even though I' m a contractual employee, Aramco pays its people well. Aside from monetary reward, the feeling of facing all those challenges and meeting all deadlines are very fulfilling.
Overall, I could say that working in Aramco is like studying in a University. It is challenging most of the time but after the project is delivered, it is v
ProsWorking and learning from the best Engineers in middle east
ConsSaudi Arabia does not offer resident VISA. When you turn 60 years old, you need to go back in your home country.
Play billards and snokers with my Filipino friends
As an Experienced, Hardworking and Multi-tasking Administrative Assisstant/Unplace High Skilled Clerk, I was employed by Saudi Aramco Dental Services Department, beside the Saudi Aramco Medical Center in Dhahran and my working hours are from 7:00 AM. to 4:00 P.M., and my dayoffs are Thursday and Friday. I was also temporary assigned as an employee's vacation reliever in Abqaiq and Udhailiyah, and I was fortunately rehired in May 1990 to August 1992, as Statistical Assistant in Planning and Scheduling Division, Resources Planning Department, Aramco Engineering in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia. During the time of my long employment with Saudi Aramco, I personally found out that Saudi Aramco is one of the good oil companies in the Middle East with the best management of respected Saudi Arabs, where I enjoyed meeting different very nice people with different Nationalities with their different good cultures, especially my friendly Saudis co-employees which it's really very for me to forget. During the time of Ramadan, it is the most hardest part of my job when I was permanently assigned in Al-Hasa Dental Clinic because I wake up very early in the morning to report to work from 6:00 A.M. and dismissed at 3:00 P.M., where I travel by service bus from Abqaiq Camp to Al-Hasa and vice-versa. The most enjoyable part of my job was when I have an overtime because I earned much money to financially support the needs of my family especially the educational support of my sons in the Philippines
A good working environment, good support from management, and an laid back lifestyle supported by the company in provided, gated and secure compound.
It has been a good working environment, and I have been here twice , once from 1985 to 2001, and then returning from 2006 to 2014.
the professional environment is very challenging, but enjoyable. Management is a bit bureaucratic, but that’s to be expected in a 56,000 employee mega-company. coworkers are mainly Saudis, but there is a very significant number of expatriates, so the work environment is very multicultural.
My typical work day is a combination of laboratory research coordination, technical mentoring, and operational consulting to producing (completion, stimulation), development (field and drilling) and engineering groups with in Aramco. The best part of the job is the diversity of issues i need to handle on a day to day. I am team leader for number of field development teams, solving a number of filed wide producing issues (covering all Saudi fields). This a technically demanding environment for the professional.
Hardest part of he job revolves and solving inter-cultural issues within teams, and equipment procurement issues for day to day operations in my research teams.
.
ProsAll living facilities provided by the company, good operational resources, highly challenging professional environment, diverse multi-cultural teams. Fair compensation package
Consliving and working in the middle east, 8000 miles from home
Smile daily in the morning and love your work and submit complete report
Brief the boss about update of the company work requirement and accomplishment. Maintain behavior based safety among the key personnel and establish good safety culture within the organization.
Safety Management System must be on-line, if required. Distribute information that require new business job, for follow-up and feedback and establish a better inter-action with all the employees especially to the boss.
The hardest part of my job is the lack of support from the management dealing with budget and lack of cooperation from some Unit Head or Section Heads.
The most enjoyable pat of my job if my expectations of my target to accomplish is completed. Submit report with confidence and to include the cooperation of our contractors key personnel in closing any gap and concerns that has an impact on the project accomplishment.
Very happy if all the eight long form contractors key personnel submit their reports on time such as the following;
Safety - to maintain ZERO HARM (Lives and Properties)
Quality Control-to maintain quality standard at the highest level
Production Progress-meet the required forecast based on projections and milestone.
To provide more ideas and to innovate the work requirement into the introduction digital technology.
ProsBetter company incentives based on sales target and with free meals
ConsTo work full time with overtime when required
Questions And Answers about Saudi Aramco
What is the work environment and culture like at Saudi Aramco?
Asked Sep 28, 2016
Task based with no vision, goal, or planning. Work on one emergency today, drop it and work on the next one tomorrow. No accomplishment or sense of achievement at all and nothing that you do really means anything or comes to fruition. It’s drive to work, spend your day doing meaningless task, wash, rinse, repeat. It was miserable. After awhile the money did not matter and we packed and left.
Answered Aug 18, 2018
Stressful and unpredictable........more than normal.
Answered Sep 7, 2017
What is the most stressful part about working at Saudi Aramco?
Asked Sep 28, 2016
Work culture is toxic. Everything is a game between warring factions led by saudi managers with one goal in mind: elevate themselves by discrediting their rivals. Staying balanced on that tightrope is exhausting and it isn’t worth it. Avoid this company unless you really need the money and nothing else.
Answered Aug 18, 2018
Very high security and harsh environment.
Answered Apr 5, 2017
How long does it take to get hired from start to finish at Saudi Aramco? What are the steps along the way?
Asked Aug 11, 2016
3 months. 1st Step: Workshop/Interview/Job offer if passed 2nd Step: Medical 3rd Step: Visa processing 4th Step: Flight Schedule to place/country of work
Answered May 18, 2017
It takes around six months from start to finish.
Answered Mar 11, 2017
How are the working hours at Saudi Aramco?
Asked Jul 27, 2016
40h/wk, 5 days/wk, 30days paid vacation
Answered Apr 5, 2017
Day shift 7:30 to 4:30 PM
Answered Nov 24, 2016
What is the best part of working at Saudi Aramco?
Asked Jul 15, 2020
A co-operative platform of diverse international intellectual brain power constantly evolving & peacefully co-existing in the midst of thousands year old traditions.
Answered Nov 12, 2020
Work is so nice to be performed because Saudi Aramco invest a significant budget in data collection
