Shell is exploring potential ownership alternatives .... Multiple options are under consideration.
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@e5 Maybe the company is truly in a dire situation.
The four contractors in EPCH.
Optimizing or increasing the utilization of real estate is probably not going to have the best results.
There were/are a lot of really passive aggressive to deliberately really aggressive behaviors in the cubicle world. Loud talking meetings held at your cubicle. Spilling sugar all around the "energy hubs". Hiding the coffee. "making messes on the floor in the restroom"
Workers who feel abused are not fun to be around. There's too much antisocial stuff. Crowding people even more is not going to help this. If anything it will make it worse. It is like the Youtube videos on mouse utopia (not related Disney... quite the opposite)
@cb We do. It's a bit under-the-radar, but we do. And we go to the office, consistently. Cash-generating business.
@cj
I had to seek cognitive behavioral therapy through EAP due to intense workload and harassment at woodcreek and the first thing my therapist said when I told her I worked at Shell: “oh another Shell employee? Seems like our office is providing services to the entire company!”
I don’t know whether it was funny or sad, but I was not at all surprised
@e5 institutional shareholders were pi---d off that we cut the dividend during Covid. We need to “pay them back” a few more billion for the lost years between 2020-2024. Gotta contribute to those yachts, they aren’t cheap. WS’s hiatus when left shell upstream to go to J.P. Morgan and then back likely got him in bed with nefarious people. I had to bake in a little sensationalized conspiracy theory.
it’s so weird how we have record profits and then the leadership team acts like we’re in some dire situation where we’re broke so we all need to make sacrifices
and than at the same time, we do have an actual fire situation which is that we have no assets in the pipeline but they just won’t acknowledge this as a problem
overall my assessment is that they’re bleeding the company try to enrich their keys and bail before we have oil and gas to sell. and along the way, they want more attrition. correct me if i’m wrong but wael has even said they want 5%
All part of the best in basin / gap to potential. TQ is 3 FTE per desk but we’ve got to get those numbers to 4 FTE per desk if we want to earn the right to attract the capital needed to keep the lights and AC on. Coincidentally this may help in those terribly mediocre natural attrition numbers , 2.5%, those are rookie numbers . We need 6% to even approach average. You can be sure of Shell.
@OP it means they (real estate) are being responsible stewards for the situation execs and business practices have put Shell in (not enough discovery/future production to warrant future projects, thus staff). Geologists, go find some ... No, alot of, oil, preferably in countries and water where Americans can work... Because I'm selfish and like working for shell.... Obviously this post won't go well since this site attracts mostly pessimistic (or so called realistic) people
@cj agreed, some of us flat out refused to participate when they brought in someone from HR to talk about how shell cares about mental health. These people must spend their time in a dark room without access to the outside world. They were simply oblivious to the irony.
mental health and town halls are pure propanganda designed to placate the masses
i’ve never even seen a single meeting cancelled due to “quiet period” but the VPs act like it’s vacation or something. absolute joke
@bj ummm do people have permanent desks now?? I’d love one! Why the fu-k is this relatively basic accommodation so fu--ing foreign. We’re going to make businesses spend millions on BS support functions to talk about care but you can’t have a desk. Oh but we want you to come into the office, but you have can’t have workspace for yourself. Walk around campus until you find an open desk. It’ll be fun!
@bj that psychological safety/mental health stuff Shell is pushing is complete bullsh-t.
Nothing new. Same deal with the old triangle buildings. We built them, sold them, leased them, rebought them, watched raccoons takeover, and tore them down. Something something, tax benefits, deductions, depreciation, blah blah, and presto! Like magic, we come out ahead, at least on the books.
Rinse and repeat with the new campus. We’re just moving on step 2 now that it’s built out and needs to be maintained.
We are the owners of being hacked - Wael Sawan 2026
https://www.reuters.com/legal/government/philips-shell-targeted-by-hacking-group-2026-08-13/
Which of the following best completes Wael’s statement?
Wael: “We do not believe we are the natural owners of ___.”
A. this chemical portfolio
B. Shell Woodcreek
C. SPDC / Shell’s Nigerian onshore oil business
D. the Singapore Energy & Chemicals Park
E. Shell’s 16.125% interest in Colonial Enterprises / Colonial Pipeline
F. Jiffy Lube International
G. Premium Velocity Auto
H. Shell’s South African downstream business and ~580 service stations
I. Shell’s 50% interest in Na Kika plus the Coulomb tieback in the Gulf of America
J. Sprng Energy — Shell’s Indian solar and wind portfolio
K. Shell’s European onshore renewables portfolio
L. apparently, anything that can be sold
“We do not believe we are the natural owners of Shell Woodcreek.” Wael says.
Wael: “This is Shell.”
We haven’t had permanent desks since before the pandemic
U won't have a consistent desk anymore. Say goodbye to a family photo or anything to make you feel comfortable. HSSE = psychological safety? Hardly.
If this is true than we been lied to here at STCH saying they could not move us over there . If they have so much open space they could move us there but if there going to sell it off which might be true than that’s why we are not moving .
@OP they could bring in the operators of the previous Rijswijk cafeteria to improve the value of the complex.
We’re selling or leasing out the unused buildings. I heard this through the grapevine months ago
Courtesy of Claude
Here's the plain-English version:
What they're actually saying: The Woodcreek campus is too empty. Too many people either left or work from home, so Shell is squeezing everyone into Buildings E and F and shutting down (or offloading) the rest.
"Exploring potential ownership alternatives" — this is the big one buried in the middle. They're likely looking at selling the campus, possibly to a developer, and either leasing back part of it or moving to a landlord model. "Multiple options under consideration" means no deal is signed yet but the decision to stop owning it outright is basically made.
"Better align our footprint with current utilization" — the buildings are half-empty and it shows on the balance sheet.
"Strengthen collaboration and workplace vibrancy" — packing people into fewer buildings so the office doesn't feel like a ghost town, which also makes the 3-day-a-week mandate easier to enforce and harder to quietly ignore.
"OTM and STCH will continue to support their respective businesses" — preemptively telling downtown and the tech center not to panic... which, if anything, signals leadership knows people will wonder who's next.
"Change can affect us each in different ways" — we know this reads as cost-cutting and you're going to lose your desk, your parking spot, or both. Read the FAQ before emailing HR.
Net-net: real estate consolidation to cut costs, probable sale of the campus, dressed up as an employee-experience upgrade.
It means that they want to sell it and move to being renters.
Then much later on, they can move to something cr-ppier.
You should have noticed by now that all Shell leadership does is cut. Just assume they’re cutting people and costs and you will always be right.
You can also throw that email into an AI and ask it to translate the babble. It will agree with me.
Can make everyone (more) miserable and maybe boost turnover a bit.
Colette wants to move everyone into her New Orleans Riverside Project.