BP unveils hybrid model of working with option to work from home

Oil major BP is introducing a new hybrid model of working for staff who had previously been based in the office full-time, balancing working in the office with working remotely from home – typically in a 60:40 split.

A spokesperson for BP told Offshore Energy this week that this new working model is part of the modernisation of BP and part of its major ‘reinvent’ reorganisation into a focused and integrated, leaner and flatter organisation.

The spokesperson explained: “Over the past year, we have learnt how effectively people can work remotely, but also the importance of collaboration and innovation and how this is still most effective face-to-face. The new model – BP work/life – recognises the value and importance of both.

“We believe it will offer individuals and teams a more flexible, engaging and dynamic way of working and enable us all to take greater ownership over how we work. We introduced this at BP-wide staff townhalls in mid-February”.

For the great majority of office-based workers across BP, this will balance the time spent working together in the office with time working remotely at home or at other locations.

For most this will likely be an approximately 60:40 workplace:home split – with full-time employees typically in the office three days a week.  

BP said that some roles will require people to be in the office or their prime location every day, and some roles will require greater travel or connecting digitally with colleagues, with less time in the office. There may also be some colleagues who prefer working in the office more.

“We will be changing and reconfiguring our offices over time to support and facilitate more collaboration and teamwork, creating more flexible and dynamic environments to share ideas, hold meetings and work together”, BP stated.

BP expects that the hybrid ways of working will be rolled out this summer, with implementation managed locally, subject to BP and local COVID-19 guidelines.

As previously reported, BP last year said it would reduce its global workforce by 10,000 as part of its plans to make the organization smaller and fit for the energy transition, which were accelerated due to the coronavirus crisis. BP’s global workforce at the time totalled around 70,000.

In related news, BP earlier this year drastically cut its fossil fuel exploration team in an attempt to keep up with the fast-moving revolution focused around renewables and climate change.

BP’s team of geologists, engineers, and scientists have been cut to less than 100 from a peak of more than 700 a few years ago, according to company sources cited by Reuters.

This is all part of a climate change-driven overhaul started last year by the company’s CEO Bernard Looney. Hundreds have left the oil exploration team in recent months, either transferred to help develop new low-carbon activities or laid off, current and former employees said.