Shell offloads contractors in shake-up by new CEO

SHELL is cutting hundreds of contractors from its workforce amid a major efficiency drive by the oil giant’s new CEO as he targets bigger shareholder returns

- Simon Hunt

Scores of contracts are either being cut short or not being renewed. The bulk of the contractors who face the axe sit in the firm’s IT wing, where permanent staff represent a minority of the workforce in a number of teams.

Company insiders also say work social events have been cut back, and contractors have been barred from several events, to which only permanent staff are now invited.

“The morale inside the IT teams feels low right now,” one IT worker told the Standard.

Shell CEO Wael Sawan has vowed to aggressively target profitability and bigger dividends for shareholders since stepping into the role at the start of the year.