Left turn: 'Revolution' hits Venezuela's oil culture
At the gleaming offices of Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA), the country's state-owned oil giant, a corporate revolution is under way. Nine-to-fivers have come to think of themselves as patriots. Senior managers now eat at the same cafeteria tables as secretaries. And former soldiers have left the battlefield for the boardroom.
After PDVSA workers walked off the job last December in a bid to force Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez from office, the fiery populist hitched his social revolution to the $110 billion business: He purged the company's ranks and installed his own people. What was widely regarded as a world-class energy company before the strike has a new philosophy: to help the poor. And a new corporate culture is gradually taking shape, injected with the president's particular brand of leftist ideology.
Whether or not this do-good idealism can prevail amid the high-pressure realities of running the world's fifth-largest oil supplier remains to be seen. For a country that relies on PDVSA for 50 percent of its federal budget, the success or failure of this massive corporate social experiment could have rip- ple effects throughout the country - even the world - for years to come.
"The old culture is dead, and a new one is developing," says Omar Enrique Perez, a compensation analyst with 15 years at the firm, who is working to slash salaries across the board - including his own. "Because we feel we have to do something about the problems that are confronting our country, and we believe our work will help Venezuela develop."
While PDVSA's rhetorical about-face has yet to lift up the poor - even in the stone-broke villages that surround the oil refineries - change has swept through the company's Caracas headquarters.
In addition to the classless cafeteria, volunteerism is up, and salaries are said to be on their way down. The dress code has been loosened, and in some departments the high-five has replaced the curt nod in the hallways.
"There has been a change of mentality in all levels of the company," says a member of PDVSA's board of directors, who speaks on the condition of anonymity. "We believe that PDVSA should be subordinated to the needs of the state. For us, job No. 1 is fighting poverty."
The main force reshaping the company's philosophy is Chávez himself. The former paratrooper has handpicked company managers to promote his vision for a more egalitarian society and has vowed to plow more oil profits into social programs.
PDVSA has been staggered by the dismissal of 17,000 workers, nearly half the workforce, forcing the company to bring in help from private industry and, controversially, the ranks of the active-duty military. One commander, who helped put down the short-lived coup against Chávez a year ago by driving a tank up to the gates of the presidential palace, is now assisting with restructuring efforts now under way. Another soldier uses a military metaphor to explain the role of the Army in the oil company.
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