The Times: ‘The Pearls of Shell’
April 16, 2008
Dominic Walsh: City Diary
— A colleague visiting Shell’s group head office in The Hague the other day picked up a booklet in the foyer entitled Shell Group Headquarters House Rules. On the inside front page is a section called “The Pearls of Shell”, which says: “The people employed at Shell are the pearls of our company. They impart lustre to our business and deliver first-class performance, day in day out. That is why it is vital to cherish their wellbeing, health and safety.” There is more guff about “treating one another with respect” but by now you have doubtless already reached for the sick bucket.
http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/columnists/article3753289.ece
This website and sisters royaldutchshellplc.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.
Royal Dutch Shell conspired directly with Hitler, financed the Nazi Party, was anti-Semitic and sold out its own Dutch Jewish employees to the Nazis. Shell had a close relationship with the Nazis during and after the reign of Sir Henri Deterding, an ardent Nazi, and the founder and decades long leader of the Royal Dutch Shell Group. His burial ceremony, which had all the trappings of a state funeral, was held at his private estate in Mecklenburg, Germany. The spectacle (photographs below) included a funeral procession led by a horse drawn funeral hearse with senior Nazis officials and senior Royal Dutch Shell directors in attendance, Nazi salutes at the graveside, swastika banners on display and wreaths and personal tributes from Adolf Hitler and Reichsmarschall, Hermann Goring. Deterding was an honored associate and supporter of Hitler and a personal friend of Goring.
Deterding was the guest of Hitler during a four day summit meeting at Berchtesgaden. Sir Henri and Hitler both had ambitions on Russian oil fields. Only an honored personal guest would be rewarded with a private four day meeting at Hitler’s mountain top retreat.
IN JULY 2007, MR BILL CAMPBELL (ABOVE, A RETIRED GROUP AUDITOR OF SHELL INTERNATIONAL SENT AN EMAIL TO EVERY UK MP AND MEMBER OF THE HOUSE OF LORDS: 
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A head-cut image of Alfred Donovan (now deceased) appears courtesy of The Wall Street Journal.
The Pearls of Shell
Who writes this guff? Employees over the past decade or so have been treated as disposable commodities that are bought or sold as the whims of management diktat. If a senior honcho need to demonstrate his (and increasingly her) machismo then staff are disposed of with the minimum of human concern and as quickly as possible (e.g. the IT lot at present). If the business somewhere gets in trouble then the cookie jar is taken out of the drawer and hirings are made to plug short term operational problems. Professionals from anywhere are hired in on a money no object basis when the going gets tough (e.g. Sakhalin at present where the earnings for qualified contractors are enormous – $1000 a day for an HSE expert for example and with annual contracts). Where in the past there was a career structure in place now there is an ever stronger preference for hiring contractors across the board. Where in the past key businesses like Retail marketing were handled by in house and experienced employees now key jobs are contracted out to the least cost operator. And businesses are disposed of whimsically and their employees given the boot without fear or favour.
Where in the past there was a proper remuneration structure in place based on the principle of payment in return for the difficulty/impact of the job (measured by proper Job Evaluation) now it is a free for all and, at the very top, the high priced help grants itself obscenely high rewards – just because they can.
And the culture, which once was collegiate and sympathetic, is now competitive and selfish all too often. The satisfactions attached to running your own show in your own country have gone and key decisions in respect of a particular country or region are increasingly taken centrally by people remote from the business.
Employee benefits used to build synergy and cooperation (e.g. sports and social clubs) but these “distractions” have mostly gone and when they do remain (e.g. the “Lensbury Club”) they are regarded as opportunities to make money rather than to reward staff.
I could go on – and no doubt I will!
Paddy