laborer

cnc machinist

inspector

quality assurance inspector

service technician

I'm posting this because I just heard the same radio ad which had me apply for a job with NOV and thought I should relay my experience and thoughts of them. 

Do not under any cirumstances, no matter how desperate you are, apply for any of the jobs at the 610 15 Avenue facility in Nisku.

The department I worked in was called the Reline dept. and it was by far the worst job I had and the worst company I worked for.  I knew going in they operated with something called a continental shift which was similar to a rotating 12 hour shift work I worked at other companies but the morning and night shifts were fixed and you worked 12 hour shifts.

But even though you worked 12 hours shifts, there was not a single cent of OT pay and what was worse, even when you worked on a statutory holiday, you still received regular pay and even worse yet, if you didn't work on a stat holiday, you didn't get paid at all because of the stat holiday pay qualification policy of the company and the way they were able to skirt the labour code. 

And if you're the hard working type, you'll always be picking up the slack for the lazy ones who just don't give a care doing as little as possible before they can get away with it and are only there to collect their paycheques.

What was worse was that the management pushed the hard working guys all the time and left the lazy ones alone.  I've never worked in a place like that.

What finally convinced me to leave that company hownever was during last christmas season when the workload was low due to the machine that feeds work to the rest of the department caught on fire all because of the management's neglect to properly maintain and clean the exhaust duct work periodically.  So, they forced everyone to stay home for 3 weeks without any pay before and after Christmas time.

Please read fairly.  To reiterate, all of us were forced to stay home without any pay because the management neglected to perform regular maintenance on a machine and it caught on fire.  This was not any of our fault and the blame fell entirely on the management.

The fire itself was on a scale for which the fire dept. should've been called. It required close to 10 full fire extinguishers to put the fire out.  Some guys just ran away while some of us held ground and hoped for the best while emptying one fire extinguisher after another.

So, when they forced us to stay at home, we were forced to use up all our holiday hours and of course for all of us that was nowhere enough for the hours lost from being forced to stay home, so we were just left without pay for all that time.  During the christmas time no less.

You just don't treat people like that.  And this is why the vast majority of the workers they hire are visible minorities whom they know will keep quiet no matter how unfair their labour practices are and will just take whatever the management does to them.

It's a place that will always try to screw the workers over as much as possible before they can get away with it.  All of us were always looking over our shoulders always worried what was next by the management to screw us over with.  The worker morale was always low there.

There's also a machine shop in that facility and from talking with some of the guys working there, things weren't that much different.  The hard working guys are always picked on and are always pushed harder while the lazy good for nothing idiots have it easy and good.  The morale with those guys also seemed pretty low too.

And when I was there, they were always fearful that the continental shift will be forced upon them too.

I'm sure NOV as a whole is a good company to work for.  They must be doing something right when they're a multinational, multibillion dollar company.  That's what attracted me to apply for a job with them in the first place.  But the 610 - 15 Avenue reline facility in Nisku is just one big joke of an operation.

Stay away from applying for any of the jobs there.

In the oil and gas industry, projects may come and go. There are times that we are so busy and need to work 12 hours Monday to Friday and 8 hours on Saturday to catch up the deadlines. There are times that we have nothing except to do yard clean up and organize raw materials.  It feels bad to see co workers gone (laid-off) because of the situation, like no projects. When this happen i always ask myself why do they have to let the workers to work hard for a few months or years for them to be out of work when they're done. Something is not right. I've been in this company for more than 7 years and the trend of the production are always the same, up and down. We are lucky if the projects could last for 2 years before it slows down again. In spite of all these, i did enjoy working with them. Its fun most of the time. I was laid off twice and come back to work  because of the challenges ahead. I love to learn new stuff  this is where i enjoy experiencing them. When they give me this new challenge to Lead one section of the production line, at first i got scared knowing that i have to deal with the management and group's expectation. But i passed the challenges, i survived and still on my position as the Lead person. I'm glad that i have work with people that understands me and the way i lead and make decisions. Since then everything went well and production did goes high and surpass the management expectations and in return they are happy for us. I just hope that i wont be laid-off again since we are currently under no projects / slow down time. My group including me are now temporarily assign to do other stuff to help other sections meet they're deadline. Feels like this is another scary moment.

Receiving and shipping in National oilwel Varco is fast-paced job requiring to work 10-12 hours everyday. I like my job, because it teach me how to be responsible for receiving many parts and orders everyday and give me the full confidence to dael with many vendors and big market suppliers in the my town, country  and in Texas USA.
My direct supervisor train me very well that I became independant after one week and capable to drive electric and poepane powered fork lifts.

The most enjoyable part in this company and in my new warehouse that they have a new table tenise table and rackets, so everyday I played in my breaks a lot of funny games and I made a good relation with my team members in the warehouse and the management.
The hardest part of the job that I have to find the required parts that have been required to builed the new Draw works and send it to the mechanical and electrical department as fast as I can with the health and safety hazards that I might face it from driving the electric forklift inside the narrow isles.

The salary and benefits were excellent for my position.
Opportunity for advancement and education is quite good.
Professional work environment; clean, organized, well maintained.
The company is pretty good at ensuring you have what you need to do your job effectively and efficiently.
Overall, I LOVED working for this company. I was able to perform a variety of tasks, take on new responsibilities, experience some wonderful opportunities (ie; Oil & Gas Trade Show, Golf tournaments etc)
The down side is that it IS the oil and gas industry so you do not always have job security. I was sure I would retire with the company, however, with the downturn in 2013, there were thousands of layoffs, and unfortunately, I was one of them. 
I would go back to my position with the company immediately if I had the opportunity.

A typical day at work for me would be going into work at 7 am. Once there, I would clock in and go up to my bay. I would then go about my normal duties which consisted of:

- Preparing hydraulic drives and any other necessary pieces to be painted.
- Moving and sorting out my bay with different pieces of equipment
- Preparing spray-gun and PPE
- Painting all that needed to be 
- Going back inside and helping co-workers with anything they need help with.
- Building hydraulic skid units/hydraulic drives

The hardest part of my job was all the manual lifting and moving of equipment. anywhere from 40-400 lbs. The most enjoyable part of my job was the people I worked with. They made my job a lot easier to enjoy over-all.

What is the best part of working at the company?
Company is more focused on wht they call “Efficiency” making almost all service technicians work like horses. Will tell you they never micro-manage but all eyes are on you when you struggle only to find out you are on your own to solve siituations that are eveyday problems. Good benefits, but you will choose to have a better working environment after awhile. 

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
The pressure of management pushing you to more than what is actually feasible and normal. They will not show it to you but you will feel it.

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
It’s okay. Nothing really special. There are other better companies out there.

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
Nothing special. Could be a stressful at times and could be so so.

It is oil & gas, so boom/bust cycle. I was hired immediately pending a drug test and a physical fitness test both administered at the same location of the company's choosing.

I was on one of three shifts that allowed the shop to operate 24/7. We worked from 5-5; four days, four nights, four off. It did take some getting used to, but the standard overtime earned was a nice bump in pay. When we were busy and able to work additional overtime if we wanted, there was a huge jump in what you could earn. There were some basic rules that we had to follow to be able to do this. As long as you were an honorable person, this was easy to do and there was minimal supervision for people that proved themselves. This made for a fantastic work environment and one I sorely miss (ever since the price of oil dropped in, or about 2013).

-Management is useless, takes sides of useless people.
-Management was ALWAYS spying and watching.
-Management would belittle, insult, and treat you like a number
-Management would push to do things that you are not trained on, but, trainer lie and say you are shown when you are not trained on that task.
-Management lacked people skills and was less intelligent than a Hammer.
-Co-Workers were all foreign and did not speak English well, this includes the "trainers"
-Training was a joke and very long.
-After your "training" is complete, you get the joy of being laid off and paraded out In front of your now ex-coworkers.
-Any and All equipment is very poorly maintained.
-Forced overtime everyday with early start hours.
-Proper training and certificates were never given/trained on, example crane. Needed all day every day and no training provided.


Canadian RRSP plans were taken away. Multiple teams of long-term dedicated finance staff (some 15-20 years employed) were put through months and months of a new system implementation - all the while the US had plans to get rid of every single one of them and were using the employees to get what they need - which was give jobs to Americans with zero indication that was the end goal. Never once did we feel we were working ourselves out of a job - they were very supportive of "teaching us the new way" that they knew would never matter anyway once we finished what they needed. Very deceptive.
This company has zero values when it comes to respecting their employees and will do whatever it takes to get what they need. 
If you are looking for a long term place where you feel valued by the company - NOV is not the place for you.

-on busy season a typical day at work is lots of things to do and learn
--i learned various equipment such as Skidsteer and forklift and in-house overhead crane operation and lots of material handling and management work involving in shipping and receiving in a warehouse/shop environment.
-hardest part of the job is when hoisting the rods loading and uploading it in a trailers, for a indoor crane operator like me, that really need precision, timing and cautions all the time in the work place, to eliminate any accident that may occur in the shop.
-enjoyable part of the job is everyones cooperation in doing their part in the operation of the shop.

Top Job Titles	Average salary
Laborer 3 salaries reported	$20.83 per hour
Cnc machinist 3 salaries reported	$32.67 per hour
Inspector 5 salaries reported	$18.75 per hour
Quality assurance inspector 3 salaries reported	$21.67 per hour
Service technician 1 salary reported	$27.50 per hour

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