Chevron Will Lift Hiring, Salary Freezes

Chevron Corp., which froze hiring and pay early this year as part of a retrenchment that will eliminate 9,000 jobs, has said it will lift the freezes Jan. 1. It disclosed the actions in an in-house publication.

The company said the action does not signal improved economic conditions or any relaxation of its cost-cutting measures. It was decribed as “a return to fairly normal procedures,” such as replacing employees who leave through normal attrition.

“The belt was tightened substantially and it remains tight, but you can’t not hire people or not give merit raises forever,” a spokesman said Wednesday.

The cutbacks were spurred by this year’s collapse in oil prices and are similar to actions taken by most oil producers. In recent months, however, prices have climbed moderately and Chevron’s financial showing has been better than that of many major oil firms.

Chevron is winding up a series of layoffs, early retirement programs and other actions that will leave it with 52,000 employees worldwide at the end of the year, down about 15% from 61,000 at the end of 1985.

The pay freeze had applied to 16,600 of Chevron’s 45,800 U.S. employees. The rest, mostly clerical and blue-collar workers, were exempt from the freeze and received merit raises in May.

Salary increases will begin Jan. 1 under a plan that ends March 31, 1988. The spokesman said the merit increases will vary in size but probably will be lower than those in the recent past.