Petrobras Staffers Idly Killing Time After Expansion Plan Gutted

  • Demoted managers fret job loss as company focuses on cost cuts
  • Brazilian state oil producer seeks to save $440 million a year
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Inside the new Petrobras -- less ambitious, more focused on cutting costs -- life for many remaining employees has slowed. Alarmingly so in some cases.

Take the engineer who was recently stripped of his title as a manager and forced to take a 40 percent pay cut. He’s spending much of his time nowadays reading newspapers in a semi-deserted office space. With two kids and a big mortgage, he’s hoping the Brazilian state-run oil giant will offer a new dismissal package.