National oil companies (NOCs) in the Middle East have a number of options to help them solve the skills gap and meet nationalisation targets, according to a new report.
Deloitte’s whitepaper “Deployment of nationals in a post-oil economy”, said that managing to recruit, retain and develop the most diverse range of talent available are some of the main challenges faced in the region.
Despite vast oil reserves, the regional sector is also over-reliant on an aging workforce, and a lack of skilled young talent.
According to the whitepaper, to address these challenges, companies can implement a number of strategies or programs designed to yield short to medium term results. These are:
• Graduate programs: aimed at national undergraduate students offering the chance to gain diverse experience through systematic job rotations in different sectors within oil and gas, in upstream, midstream and downstream.
• Women’s integration programs: aimed at taking advantage of an underexploited female talent pool by finding creative ways to attract women to the oil and gas industry and developing their skills.
• Coaching programs for leaders: aimed at developing technical, commercial, and general leadership capabilities of NOC executives to help them navigate their companies through the dynamic and ever-changing nature of the oil and gas industry.
• Partnering with universities: NOCs are partnering with and/or sponsoring local and regional universities to receive a steady stream of qualified national graduates.
“Oil and gas companies face a dilemma in that on the one hand they are being asked by governments to reduce their heavy dependence on expatriates yet they find themselves faced with a shortfall in skilled and qualified nationals with which to replace them,” said Kenneth McKellar, partner in charge of the Energy and Resources industry at Deloitte Middle East.
“There are a number of solutions out there, some which need to be taken by the companies themselves, and some by governments. When there is a combined effort from the private and public sector, the talent crisis would be on its way to being solved.”
