The energy industry must bolster and replenish its workforce. Rearing home-grown talent is the answer.
The oil and gas industry is facing catastrophe. It comes not in the form of deflated prices or dwindling energy stocks, but in human resources. During the late 1980s and early 1990s, the slump in oil prices resulted in significant numbers of skilled workers being deprived of jobs in the energy industry.
Not only did such workers abandon the industry, but future generations were also discouraged from pursuing careers in energy.
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During these low profitability years the industry neglected investment in its workforce and it is now feeling the consequences in the form of a crunch.
Targeting youngsters while they are still in education and thinking about what they will do in the future is paramount. – Jackie Allison, regional recruitment manager MENA, Weatherford.
Such labour shortages are undoubtedly felt worldwide, but it is in the Middle East that the problem is most severe. The energy industry must now take major steps to remedy such losses. Bringing expatriates into the region to fill vacancies may provide a quick-fix solution, but long-term measures are being loudly called for.
“We need to highlight the interesting and exciting roles available within the oil and gas industry. It is a truly dynamic business that is at the forefront of technological development. This message should reach high school students before they make crucial choices about their future,” explains Sudhir Pai, Schlumberger’s recruiting manager.
Finding answers
“Attracting candidates is becoming more challenging than ever before,” says Elias Dib, human resources manager for Baker Hughes in the Middle East and South Asia. The energy industry needs to find out why.
“Naturally worker shortages are going to be bigger in the Middle East,” explains Ohadi. “Middle Eastern economies are far behind those of the top ten worldwide and the region’s education system is lacking – we do not have a single university that stands out in the international rankings, let alone a technical university that compares to the standards of the rest of the world.
Given such educational shortfalls, the Middle East is losing its brightest stars to well-established universities in the West. Both students and experienced workers alike are being lured by career opportunities available outside the region.
“The talent that we really need is studying abroad and choosing to work in countries where, in three or four years time they can get citizenship and their children can stay with them,” says Ohadi.
Given increased demand for workers in the industry, those who opt to stay and work in the Middle East have ample job options to choose from. There is fierce competition between companies to attract local talent, adding to recruiting strain. “Competition to attract and retain key talent is increasing. Many economies in the region are developing and as a result the number of job opportunities is also increasing,” says Dib.
While the Middle Eastern energy industry struggles to prevent nationals from leaving the region, companies must lure skilled expatriate workers into the region. This is no mean-feat given negative Western perceptions of the Middle East.
Jackie Allison, Weatherford’s regional recruitment manager for MENA, lists many of the Middle East’s apparent failings: “the high cost of living in recent years, the media portrayal of the Middle East, the lack of people visiting the region for tourism purposes, extreme weather conditions and the quality of life and availability of services and amenities.”
Nationalising the workforce
In reaction to the skills shortages, a group of five international energy companies, led by Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC), set-up the Institute and continue to provide financial backing. Too few Emirati students were entering engineering and technical programmes and, in accordance with worldwide trends, were dismissing science and mathematics in favour of business and arts majors.
“In the case of Abu Dhabi, 90% of the economy is composed of oil and gas, so it is vital that we train people and make sure we have enough skilled workers,” says Ohadi, speaking of the impetus for the creation of the institute.
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“We are tailoring our programmes to meet the needs of the country and the needs of our students. We really want to train people who have a lot of skills and meet international standards, but that also have an understanding for the culture and the critical needs of their own country,” explains Ohadi.
Since its inauguration in 2001, the PI has grown to currently include 1000 undergraduate students (818 male and 219 female) and close to 50 graduate students. The Institute reached a major milestone in June 2006 with the first 44 graduates emerging from the engineering programmes and going on to start their careers within the ADNOC umbrella group of companies.
Regardless of advances that the PI has made in developing new talent, demand still far out-strips supply. “One of ADNOC’s companies has said it needs 3000 engineers this year and if you look at the PI, every year about 100 students graduate, so how many years before we can supply just one company with sufficient workers?” says Ohadi.
Whichever industry can attract the best talent, creative minds and motivated people that industry will be ahead of every other industry. Michael Ohadi, interim president, the Petroleum Institute.
The aim of the PI is to increase the number of workers in Abu Dhabi and attempt to counteract ‘brain-drain’ out of the Middle East. In the past, students would automatically have been sent abroad to study engineering, on scholarships to the EU or US, and may well have stayed.
In contrast, students are now being encouraged to remain in the Middle East and study. “We want to train a workforce that has been born and raised in the UAE,” says Ohadi.
“In the long-term the expectation is that some of the students trained in the PI will go and work for international companies, but really the whole idea is to create a workforce for companies here. For every year of scholarship that students get at the PI, they must spend one year working for an ADNOC company.”
Nurturing our youth
If the number of skilled workers is to be bolstered long-term in the Middle East, individuals must be targeted at an increasingly early age. “Targeting youngsters while they are still in education and thinking about what they will do in the future is paramount,” declares Allison. Such a statement is echoed by Tone Rognstad, vice president – people marketing and attraction at StatoilHydro – “we must make sure young people are attracted to science and mathematics.”
“We need to bring people into science and engineering from a very early age,” says Ohadi. “People often have bad experiences with science while in high school to the extent that they hate science and engineering. We can convert some, but the numbers would still not be as big as we want.
In accordance with such issues, the PI has now opened middle and high schools that aim to prepare students for careers in science and engineering. Both schools open this September and will initially have around 200 students in each, potentially rising to 400 in coming years.
“A great amount of our energy is now spent bringing students from high school around the UAE who are not really at college level. We spend as much as two years with them and help them to improve their English language and science skills before they enter the Institute,” says Ohadi.
Internship programmes are an additional education tool being employed to lure students into the industry. “We offer internships and summer training to support our drive to develop young vigorous individuals,” says Jordan Stringer, regional recruiter – MENA, Weatherford. “Our eight week programmes give students a different perspective – instead of getting information in the classroom, they get practical and hands-on training in the industry.”
The art of attraction
Many of the measures being taken in the oil and gas industry will help create a home-grown workforce in the long-term, but in the short to mid-term, alternative supplies of workers must be found. The Middle East must continue to outsource jobs and entice expatriates into the fold.
The PI is well aware of such a need – they have recently increased the number of expatriate students it teaches from around 10% to 25%. “We encourage all nationalities to apply for our scholarships; now we are advertising in India and Europe and we have a relationship with some universities in the US,” Ohadi explains.
Now more than ever, companies are in competition to attract skilled workers and retain them. “The question is what we are doing in order to position ourselves as an employer of choice. We continuously have to consider different strategic initiatives and remain flexible in this dynamic market,” explains Dib.
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Companies are now looking to enhance their recruitment marketing and branding to improve outside perceptions and offering ever more appealing benefit packages. “We now arrange for our employees to talk to students on campus.
This allows the students to ask questions in an informal setting and gain an accurate picture of what it is like working at Schlumberger,” says Pai.
In-house training academies may also help professional development and retention rates. At the beginning of 2008, Baker Hughes opened its new Education Centre in Dubai to provide technical and non-technical instruction for over 300 students at any time.
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Our sector is now in a much better position due to improved salaries, benefits and professional development, so long-term I think the problem will be cured. Michael Ohadi, interim president, the Petroleum Institute.
Weatherford too are in the process of building a training centre in Abu Dhabi for the next generation of oilfield workers.
“As an industry we really have to strive to create an exciting environment where people are challenged and helped to develop,” says Ohadi.
“We simply do not have long-term track records to show people that they have a future working in the Middle East – this needs to change.”
It’s a man’s world?
Increasing attention is now being placed upon achieving diversity in the Middle East’s workforce.
The oil and gas industry has an image of being male orientated and inhospitable to women. While the nature of the industry will most likely always ensure that men comprise the majority of the ranks, efforts can, and have, been made to attract women.
“The energy industry cannot be too picky and only select 50% of the available talent. It has to be open to everyone – including women,” asserts Ohadi. “We have to change the image of engineering; women think it is a very man-orientated profession where the minute you enter the workforce you have to cut your nails, put a uniform on and be oily and greasy. This is just not true.”
In an effort to makeover the image of engineering, two years ago the PI took its first batch of female students. Their current roster now includes 200 women, expected to graduate in three years time. Long-term goals are lofty though, and ultimately it is hoped that around 800 women will join the PI student body, alongside around 2000 men.
For some time, companies themselves have been a party to efforts to encourage women to join the ranks. “In the early 1990s, we decided to focus on gender diversity. As a result, a growing number of initiatives are in place to adapt the workplace for women,” says Pai.
Still, all companies are quick to press the point that they will not be pursuing a policy of positive discrimination in favour of women. Rather, their recruitment policies are all based on merit of the individual candidate; they want to recruit the best, regardless of gender.
“Particularly in the Middle East, culture is a major reason why so few women are involved in the oil and gas industry – the majority of people think women should just be at home looking after the family,” explains Ohadi.
“I think as we get more examples of successful women in the industry who are able to lead a balanced professional and family life, then other women may be encouraged to apply.”
The future
Efforts being made by the oil, gas and related energy industries will doubtless go some way to bolster their ranks and fight the human resources curse. A major catalyst for recruitment will likely be the year’s strong oil prices.
One only has to look at the surge of applications for energy related courses at US universities in recent years to illustrate this.
“Whichever industry can attract the best talent, the most creative minds and motivated people – that industry will be ahead of every other industry,” says Ohadi. “Our sector is now in a much better position than it used to be due to improved salaries, benefits and professional development, so long-term I think the recruitment problem will be cured. In the short-term, a lot of people are wary of working in oil and gas. We must change this.”
