The world’s oil and gas industry is in the midst of a talent crisis and
needs to find alternatives to poaching from competitors, according to
Mercer’s Energy Consulting practice. Mercer’s workforce analysis
indicates that in the US alone, many large employers risk losing 50-80%
of their retirement-eligible population in the next five years.
To address this global energy talent crisis the just-released Mercer
Global Oil and Gas Talent Outlook and Workforce Practices Survey
shows that approximately two-thirds of oil and gas companies intend to
fill the void by “buying” talent from outside their organizations, and
nearly 50% of these same employers intend to use “poaching” from
competitors as their predominant source for new talent. This dynamic
arises at a time of unprecedented opportunities that can only be
capitalized on with a sufficiently productive, engaged and increasingly
global workforce. Unaddressed, this talent shortage will threaten
individual company growth and profitability.
The Mercer Global Oil and Gas Talent Outlook and Workforce Practices
Survey collected input from more than 120 companies representing over
one million employees across 50 countries. To learn more visit www.mercer.com/energy.
“The widely-embraced strategy in the oil and gas industry of ‘poaching
from the competition’ is simply not viable or sustainable,” said Philip
Tenenbaum, Senior Partner and Global Leader of Mercer’s Energy
consulting practice. “A more strategic approach to both talent
acquisition and workforce management that focuses on innovation and
execution is required for those oil and gas industry members who hope to
become leaders and separate themselves from the competition.”
While the looming retirement wave is of primary concern to oil and gas
industry employers, the Mercer survey also reveals other critical talent
issues faced by oil and gas employers throughout the world, such as:
-
74% of organizations surveyed cited ”technical skills gap” as a
critical problem, but leadership, management and supervisor skills
were also noted as being in short supply
-
The oil and gas industry will add more than 530,000 positions in core
professional and technical jobs over the next five years and more than
1.1 million over the next 10 years, yet over half of the world’s
largest oil and gas producing countries will not have an adequate
supply of talent to meet this demand
-
Among the 56% of companies who say they have a workforce-planning
process that identifies gaps, only 27% say that process also provides
solutions to close gaps
In its efforts to enable oil and gas industry-clients to successfully
address these talent and workforce challenges, Mercer advocates a talent
sourcing and development strategy that aims to build an adequate supply
of required talent, enhance the skills and capabilities of the company’s
existing workforce, engage staff and foster commitment and loyalty.
These programs must also address the need to manage cost and risk
exposure.
“The tendency to simply ‘benchmark’ will not be enough,” said Mr.
Tenenbaum “Oil and gas HR leaders need to lead the way in conducting a
deep examination of their own workforces, understanding labor trends in
key markets, forecasting talent and skill needs and most importantly
building a customized plan of action that will address their very
specific talent gaps and opportunities.”
The good news for oil and gas employers is that addressing these issues
brings with it the expectation of favorable return on investment. In
fact, large numbers of employers saw strong ROI potential in increased
employee productivity, decreased attrition, increased production and
decreased operating expenses.
“We believe oil and gas companies will need to find more innovative and
creative ways to fill the talent pipeline, long- and short-term, in
order to create a true competitive advantage. One way Mercer is helping
clients drive this innovation is a soon-to-be-launched pilot program
that will offer companies a more efficient and effective way expand the
global oil and gas talent pool by using such techniques as
‘gamification’ to pre-qualify talent,” said Mr. Tenenbaum.
About Mercer’s Energy consulting practice
Mercer enables organizations in the oil and gas industry to outpace the
competition by enhancing and protecting the health, wealth and
performance of the global workforce through a combination of expert
resources globally, regionally and locally with unequalled global oil &
gas workforce data and insights; and cross-industry adaptive innovation.
To learn more, please visit www.mercer.com/energy.
About Mercer
Mercer is a global leader in talent, health, retirement and investments.
Mercer helps clients around the world advance the health, wealth and
performance of their most vital asset – their people. Mercer’s 20,000
employees are based in more than 43 countries and the firm operates in
over 130 countries. Mercer is a wholly owned subsidiary of Marsh
& McLennan Companies (NYSE:MMC), a global team of professional
services companies offering clients advice and solutions in the areas of
risk, strategy and human capital. With 55,000 employees worldwide and
annual revenue exceeding $12 billion, Marsh & McLennan Companies is also
the parent company of Marsh,
a global leader in insurance broking and risk management; Guy
Carpenter, a global leader in providing risk and reinsurance
intermediary services; and Oliver
Wyman, a global leader in management consulting. For more
information, visit www.mercer.com.
Follow Mercer on Twitter @MercerInsights.
Copyright Business Wire 2014