(Bloomberg) -- The oil industry is fighting a generation gap.
The oil industry is fighting a generation gap.
Already contending with a global price slump, U.S. explorers are also grappling with the demographic hangover of the last great industry downturn in the 1980s, when scores of drillers went out of business. That rout drove a generation away from the business, leaving a shortage of workers in their late 30s to 50s today just as companies try to replace the Baby Boomers who make up much of senior management.
What the industry calls the Great Crew Change -- the looming retirement of thousands of older workers -- has companies trying to plug the gap by training younger employees, recruiting outside the industry and enticing veterans to hang on longer. It’s also forced drillers into a delicate balancing act amid the current downturn, as they lay off thousands but try to hold on to hard-to-replace scientists and engineers."
Full article by Alex Nussbaum and David Wethe: http://bloom.bg/29zDoTH
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Nice article, I think this sums up the feelings of myself and many of my colleagues who have been in this industry for some time. They candidly joke “we’ve seen it all before”, but you have to agree it is rather frustrating with the ‘boom or bust’ attitude of companies – when the price is high it’s full on hiring, but then they revert to massive lay-offs when the price drops.
I have worked in this industry for 10 years, a short time in comparison to many, but have had the privilege to meet some highly talented technologists and engineers, who I feel, do make a considerable difference to the overall running of a safe and efficient production facility. They just seem hampered by budget bureaucracies and financially driven demands to cut costs, without considering the longer term true cost impact of loss of critical knowledge and experience.
It’s crazy that the most experienced people are being laid-off or retiring early and taking their knowledge with them. Surely now is the time to start investing in the younger workforce, and get the knowledge transfer underway for them to be able to meet the future challenges that the industry will face?
I often ponder why is it that training gets cut first when times are tough? Personally I find this short-sighted, probably because I have learnt so much from the people I work with, and am extremely lucky to be able to tap into that wealth of knowledge first hand. My role is to assist in creating and promoting training courses for various disciplines involved in oil and gas production operations. I’m amazed at how quickly some production issues can be resolved when different teams work together and carry-out combined chemistry and microbiology analysis with process reviews.
I agree that in this current downturn there are benefits of using qualified experts to bridge the widening skills gap, and from their experience, working on hundreds of oilfields, my colleagues are more than happy to pass on their knowledge. I’ve enjoyed working with, and learning from them, and I’m sure a lot more people would too!
Note: These are my own views, and do not necessarily reflect those of the company I work for.