Founder at TrendCandy: TrendCandy creates original survey research on trending topics that clients share as marketing, content and PR.
getty
It’s a perfect economic storm: spiking gas prices, supply chain backlogs and a global labor shortage.
Politicians are scrambling to address these issues. Business leaders are working to solve them. Consumers are wondering how to afford them.
Understanding why this triple crisis has engulfed the globe is a complex issue to be studied by economists for generations, but one thing is clear today: The energy industry is caught in the center of the storm.
The Energy Labor Shortage
In a global study of nearly 17,000 energy industry employees that my company recently conducted for Oilandgasjobsearch.com and Brunel, we learned that an astonishing 40% of energy workers lost a job due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Is it any wonder that the energy industry is in a labor crunch today after it sent nearly half of its workforce home?
A vivid example from our research shows that well-drilling jobs suffered the most cuts from Covid-19, and today those very same jobs are among the toughest to fill.
Letting workers go is turning out to be far easier than bringing them back.
MORE FOR YOU
To compound the shortage, many of the energy employees laid off or furloughed had relocated from foreign countries. Rehiring 40% of its workforce would be a challenge for any industry, let alone one where workers must leave their families, obtain visas and relocate again to remote oil fields, off-shore wind farms and faraway mines. These are challenges that cannot be fixed overnight.
Today’s perfect economic storm stems partially from an energy industry and supply chain domino effect. Energy is upstream from every aspect of the global economy. A shortage of energy workers means a slowdown in energy projects and production. That supply squeeze can affect transportation costs, retail prices, leisure travel and disposable income and can spark rising consumer staples costs — all topics that have been acutely top of mind for consumers, businesses, policymakers and the media.
How The Energy Industry Can Draw Workers Back
Based on what we learned from our research, here are my suggestions for how the energy industry can lure workers back:
1. Pivot To New Strategies That Attract And Retain Workers
Without action, energy employers face a prolonged or even deepened skills shortage. As tight as the labor market is now, it could get tighter. We found that 43% of energy workers are considering exiting the industry altogether within the next five years.
Fortunately, there are some possible solutions: To slow worker attrition, energy companies can place a stronger focus on succession planning and knowledge transfer, establish formal programs to replace employees who age out with younger workers and work with governments to encourage skilled immigration.
2. Hire For Renewables
If energy employers could do one thing to attract an army of new employees, perhaps nothing would work better than shifting jobs into renewable sectors. Of course, many younger workers have an acute interest in advancing renewable technology, but many older workers want into that sector as well.
Currently, more energy workers want to work in renewables than want to leave the energy industry entirely, so it’s clear that employers with open renewables jobs will attract a greater market share of talent.
3. Push For A Diverse Workforce
Despite spanning countries, continents and cultures, the energy industry has still struggled to foster an environment of inclusion and diversity. A large percentage of energy workers feel like they don’t belong. Until that changes, energy employers will likely continue to struggle to fill open positions.
According to our research, 31% of energy workers say they have personally been the target of workplace discrimination. Alarmingly, more energy workers are considering leaving the energy industry because of discrimination than because their company isn’t successful.
This lack of diversity acts as a labor tax on the industry by repelling young workers, driving away existing workers and snuffing out the enthusiasm of workers who would otherwise be engaged and productive.
While most industries are striving to create more diverse teams, the energy industry may have more ground to make up than others. We found that 76% of energy workers said their company doesn’t even provide a clear way to report discrimination, and 65% said discrimination has probably played a role in endangering their employment.
When employers provide consequence-free reporting methods, encourage transparency and create cultures where discrimination is not tolerated, employees tend to feel more at ease, collaborate better and want to stay.
Salary And Perks Probably Can’t Solve Energy’s Talent Shortage
Perks and high compensation packages alone probably aren’t enough anymore to attract workers, especially young ones. Tectonic shifts in sustainability, work-life balance, inclusion and worker behavior have cracked our perception of what it takes to recruit, engage and retain great talent.
The energy employers who evolve how they hire will have a better chance of closing the labor gap, while those that don’t will likely continue to suffer from understaffing and slow growth. Fortunately, much of the energy industry seems to be resilient, innovative and ready to change the world one more time.
Forbes Agency Council is an invitation-only community for executives in successful public relations, media strategy, creative and advertising agencies. Do I qualify?
Go to Source
Author: Justin Ethington, Forbes Councils Member
