A manager at an oil and gas company recently remarked that there are only two kinds of people working in the sector: those who already feel the impact of the Big Shift Change and those who are going to. He knew what he was talking about.
Is your company ready to lose half of its skilled workforce?
Despite the sector’s widely reported recent downturns, industry experts warn that the ongoing departure of experienced older workers poses increasing risk for companies that aren’t adequately prepared to source, train and support the younger workers who will replace them. In 2014 the Society of Petroleum Engineers estimated that over the next 5 to 7 years the sector could lose up to 50% of its skilled workforce. If that estimate is even somewhat accurate, it means executives and managers will face major challenges in maintaining safety, compliance and operational efficiency.
Preparing for the Big Shift Change: 3 “Must Have” Strategies
Here are 3 strategies that can help ensure that your company is ready to cope with the Big Shift Change.
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Ensure knowledge capture: How much mission-critical knowledge is walking out the door every night in employees’ heads? How many vital skills? How will you manage when they don’t come back? Develop formal processes for knowledge capture and build them into your organization’s culture. From now on, advantage will go to those who create cultures of sharing knowledge.
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Streamline hiring, onboarding and training processes: The younger workers who replace the retiring Baby Boomers aren’t going to be as skilled or experienced. And they probably won’t stay on the job as long, either. You need to make sure your organization is ready to attract and select the best candidates, onboard them quickly and give these new workers the training they’ll need to perform effectively—and be prepared to do it again for their replacements when they move on.
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Optimize performance support: After they’ve been trained, members of the new workforce will require substantially more support than their predecessors. You’ll need SOPs, work instructions and job aids that are easy to access and easy to understand. It will be more important than ever for you to ensure that their content is clear, concise and up-to-date, with regular review cycles.
6 Point Checklist
Download Information Mapping’s 6 Point Checklist to diagnose problems that can prevent your organization from operating safely, compliantly and efficiently.
