Editor's note: This article first appeared in the 2023 Executive Perspectives Special Report, which published within the November/December 2023 issue of Offshore magazine.
By Kevin Short, MINTRA
The questions faced in this ever-shifting energy sector extend beyond regulatory requirements and profit margins. Pivotal challenges loom large: maintaining cost competitiveness, talent acquisition to bolster aging workforces, developing innovative solutions to boost productivity and making critical improvements to environmental footprints. Tackling these multidimensional challenges necessitates a significant investment in the workforce to prepare people, who are indispensable in finding viable solutions.
Across safety-critical industries, there are an estimated 374 million work-related injuries and illnesses annually, costing $3 billion. While compliance with regulations has been a traditional safeguard, the approaches industries are taking still fall short of what is needed to reduce these figures. The issue, at its core, calls for an intrinsic transformation in how we train the workforce and embrace a continuous learning culture.
Training—especially in safety-critical industries like oil and gas—has implications beyond safety statistics. It influences employee engagement, job satisfaction and, ultimately, retention. Training becomes not just an operational requirement but a cornerstone of employee retention strategies in a sector that increasingly faces labor shortages and challenges in recruiting skilled workers.
Given that the energy sector is an interconnected web of disciplines, the adaptability of training frameworks is no longer an option but a necessity. Skills and competencies are not stagnant; they are fluid, continuously transitioning across different sectors and geographies. Agile training methods that can be tailored to various operational needs are integral in maintaining not just compliance but also operational excellence. On the job and on demand is the world we operate in with training provision expected instantly, anywhere and anytime.
High wages and compensation packages were historically the draw for top-tier talent, but these now are merely a given in today's competitive recruitment market. The real differentiator lies in how much a company invests in the growth and well-being of all its employees. The issue of a lack of diversity, especially in senior roles, further highlights the need to think of training as a means to create more equitable, inclusive and, thereby, resilient and sustainable workplaces.
In conclusion, the industry stands at a critical juncture, poised to either embrace or resist a future punctuated by artificial intelligence, automation and robotics. These aren't just technological marvels but transformative agents that demand new skillsets from the workforce. Getting it right the first time becomes not just a goal but an imperative, especially in the face of increasingly stringent regulatory and environmental challenges. Within this complex tapestry of volatile markets, evolving technologies and regulatory frameworks, it is imperative to remember that the industry's most irreplaceable asset remains its people. Therefore, training must transcend its traditional role as an operational checkbox to become an integral component in securing the industry's future.
