Blue Print of Local Talent Acquisition, Development and Retention
Authors: Al-Halal Tawfeeq 
Published: November 2017

Talent Management in Drilling Industry

International Monitory Fund (IMF) expects that the oil production in Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) will average 10.34 mmbpd (million barrel per day) in 2017, as compared to 10.22 mmbpd in 2016. The expectation of further rise in crude oil production will have a negative impact on already struggling crude oil prices. This decline in oil prices bring challenges for HR professionals to prepare their organizations for the turbulent journey ahead. The HR professional need to re-examine the HR operating models and talent management strategies, specifically with regards to manpower planning and ensuring that the company retains the right set of people, while optimizing the company manpower

Oil & Gas industry employs best engineering and management experts, but in the current situation of downturn, wherein all companies have a daunting task of reducing the overall costs, the manpower is one of the majorly impacted area. However, the key issue that needs to be kept in mind is that the sector downturn is a temporary event.

Losing key talent with no back up and a sufficient transition period to cater to short term cost reduction demands can have a severe negative impact on the company and the sector as a whole. Going forward, the production step up due to the increase in prices will lead to increase in demand for the experienced drilling professionals. This will lead either to:

Aging of work force is not the only concern but the ability to find the experienced candidates with the required skills is also one of the biggest concern. It needs the support of qualified people to support the growth path of the company, and with effective recruiting processes, comprehensive retention program and investment in T&D (Training & Development), organization can realize significant improvement in this war of talent.

Companies are awakening to the fact that traditional approaches for retention are not enough and it requires a strong corporate culture with better working environment. Competitive compensation is widely considered as a tried and tested strategy of companies for the employee retention. However it is becoming clear that compensation alone is not a sustainable solution to retain talent. It requires a comprehensive talent development program for the employee retention.

Challenges in Talent Management

The most critical challenges confronting the drilling industry is HR issues, which includes replacing aging professional personnel, knowledge transfer to next generation and localization of the drilling industry. Many recent researches in area of ‘Talent Management in oil & gas industry’ indicates that in long term, attracting and retaining skilled work force will be one of the biggest risks. In the current situation, companies in upstream business are facing an experience gap which can have a significant impact on their future growth prospects. If organization wants to keep talent, they need to have well-communicated plans for growth and development.

The key challenges of talent management for the oil & gas drilling industry are listed below:

Talent Management challenges are summarized in the below figure: