With the digital and physical worlds converging, the great handover, and climate change, oil and gas is facing new and developing sets of challenges as the speed of energy expansion inside the oil and gas industry accelerates.

The issue of talent is one of the most pressing of these challenges where many oil and gas companies are grappling with a major skills and talent shortage. According to a recent Accenture study analysis, the energy industry would experience a lack of up to 40,000 competent workers by 2025. Another study by Korn Ferry in 2018, predicted that up to 85 million jobs could go unfilled due to skilled shortages.  A recent EY study reported that Gen Z and Millennials will make up 72% of the world’s workforce by 2029, yet 62% stated that they find a career in oil and gas industry unappealing. This talent shortage poses a large challenge for the global economy.

Against the backdrop of an industry under increasing scrutiny from society, notwithstanding delivery of the 17 UN SDGs, this adds to the challenge of attracting and retaining critical skills and talent.

Workforce preferences are also evolving, and work that supports personal purpose, passions and values is becoming critical decision criterion in job and/or career selection.

Given, as a sector, we are not always viewed as representative of the communities in which we operate and serve, nor as leaders on DE&I, it is timely to unify efforts to accelerate progress.   This developing talent and skills gap, partly the result of significant lay-offs, with those being absorbed into other industries, will be a greater impediment to our recovery prospects than any capital, equipment or supply shortages.

In previous years, we have seen boom-and-bust cycles but today’s challenges are quite different  As we know, the choice of sector initially defines a workforce choice, followed by specifics such as what company or role, and despite a multitude of initiatives over the past several years, there is no hard evidence to support an industry-wide improvement in attracting and retaining the skills and talent needed.

In response to these challenges, IOGP’s Board of Directors endorsed an industry goal to have a more diverse and inclusive workforce by 2025, leveraging their capabilities to support the acceleration of the Energy Transition.

Industry leaders recognize a collective action is needed to address the current workforce trajectory and strengthen our ability to secure the necessary skills to deliver the future of work. Our workforce challenges can be mitigated through a similar IOGP-led approach to that taken for Safety with shared goals to uplift our reputation and image, lowering our risk of being unable to deliver due to workforce availability.