IRPC '19 Panel: Building the talent pipeline for the energy and petrochemical industries
HOUSTON-Day 2 of Hydrocarbon Processing's International Refining and Petrochemical Conference (IRPC)—Americas featured a panel discussion by; Dorian Cockrell, Manager - Workforce Operations, Workforce Solutions - Gulf Coast Workforce Board; David King, Workforce Development Manager, INEOS; J.D. Slaughter, President, S & B Engineers and Constructors. The discussion was moderated by Michael J. Hyland, Principal Engineer, WM Engineering.
Building the talent pipeline for the energy and petrochemical industries
There is a great focus on the economics of a project, but less discussion on the workforce needed for a project. "It's not interesting, it's not as exciting to talk about but yes, there is a craft shortage of people living on the Gulf Coast for the amount of investment in refining, chemicals and petrochemicals today. And yet we are going to see a significant doubling of the demand over the next five years," Slaughter said. "So we have to either bring them in, or we have to create them." According to Slaughter, there are over two million people in the Houston area living at or below a living wage. "A journeyman craftsperson working 50-plus hours a week at time-and-a-half overtime is making $75,000 a year," Slaughter said. "I can create a journeyman craftsperson in two to three years. Who wants to go from minimum wage to $75,000 a year in two to three years? You can’t do that from Texas A&M or the University of Houston in two years, right?"
S&B is in the business of creating the workforce needed for projects. The company is working with Gulf Coast Workforce to bring students right out of high school or people receiving financial assistance into the industry with viable careers. "We inform them about the services that we can provide to help them achieve a scholarship to help them go to a local community college or prepare them for employment,” Cockrell said. Through the Workforce Solutions database, they can reach individuals in these certain populations and get them into a customized screening process with requirements set by S&B. A person that passes the screening process will be accepted into a paid training program at S&B, which ultimately leads to a position within the company. "We need to collaborate, we need to innovate, and we need to advocate," Slaughter said. David King echoed Slaughter and Cockrell in a call for owners to reach out to their local outreach programs to fill their talent pipelines and help create pipeline programs that lead to more jobs in the industry.
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