In order to effectively replenish its retiring workforce and become employers of choice for “Generation Y” and millennials, the petrochemical industry must “rethink everything” about its culture, according to Sasol Human Resources — People and Organizational Effectiveness Senior Leader Jeff Gill. He said a key to “managing the culture” is recognizing it has changed and will continue to change.
“The kids who are going off to college this year and next year whom we’re going to employ when they graduate — their work habits are very different from yours and mine,” Gill said before delegates at the Petrochemical Workforce Development (PWD) Conference held recently in Houston. “Petrochemicals really aren’t all that sexy. It’s kind of hard to compete with Google and that new Tesla plant that’s going to be pretty amazing. So what do you do?
“If we don’t consciously talk about what parts of our culture we want to keep and what parts we want to change, it’s going to change anyway.”
As one way of adapting to this “new culture,” Gill said Sasol has retooled the way it interviews candidates for employment.
“Rather than have a day-long set of panels, now it’s only a half-day set of panels,” he said. “And we really get into culture to find people who will fit and help us grow into the future rather than challenge us at every step of the way.”
Sasol maintains communication with potential employees throughout the Lake Charles, Louisiana, area where its plant is based by actively participating in community forums.
“We’re partnering with state and local officials, talking about our projects in public forums to reach candidates who are currently employed as well as those who have been chronically unemployed or underemployed,” Gill said.
Sasol also actively recruits military veterans.
“These people who have returned from active duty to civilian life need a good job that they can count on for years and years,” Gill said.
Olin Corp. Learning and Performances Leader Bruce Raiff agrees adapting to a changing culture is key to successfully meeting 21st-century workforce demands.
Raiff highlighted a workforce development process Olin adopted in 2007.
“We were unable to fill our pipeline with skilled operators to run our facilities,” he said. “We were in the habit of hiring folks two at a time, bringing them into a facility and then training them the best we could with the folks who were available to teach them.”
Then Olin changed its hiring and training strategy.
“In 2007, we decided to take a big step and batch-hire,” Raiff said.
Because many of these new employees had no or limited experience in process technology skills, Olin partnered with a local two-year college that offers a degree in process technology.
“We created a 14-week program basically teaching the core skills associated with understanding process technology,” Raiff said. “Yes, these people were already hired. We were paying people to learn, but that’s what we had to do to have the skills that we need. It’s quite an investment, so it’s critical for us to hire the right candidate for this investment and then to retain that employee.”
The “batch-hire” process has allowed Olin to hire a very diverse group of folks: “teachers, returning veterans, people looking for a second career,” Raiff said. “And we know there’s money to be made in these careers. They’re capable of learning and very willing to work around the processes inside and outside.
“We continue to hire and train this way. Nineteen years later, I think it has been a great, successful experiment.”
For ongoing industry updates, visit BICMagazine.com.
