Getting the right human resources for Middle East's Oil & Gas Industry: The next decade's challenge (page 2 of 2)

However, most companies seem to be unaware of the scale of problem and how severely it could damage their current business.

Managing the value chain starts with a comprehensive Human Resource Strategy derived from the corporate strategy and a clear execution plan. Key focus areas for regional players are: HR marketing and recruiting; staff development and motivation; rewards and compensation and performance management. Companies must show exceptional performance in every one of those areas in order to be successful in the long-term.

When recruiting, many companies overemphasize the importance of the compensation package. While this is without question a major factor, and the basis of any potential interest in becoming employed by a company, training and development opportunities are just as important to differentiate a company from its competition. Compensation packages can be easily matched by competitors, whereas state-of-the-art training and development programs are hard to imitate. In order to develop the right attractive employment package it is necessary to conduct professional benchmarking with competitors' offerings and Human Resource strategies.

Once the right people are hired the biggest challenges are their development and retention. "Plenty of companies invest heavily into their management and staff development, but fail to profit from their investment because employees leave the companies too early", says Mr. Kuntze. Therefore the retention of employees is one of the key success factors of modern Human Resource management. Retention is achieved through a combination of motivation and performance and reward management ensuring that employees get the motivation, the right amount of responsibility in their job area and right rewards for effective performance.

All these different fields have to be linked to each other. The performance management process, for example, should clearly identify high potential employees and suggest further development programs for them. Many companies cannot tell you immediately who their high potentials and high performers are, a simple mistake which often leads to the loss of their best people.

Satisfied employees, who are developed, given the right amount of responsibility as well as opportunities to do different challenging jobs and are suitably rewarded, seldom change their employer, even when offered better compensation packages. Comprehensive development and training programs offering clear career paths and a challenging and rewarding work environment are key components of a powerful Human Resources image that you can think of as a brand. This is especially important for a younger generation of trained and educated professionals who are more brand aware as well as more brand conscious and may often choose their employer by its brand and recognition within the community.

Building a strong Human Resource brand is not an instantaneous step but more like a long-term journey. In many cases it is possible to make some immediate impact by picking some of the "low-hanging fruit," when developing HR strategies, but typically it takes companies several years to realize significant measurable results. A strong argument more for not waiting any longer and starting this journey as soon as possible to gain a competitive advantage in the battle for talent.