John Murray, Group Managing Director believes more needs to be done.

In most Australian working environments there are labour shortages. Leadership groups, including HR managers, are confronted with the reality of not enough good people with the skills, knowledge and experience needed to formulate and implement business plans to achieve the objectives of their enterprise. In today’s economic environment, the need for highly skilled and proven performers is even more critical. Many observers and participants believe, with good reason, that the resources sector, with its need for talented people, is a major contributor to the labour shortage and, ironically, the most constrained by it.

Our industry faces an increasing level of public concern and criticism about its sustainable practices not unlike the 70’s and 80’s where not dissimilar environmental (destruction of forested areas to develop mine sites) concerns led to a serious downturn in the number of young people enrolling in engineering and/ or science based degrees. This problem is being replicated now and is exacerbated by the current economic situation with university aspirants and experienced people seeking career alternatives which meet their value sets.

To be a legitimate ‘employer of choice’ attracting exceptional talent, a company requires a great corporate brand. This includes strong growth prospects, quality assets, a good reputation as a corporate citizen and an excellent operational track record. An important consideration of this is the awareness that the best marketers of this brand are a company’s existing and past employees.

At Swann Global we are concerned that the mining sector has not done enough to enhance and promote its Employment Brand. For example, the coal industry is viewed unfavourably by some segments of the community, both here and overseas. The elephant in the room is climate change. How much of the available talent has already made the decision that they will seek their futures in other parts of the resources sector or indeed in other professions rather than look to advance their careers in a part of the industry that is considered a prime cause of the grim scenarios  that face the planet. 

How many senior executives today would consider a leadership role in coal? What career choices are the best and brightest graduates currently making? Is the coal fraternity simply recycling its existing workforce rather than focusing on its future?

Swann’s understanding is that the average age of the workforce in the coal sector is in the forties. This fact alone further reinforces the stereotype that the coal industry uses old technology and methods which do not reflect the environmental concerns of the broader community. The major challenge now is that environmental concerns are much more to the forefront of individual’s decision making when they decide on study options. There will be teachers, university lecturers, parents and peers urging young people to stay away from professions that have the potential to damage the environment.

The mining industry currently attracts some very good young talent however in addition to offering competitive salaries, attracting and retain the best talent requires, a superior Employment Brand and a positive culture which encourages and rewards creative  thinking and problem solving, supported by good people systems, especially career development and succession planning to distinguish the leaders from the followers.

If the sectors Employment brand however better reflected the positive contribution it makes to the general population, I believe that we could and should attract the nation’s best and brightest to it. We need to convince our young people that we actually need engineering, geological and environmental students with first class minds, to solve the world’s climate change problems so that the resources sector continues to grow, but in a safe and sustainable fashion.

My contention is that unless we attract the best and brightest to our industry to solve some of these issues then the sector that provides the underpinning infrastructure for our modern society will fail to meet the societal expectations of addressing and solving the environmental challenges currently being faced.