After Years, ‘Big Crew Change’ Has Passed, But Learning, Training Challenges Remain

Abstract

As the exploration and production (E&P) industry continues to face the challenges of the collapse in oil prices and the disruptions it has wrought, one long-awaited milestone has passed almost unnoticed. For all practical purposes, the “big crew change” has happened. In the global E&P professional workforce, the high concentration of individuals in mid- to late-career stage has all but disappeared. The proverbial hump in the workforce age distribution, which resulted from waves of retirements after the last major price collapse in the mid-1980s and a long subsequent period of low hiring, has been on the industry’s radar for at least 2 decades. Concern arose in the late 1990s, as the workforce reflected a preponderance of experienced professionals ages roughly 40 to 50 and a dearth of younger individuals ready to replace them when they retired. The industry used the term “big crew change” to characterize the demographic challenge and began to prepare, focusing on new technology and other innovations in training resources that could smooth the transition. Change Clearly Evident Visually, the crew change is clearly evident in the accompanying age-distribution graph of SPE professional membership, a close proxy for global E&P professional employment. In a comparison of 2006 and 2016 membership by age, the 2006 curve displays an obvious hump in the mid-40s to mid-50s ages with a peak age between 45 and 49. The 2016 curve displays a smaller hump in the late-20s and 30s age range, with a peak age between 30 and 34, and a modest decline into the mid-40s range. Additionally, the number of professionals in the 55–59 group has barely declined from the 2006 curve, when they were 45 to 49. This suggests that individuals who have left companies are remaining in the industry, whether working as consultants or making job transitions. From 2006 to 2014, the crew change continued to proceed gradually, with the industry tracking the change and focusing on technology innovations in learning and training that could more rapidly prepare younger professionals and new hires for larger responsibilities. But when oil prices began a precipitous downfall in late 2014, a steady outflow of older professionals became a wave as job losses and retirements multiplied over the following 2 years.