Future Energy Leaders launch Human Capital taskforce report at 23rd Congress

The energy sector is clearly facing a period of grand transition in the face of potent new challenges and innovative and disruptive technologies.  Oil prices will  continue to drop, fossil fuels will continue to supply more than three-quarters of world energy use in 2040, and natural gas  is expected to grow the fastest impacting on economies, companies, communities, and individuals.

 

 

In order for the energy sector to manage these disruptions and deliver on future goals, invested capital must be optimally directed and efficiently managed.

The energy industry must also attract, develop and retain capable and talented people to take on the duty of delivering energy in a safe, reliable and sustainable manner. Strategic human capital management is crucial to ensure skilled personnel for current and future energy developments.

In this context the World Energy Council’s Future Energy Leaders (FEL) Human Capital taskforce has carried out work presented in their FEL- 100 Human Capital: Equity and Skilled personnel for current and future trends report to understand current critical issues impacting the attraction, development and retention of talent in the energy sector. The report sets out to develop a strategic approach to ensure that a sufficiently capable workforce is available to tackle the existing and emerging challenges in the energy sector.

Pirjo Jutannen, Chair, Future Energy Leaders, World Energy Council, said: “Although there is evidence of progress within the energy sector regarding human capital management, development and motivation, the FEL Human Capital Taskforce believes that gaps remain which could have a global impact.”

The term “Human Capital” can be defined as “The skills, knowledge, and experience possessed by an individual or population, viewed in terms of their value or cost to an organisation or country”. This concept has evolved to include attracting, developing and retaining the right people to solve today’s complex problems.

The taskforce focused its work on four key categories of Human Capital aspects considered as critical to face these challenges: Talent, Diversity, Skills Mismatch and Social Perception.

After analysing and evaluating current reports, articles and papers to extract valuable information regarding the taskforce’s four work streams, a Human Capital Issues Monitor has been developed to detect what issues are on the top of the FEL’s agenda regarding human capital matters, by analysing their degree of impact, uncertainty and urgency.

Based on the outputs of the above activities, the taskforce has developed a set of recommendations for senior energy leaders on critical priorities and actions to be taken.

Key recommendations include:

- Companies should create a strategic workforce planning model to attract and manage talent, identifying the skills needed for their industry in the near and mid-term future.
- Governments and companies should collaborate to boost innovation and entrepreneurship in the energy sector.
- Companies should create an employee value proposition to attract and retain talent, and establish programs to promote leadership development
- Read the full  fel-human-capital-taskforce-report  to view more recommendations as well as key findings.