MINING WORKFORCE
HOW MINERS CAN COMPETE FOR THE TALENT THEY NEED The importance of emotional intelligence, reputation management, and career development opportunities
At Norcat’s test mine in Onaping, Ont. CREDIT: NORCAT
By Don Duval THE 2020 Mining Industry Human Resources Council (MiHR) National Employer Labour Market Survey asked Canadian mining companies to identify the biggest challenges they anticipate in meeting their workforce requirements in the coming years. Not surprisingly, 91% stated one of their biggest challenges will be finding, attracting, and hiring qualified or skilled workers. Almost as many, 82%, cited upgrading the skills of supervisors and managers will be one of their biggest challenges. Next, 73% voiced significant challenges in attracting a more diversified workforce, and 64% stated retaining employees will be one of their biggest challenges. Collectively, these insights would alarm most HR professionals, but when coupled with the Canada-wide forecasted need for more than 100,000 new mine workers over the next 10 years, these concerns only becomes more heightened and exacerbated. Recognizing this perfect storm of growing industry-wide human capital demands coupled with a perceived shrinking supply of workforce candidates, mining executives are working to build and 16 | CANADIAN
MINING JOURNAL
deploy strategies that will help them win at both employee recruitment and retention. This said, I am keen to share some insights that may help mining industry leaders seeking to deploy creative solutions to address these growing industry-wide challenges. I want to start with setting context by sharing a quote from a recent seminar I attended that featured Aron Ain, the CEO and chairman for UKG, a $3-billion global company and best selling author of WorkInspired. During the event, Ain reminded everyone that “People join organizations because of the organizations, but they leave because of who they work for.” This concise and clear phrase should force all mining leaders to pause and reflect on how this influences your talent attraction, recruitment, and retention strategies. Over the past nearly 10 years working with skilled labour companies around the world, I have come to learn that one of the most important success factors in retaining quality employees is ensuring they have a respectful and meaningful relationship with their supervisor. To accomplish this,
it is imperative that supervisors not only have the technical skills and credentials to do their job effectively, but also understand how to engage, empathize with, and lead their subordinates to do their jobs efficiently, productively, and safely. Is it difficult to assess the dynamic of this relationship? No, it’s not. However, it is surprising to find that many organizations today still conduct what I call “traditional” employee engagement surveys and processes that often ask questions centred on the employees’ relationship with the company – not their managers. If great people, many of whom have lots of employment options, often leave companies because of their managers, shouldn’t mining companies ask more questions to assess the health and dynamic of these relationships? Do your managers care about the people they manage? Are they familiar with the ambitions of the workers they lead? Would your employees recommend to a friend to work for their manager? As already noted, 82% of mining leaders cited upgrading the skills of supervisors and managers will be one of their biggest challenges in the coming years. As www.canadianminingjournal.com
