Working towards greater diversity in energy sector

Increasing the diversity of the workforce is largely considered to be a priority in the UK energy industry but achieving this remains a knotty problem.

According to trade body Oil & Gas UK (OGUK), women were just 3% of the offshore workforce in 2018, even before the impact of Covid-19 and the downturn.

Petrofac’s training business is one of the key portals through which all must pass before working offshore.

The company is working to build diversity across all areas – ethnicity, sexual orientation, skills and thought – by addressing diversity both in its own workforce and those which it trains.

When it comes to gender, for Petrofac making energy industry training more accessible and inclusive is key to addressing the industry’s imbalance.

ENERGY ROLE MODELS

Iona MacLellan is a survival and marine instructor for Petrofac.

Based mainly at the Aberdeen Marine Training Centre on the quayside, she brings her passion for boats she discovered when she relocated to Aberdeen with her family.

Having been raised in a small town more than 30 miles from the sea, she was fascinated the first time she saw Aberdeen’s harbour and joined the Sea Cadets when she was 10 years old.

She took on work experience at Petrofac as soon as she was able and applied for a job when she was 19, just over two anda-half years ago.

She admits that women working on the quayside are “few and far between” but that does not hold her back. She said: “I do genuinely just love the job, going out in the boats and teaching people.

“Every now and again you get a guy who comes through and says ‘Oh, you can actually drive the boats’. Yeah, I can actually drive! Those types of comments used to bother me but I look at it from a different point of view now.”

She now enjoys the element of surprise.

“Our industry is typically male-dominated, so most people are often surprised to find a 5ft 3in female as their training instructor,” she added.

“The guys at Petrofac have always been really good. I’ve never felt like I’ve had to prove anything. I’m just treated like an equal.”

Jill Ogilvie, Petrofac’s Training services customer care and business development manager, said Ms MacLellan is one of an increasing number of women breaking the mould.

She said: “It is important because if young women can’t see role models in the energy sector then it makes it harder for them to imagine themselves in those roles.

“Our instructors are fundamental to our delivery, and the experience and knowledge they share with the delegates cannot ever be replicated. I think that is what makes us so successful.”

Fiona Taylor is another survival and marine instructor, based at Petrofac’s flagship survival training centre, but she is no recent recruit, having joined the company 22 years ago.

A nurse by training Ms Taylor is also qualified to deliver medical training units.

When she started, she was outnumbered, but it wasn’t a men-only zone.

“There’s a lot more females working offshore now,” she observed. “There has been a lot of change. There’s more female staff trainers as well.”

Ms Taylor’s value to delegates is enhanced by the depth of her experience. She was on call as a nurse the night of the Piper Alpha disaster which claimed 167 lives in 1988.

Her understanding and knowledge has proved invaluable to the delegates of the training centre, as the accident and learnings from the incident have been core to the development of and rationale for safety training in the UKCS.

“Some of them haven’t heard about Piper Alpha because of their age. Some people are still unaware until they come to training and learn what happened,” she said.

A NEW GENERATION OF LEADERS

Ms Ogilvie is taking part in a dedicated female leadership programme at Petrofac. She is one of the latest cohort who are allocated a coach and sponsors, with a view to supporting them to reach executive level.

She said: “The energy industry at large is predominantly maledominated. We see more women coming through, but it is well proven that as women climb the ranks, we can still experience certain obstacles.

“Some of the challenges faced by those entering leadership roles in technical industries are rooted by these instincts we have within ourselves, like impostor syndrome.

“I am learning to build resilience and adapt the way I deliver messages and improve my personal performance. A lot of it is putting ourselves out of our comfort zone.

“That is something we are encouraged to do within Petrofac – not negatively but in a positive manner.”

She is now focused on addressing the core business challenge of developing and enhancing Petrofac’s training services. This includes the development and launch of training modules aimed at the renewables industry as well as adopting digital services into the training mix.

Prior to Covid-19, Petrofac had already launched the Digital BOSIET, which allows for a flexible approach for delegates that blends elements of the offshore survival programme via e-learning with sessions on site. The programme cuts the number of days training at the survival centre from three to one.

Although blended learning has proved to be a game-changer, faceto-face learning will remain an essential part of the training offered by Petrofac.

She said: “When we first went into lockdown we were delivering a lot of our health and safety courses remotely.

“Everyone learns differently, and in our experience a blend of inperson and online training can really motivate people. But nothing quite beats being in front of an experienced instructor and as the pandemic continues, I am getting feedback from our clients that they would like to come back to the classroom now – people are missing human interaction.

“We can supplement and enhance training, which we do, but you need the input and experience of instructors like Fiona and Iona – you cannot learn to drive a boat through virtual reality or e-learning.”

INCLUSIVE OFFSHORE TRAINING

As well as addressing its own gender balance, Petrofac’s training business is learning from other organisations to make its training more inclusive.

Recently a member of a group specialising in increasing the diversity of the North Sea oil and gas workforce offered Petrofac commentary on its offshore training, highlighting potential areas of improvement.

AXIS Forum, a volunteer organisation established to support an equal gender balance across all areas of the oil and gas sector, offered Petrofac a list of suggestions after one of its female board members took part in the training on an anonymous basis.

The audit was part of a relationship Petrofac has formed with AXIS, as Petrofac is among a number that have signed the AXIS pledge which entails a commitment to “work towards equal pay, equal leadership, and equal opportunities for women and men”.

Ms Ogilvie said: “We received feedback on how we could enhance service delivery predominantly for women and how we could create more of a comfortable, integrated learning outcome for them.”

Points raised by AXIS were quickly adopted and Petrofac also considered suggestions like the potential for all-female courses. It raised the question of whether such a programme would be beneficial for participants.

“Ultimately, we want to deliver training courses that support all of our differences. You can come on our training course and we will ensure you feel comfortable, safe and relaxed regardless of who you are or those you are training alongside.”

Karen Blanc, the chairwoman of AXIS Network said: “AXIS Network is proactive about supporting the energy industry to improve diversity and inclusion, and we welcome Petrofac adopting some of our suggestions.

“Improving gender balance contributes to making our industry more successful – and safer – which is one of the key aims of the AXIS Network.”

Dr Alix Thom, Oil and Gas UK’s workforce engagement and skills manager, said: “With our industry supporting around 146,500 skilled jobs in the direct and indirect workforce, but women representing only one in four of the talent pool, there is clearly more work to be done.

“However, it’s not just about gender but also diversity of race and ethnicity, sexual orientation, skills and thought. A diverse workforce gives business the ability to harness different perspectives and creative solutions to industry challenges and ultimately makes it a better place to work.

“To understand the scale of the challenges we face and plan for the future, the Diversity & Inclusion Task Group alongside OGUK, is preparing to launch its first ever diversity and inclusion survey to ensure we attract and retain a wide spectrum of talent as we gear up to achieve a net-zero basin by 2050.”

Courses that support all of our differences