Mining Companies Confront Challenges in Demographics, Popular Culture at SME/CMA Conference

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Written by John Egan for Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--The mining industry needs to work harder to recruit and retain the next generation of talent because advanced technology can only get the industry so far, speakers told the annual meeting of the Society of Mining, Metallurgy & Exploration (SME) and the Colorado Mining Association (CMA) in late February in Denver.

The critical issue of talent acquisition and retention is the subject of a soon-to-be released study from the National Research Council, an independent research branch of the National Academies (Washington, D.C.). Organizers of the SME/CMA event had hoped to preview the results at their conference, but the report is taking longer than expected to clear its external review process.

"The mining community should find the final report very interesting," Cy Butner, senior program officer at the National Academy of Science, told the conference. "But it will have to wait just a bit longer." Sources at the conference said they expect the report to be released in March, possibly April.

When it is released, the report, tentatively titled, "Emerging Workforce Trends in the U.S. Energy and Mining Industries," is expected to provide recommendations for mining and energy companies to cope with a widely predicted demographic challenge of replacing skilled workers who are retiring. "Baby boomers are moving on and they're leaving a big gap," Elaine Cullen, a vice president at Safety Solutions International (Parker, Colorado), told the conference. "Any solution to this challenge requires companies start early" to recruit future employees--as young as in elementary schools, she said.

Mining companies need to start that early because the mining industry has been widely demonized in popular culture for a long time, commented Bill MacGowan, executive vice president for human resources and communications at Newmont Mining Corporation (NYSE: NEM) (Denver). The mining industry has been the victim of "one Hollywood hatchet job after another." He cited as examples Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948), which portrayed gold miners as "violent and greedy"; Coal Miner's Daughter (1980), which focused on the dangers of coal mining; and Blood Diamond (2006), which portrayed diamond mining companies as violent and engaged in illegal activities (mining so-called "conflict diamonds," also known as "blood diamonds").

MacGowan said virtually the only time Hollywood portrayed mining in a positive light was Snow White and the Severn Dwarfs, the 1937 Disney animated film that featured diminutive mine workers singing these lyrics: "Hi Ho, Hi Ho, it's off to work we go." There were scattered laughs at the conference when MacGowan made that point.

But MacGowan turned serious when he described the cumulative toll that popular culture can impose on an industry: He shared research from GlobeScan (Toronto, Ontario) that showed mining has a significantly less positive popular perception compared to other industries like information technology, food, pharmaceuticals and auto-making.

"We can be a profitable and responsible and safe industry," he said, "but reputational issues can limit your ability to recruit and retain quality workers." In a survey of students who were looking for their first job, MacGowan noted 60% ranked a prospective employer's reputation as "very important." The only other factors drawing higher percentages of "very important" scores from students were safety and salary, he said.

"We as an industry have done a good job substantively on safety and salary, but we haven't been able to break through on popular culture," the Newmont executive said. The only way to change popular perceptions is to keep working on substantive issues like safety, salary, employee fulfillment and work schedules that promote a healthy work/life balance, he said.

That's what Caterpillar Incorporated (NYSE:CAT) (Peoria, Illinois) is doing. Gwenne Henricks, vice president of product development and global technology, discussed how her company is highlighting its investments in research and development (R&D) as one way to attract new employees. "We invest billions of dollars in R&D, and we have applied for 6,500 patents," she told attendees.

Caterpillar is "utilizing proactive student pipeline programs and leveraging strategic partnerships to ensure a strong pipeline of future talent," she continued. Roughly 10% of Caterpillar's employees are mentoring students, and more than 25% of new hires last year went mentored by a Cat employee, she said. The company has broadened its collegiate robotics challenges and other outreach efforts to recruit students with science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) backgrounds: "Our goal is to show students how fun and exciting STEM can be."

Henricks also discussed how Caterpillar was using technological advances to help offset unfavorable demographic trends. For example, three large "autonomous trucks," which can be operated remotely without a driver, are in a field trial in a mine in the southwestern U.S. "This is not a pilot," she said. "These trucks do real work every day. Our first field trial has been extremely successful."

By allowing an operator to drive the vehicle remotely, from several hundred feet away or even several thousand miles away, Henricks said the advanced technology "enables employee learning in a safe environment. We are using product technology to improve the mining work environment and make operations more efficient and productive. Autonomous equipment never takes a break, doesn't change shifts, and can monitor its own health."

But to prove the technology, Caterpillar needed a mining partner. And therein lies some of the challenge: traditional attitudes on the mining site. "We had the technology to do autonomous vehicles 20 years ago," Henricks said. "We needed to collaborate with a client to bring it forward."

Despite the promise of advanced technology, Henricks and other panelists at the SME/CMA conference agreed solving the "people part" of mining was critical to the industry's future success. "As good as advanced technology is, it will never completely replace people," the Caterpillar executive said.

"Lifestyle issues are important for mining companies because the traditional mining lifestyle is not particularly attractive," Leigh Freeman, general manager of recruiting firm Downing Teal (Denver, Colorado), told the attendees. "Flexible career tracks and schedules are vital to attracting and retaining skilled workers."

MacGowan of Newmont acknowledged that was a challenge: "If you're on an engineering career track, to advance your career you do need to travel to remote mine sites, as well as spend time in the Denver headquarters."

"We're having no trouble finding people who want to go to China," remarked Hendricks of Caterpillar. "But we are having trouble attracting engineers to our headquarters in Peoria, Illinois."

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