Journey To Hebron: Diversity. So Hot Right Now.

From suppliers meetings to HR policies to public consultations, one thing is incredibly clear: workplace diversity is so hot right now.

So why are so many energy giants and other companies jumping on this trend? Well, there are several reasons as to why diversity is being encouraged amongst the offshore petroleum industry, in projects like Hibernia, Terra Nova, White Rose, and Hebron, including the fact that it’s helping their bottom line. Here’s how:

Innovation

Innovation is what allows the energy industry to remain cutting edge. It solves problems with equipment and issues with extractions and transportation. It increases safety and decreases environmental risk. It shrinks costs and broadens profit margins. It allows the impossible to become possible. It creates new ways of doing things while inefficient, dangerous, or costly ways can be discarded. It allows for the evolution of the industry. And innovation increases as workplace diversity increases. Wondering how they are connected? It’s actually pretty simple. If you take a rather homogenous group of people with similar backgrounds and experiences, you get people with similar perspectives and lenses in which they see the world. If you take this group of people and give them a problem to solve, they are likely to give similar solutions. However, if you give the same problem to a varied and diverse group of people from different backgrounds and experiences, you get different kinds of solutions and ways of thinking which leads to more innovative breakthroughs. As a Forbes Insights Executive Report explained, “Senior executives are recognizing that a diverse set of experiences, perspectives, and backgrounds is crucial to innovation and the development of new ideas. When asked about the relationship between diversity and innovation, a majority of respondents agreed that diversity is crucial to encouraging different perspectives and ideas that foster innovation.”

Productivity

By increasing diversity workplaces, companies are noticing an increase in overall productivity. Michael Hanrahan, president of Petraforma Inc., made diversity a priority when starting his company and even included diversity in the company’s mandate before making a dime. Six years later, after recently acquiring a lab division from another firm, he says, “Business is good.” He explains, “You have to institutionalize core values that you believe in. You can’t pluck a core value off a shelf when the rest of society is doing it.” Today, petraforma has reached an even 50/50 gender split of their professional employees, complementing an already culturally diverse workforce. Mr. Hanrahan has worked in male-dominated workplaces previously and says that he’s seen an increase in productivity with his Petraforma employees because of the work environment created by diversity. With people coming from different backgrounds and cultures, there is a natural curiosity where people learn new and different things from each other. With a diverse workforce, employees also exert more effort to communicate clearly and effectively. This leads to fewer mistakes from miscommunication and misinterpretation. And although he says with a more diverse workplace he’s noticed less after work socializing, he’s also noticed a distinct reduction in inner-office politics that can lead to frustrations, exclusions, and nonproductivity. When asked why he chose to include diversity in the company mandate, he answered, “It’s just the right thing to do. I can’t imagine doing it any way but that.”

Safety

Several energy giants have found that increasing workplace diversity has increased their safety outcomes. And safety is always number one. Recently, Kimberley Mullins, diversity and human resources advisor for ExxonMobil Canada, did a presentation at the Hebron, Hibernia, Hibernia South Extension (HSE) Supplier Diversity Program Launch. In her presentation she discussed how safety goals are positively correlated with inclusion and diversity goals. She explained that a higher degree of trust and respect, with a strong sense of loyalty to each other and the company, lead to an improved focus on safety. A reason for relationship between diversity and safety has been hypothesized to be similar to the reasons of increased innovation. When you have employees from diverse backgrounds, with differing communication styles and differing first languages, there is more of a necessary effort to pay attention and strictly follow safety regulations.

Increased Labour Market Need

Industries like energy, mining, and technology had been restricted by the traditional labour pools from which they’ve pulled from, limiting their growth and development. However, by broadening the scope of available employees to include non-traditional groups, these restrictions are disappearing. Diversity initiatives are being designed and implemented to attract and retain top talent in their fields. This is particularly helpful to industries with a shrinking traditional labour pool. As we move into the future, more and more people will be needed to fulfill the needs of these industries. People in the energy, mining, and technology industries are realizing that to grow in the ways in which they want, they have to look beyond the traditional worker into other labour pools. It’s a simple supply and demand equation.

With all these reasons, why wouldn’t a workplace want to increase its diversity? Sure, having workers from non-traditional labour pools has its growing pains, but companies and leaders have to learn how to adapt and make their workplaces more inclusive to recruit and retain new workers. With the Hebron project fast approaching in offshore Newfoundland, the writing is on the wall. Diversity is part of the natural evolution of the industry and maybe even the world.

Sources:

http://images.forbes.com/forbesinsights/StudyPDFs/Innovation_Through_Diversity.pdf.
Telephone interview with Michael Hanrahan, president of Petraforma Inc.
Presentation of Kimberley Mullins at the Hebron, Hibernia, Hibernia South Extension (HSE) Supplier Diversity Program Launch.