Financial Times: Engineers: Industry striving to restore its ‘sex appeal’: “In Britain, for instance, the number of people studying chemical engineering is estimated to have fallen by 32 per cent and those studying chemistry fell by 12 per cent in the past five years, according to a study by Royal/Dutch Shell” (ShellNews.net)

By Joanna Chung

Published: September 8 2004

Every eight seconds someone in the US reaches the age of 50, according to one statistic. At the same time, the supply of younger people has declined in the past decade. It is a scenario being played out across the world. It is clear that an ageing workforce, combined with a shrinking pool of young talent, will present a profound challenge to the business community.

For the chemicals industry, which, along with the petroleum and nuclear sectors, has come to be viewed as “old economy” and whose products are often seen as environmentally unfriendly, the struggle to secure top talent is even harder.

In Britain, for instance, the number of people studying chemical engineering is estimated to have fallen by 32 per cent and those studying chemistry fell by 12 per cent in the past five years, according to a study by Royal/Dutch Shell, the energy group. Many that do pursue these disciplines ultimately pursue other careers, such as investment banking or consulting.

“The chemicals industry does not really portray itself as sexy any more,” says Rachael Bartels, the partner at Accenture’s chemical practice. “Starting in the 1990s, the attractiveness of the industry slowly started to drop in terms of a career choice.”

Many chemicals companies are working to improve their image and spread the message among young people that there is a future in chemicals.

For instance, Air Products, a worldwide supplier of chemicals, industrial gases and equipment, is raising awareness of the industry by sending “science ambassadors” to local primary schools and organising workshops in universities where undergraduates can get hands-on experience.

Government departments and chemistry associations are also stepping up efforts. In the UK, the Royal Society of Chemistry is pursuing an active campaign that includes conducting chemistry weekends and lectures and reaching out to the media. In the US, the Department of Energy and its national laboratories launched a new initiative last month to promote science literacy.

“The risks of a scientifically illiterate nation in the 21st century are too great for business as usual,” Spencer Abraham, the US secretary of energy, had said. The seven-step programme is designed to enhance the training of science and maths teachers, increase students’ interests in those subjects and draw attention to the successes of the energy department’s employees who may inspire youngsters and prospective teachers alike to pursue careers in science.

But attracting and retaining qualified workers to stem the “brain drain” will also require multiple, long-term strategies. Employees have to feel they are valued, motivated and hopeful of a promising professional future, experts say. Diversity, flexibility and a more inclusive culture within the workplace are also becoming increasingly important for an industry that has traditionally been white and male-dominated.

“The best talent comes in many very different packages. So if you want the best talent you will need to take it in whatever form it comes in,” Fran Keeth, executive vice-president of Shell Chemicals told the annual meeting of the Soap and Detergent Association.

“People want to work in a place where they feel valued for their uniqueness, not their ability to fit the corporate image. In an inclusive environment, people can spend their time solving problems, innovating, instead of trying to figure out how to fit in or how to get their ideas on the table without looking foolish,” she says.

Globalisation is already offering one solution in this regard. The chemicals sector, one of the most globalised of all manufacturing industries, is increasingly basing activities in the lower-cost producing countries in the east. While this has made the business complex, it has also widened the pool of accessible and diverse talent.

BASF, a leading global chemical company, already draws employees from 31 different countries. It aims to increase the proportion of non-German senior executives to 35 per cent from the current 30 per cent by next year while increasing the number of female senior executives from about 5 per cent today.

Ms Bartels of Accenture says one of the most important tasks is retaining existing knowledge among those already working in the field. “The knowledge, experience and skills in certain aspects will not get on to the next generation unless we find some way of capturing it.”

Her company, which has done exhaustive research into how chemical companies are responding to changes in their workforce demographics, found that information technology will play a crucial part in this, though unsuccessful on its own. Several companies are working to capture expert knowledge in computer-based courses before a particular specialist retires.

In an ambitious national project, Cogent, the employer-led sector skills council for chemicals, oil and gas, nuclear and polymer industries in the UK, this year launched the world’s largest e-learning library for those sectors, aimed at assisting the training of technical employees at smaller enterprises as well as the larger integrated companies.

But technology is no replacement for the transfer of personal knowledge, decision-making and leadership skills, or the ability to deal with complex problems. “In all industries, productivity is likely to decline if companies’ most experienced workers leave the workforce before the replacement workforce is fully trained and engaged,” according to research by Watson Wyatt, the consultancy.

For this reason, companies have been bringing back recent retirees to work on a part-time basis, though early retirements have been standard practice in the industry, the Accenture study found.

“Given the looming shortage of specialised technical and engineering talent in certain organisations, it seems that bringing retirees back as contractors is going to be a widely used short-term tactic,” according to the study.