FEBRUARY 2010

Rapid economic change is a mining industry reality that makes strategic, long-term workforce planning a challenge. Recently-held consultations by MiHR with its stakeholders, reveals major concerns about the long-term impact of employment volatility on industry efforts to meet future workforce needs. An industry-wide shift to strategic, counter-cyclical long-term workforce planning will ensure that the industry is positioned to address future labour shortages, despite the economic cycle it is in.

Employment in mining is tightly linked to economic cycles and is more volatile than most other sectors in Canada. MiHR research recently demonstrated a strong correlation between employment patterns and international commodity prices. In fact, as much as 88 percent of the variability in employment in Canadian mining is attributable to fluctuations in the international commodity price index. When commodity prices are high, the industry responds with ambitious production and expansion activities — employers increase their workforces and the labour market tightens. When commodity prices are low, it is followed by widespread industry contraction, including delays or cancellations of expansion activities. Employers respond with workforce reductions and the labour market quickly softens.

Long-term sustainability threatened

This employment volatility threatens the long-term sustainability of Canadian mining and affects all industry stakeholders. It's challenging for industry employers to plan long-term, to strike a balance between labour supply and demand, and develop workforce capability and capacity for the future. Educational institutions are impacted by shifting enrolment levels and sudden changes in external funding and support. In addition, students become discouraged about employment prospects and develop negative impressions when faced with a sudden lack of opportunity during a downturn. Furthermore, non-traditional labour groups choose to work in industries where employment is more stable.

In the Fall of 2008, the industry faced a sudden economic shift from a strong and relatively long boom cycle to a downturn and it is now in a recovery phase. Employers shifted swiftly from intensive recruitment and retention campaigns to workforce reductions and cutbacks.

However, significant labour shortages continue to threaten the industry's viability and competitiveness. MiHR forecasts for even the most pessimistic outlook, predict tens of thousands of workers will be needed as a result of workforce attrition due to voluntary separation and retirements.

Reacting to economic pressures

MiHR recently held a series of facilitated discussions about long-term workforce planning and counter-cyclical HR management strategies with 30 mining HR managers. Deep concerns were expressed that decisions and actions taken during the recent downturn have compounded existing labour force issues and threaten to undo industry's hard work over the past decade to attract and build the future workforce. They agreed that workforce planning is reactionary to economic cycles and identified a need for strategies, tools and resources to help them react to economic pressures quickly, without losing sight of future workforce needs.

In response, MiHR is building a counter-cyclical workforce planning strategy for the industry.
In the coming year, MiHR will conduct research to better understand the counter-cyclical strategies used in similar industries and compare them to those used in mining. In addition, employer behaviour patterns in downturn, recovery and boom phases will be identified across geographic regions, commodity, type of mining, and phase of the mining cycle. This research will result in a suite of resources and tools, and a strategy for counter-cyclical workforce planning in Canadian mining.

Martha Roberts is Manager of Research at MiHR. For more information on this project please email mroberts@mihr.ca.

 Knowledge Transfer Videos are a Valuable Resource for Mining Workers and Students

For anyone already pursuing a career in mining or seriously thinking about it, the MiHR video library now includes industry knowledge transfer videos. This suite of over 100 clips of mining supervisors, managers and executives, provides unique insights into sector attributes and identifies a set of 18 key skills needed by workers.

"These clips are one stage in a knowledge transfer strategy and hold immense value when you consider that the mining industry could lose up to 40 percent of the existing workforce in the next 10 years due to retirement," says Melanie Sturk, Director, Attraction, Retention and Recruitment at MiHR. "This is a serious departure of seasoned workers — each worker will take an average of 21 years of mining sector experience with them, so we're looking at ways to retain this," says Sturk.

The videos are a free resource for industry. If you would like to use them to demonstrate key skills within mining occupations to students or workers, please contact plarouche@mihr.ca for your copy.

Certification Reaches an Exciting Stage: Mining Workers to be Certified in the Industry Pilot

Attracting and retaining top talent is a priority in the mining industry. One of the key strategies in addressing this priority is to define a set of nationally recognized occupational standards and certify workers against them. Certifying workers to industry-defined standards ensures that the training, skills and experience of existing and new workers meet the needs of employers. Building a common understanding across the country about previously unrecognized or loosely-defined occupations will help to support mobility in the labour pool and facilitate recruitment of workers at new and existing mine sites.

Workers who have skilled trade designations such as electricians and millwrights hold certificates of qualification recognized by employers across the country — yet there is no equivalent system to recognize skilled, experienced workers in the "undesignated" occupations such as miners or minerals-processing operators. As a result, mining sector employers may struggle to assess the qualifications of experienced job candidates and may have to waste resources retraining new hires in areas where they have already demonstrated competency in the workplace.

Furthermore, the lack of valid credentials for some mining employees may lead to frustration and a lack of loyalty to the sector and their occupation. Workers with skill sets that are not recognized may seek opportunities elsewhere.

For the past three and a half years, a group of mining industry stakeholders has been working together to build a suite of National Occupational Standards (NOS) that create a common understanding of the skills, competencies and knowledge required to work safely and proficiently in various occupations in the mining industry. The NOS for underground miners, minerals-processing operators and surface miners are now complete and others are in the development stages. These standards will be used as benchmarks for conducting workplace assessments and certifying workers who have demonstrated that their skills and knowledge meet or exceed the newly-defined industry standards.

Piloting the Program

In early 2010, the certification program will be piloted at four to five sites across Canada. The purpose of the pilot projects is to test the policies and procedures, assessment tools and certification processes of the program. The pilots will allow the Standing Committee on Certification to evaluate the program, to make modifications that will ensure efficiency and maximize the effectiveness of the program and to develop recommendations for full implementation of the certification program across Canada.

Identification of pilot locations is currently underway and a pilot project planning kit is being developed to help inform and guide implementation at pilot sites. Support, advice and guidance will be available through MiHR's Canadian Mining Credentials program staff and through members of the Standing Committee on Certification throughout the one-year pilot phase. 

For more information on certification please email bkirby@mihr.ca.

Canada's First Virtual Mining Career Fair a Success

MiHR kicked off Canada's first Virtual Mining Career Fair for the industry with a live launch on January 27. This unique event featured 25 exhibitors and attracted over 2000 registrants and close to 650 visitors looking to network and to seek out potential career opportunities.

Created to address current recruitment challenges in the industry, the fair connects employers with careers seekers, regardless of their location. It also helps careers seekers by taking travel, expenses and time away from work or education out of the job searching equation. The virtual career fair is also a greener alternative to traditional career fairs. Each exhibitor has a booth with pictures, videos and downloadable content, as well as video, audio and written communication portals for real-time interaction - minus the paper waste and travel emissions.

The fair attracted Canadians from coast to coast, notably those in Ontario, Quebec, British Columbia and Alberta. While Canadians made up 90 per cent of the total participants, the fair also attracted international participants from the U.S.A., Mexico, South Africa and Australia, to name a few - effectively bridging the geographical gap between employers and employment seekers living in different areas.

The virtual career fair was beneficial to both prospective and current employees of the mining industry, the latter group totaling 30 per cent of participants. The fair attracted a diverse demographic, including students and several transitioning or mature workers. Participants were primarily interested in skilled trades (20%), engineering (18%), technician (14%), and administrative positions (11%).

On January 27 alone, participants viewed over 450 job descriptions, applied for nearly 200 jobs and made over 50 direct connections with HR recruiters, rendering it an invaluable recruiting resource in the mining industry.

The fair will continue to run until February 26 for employment seekers who have not yet had the opportunity to check it out. For employers or career seekers interested in participating in future Virtual Mining Career Fairs, please contact Pascale Larouche at plarouche@mihr.ca.  

Meet MiHR at the following events:

PDAC Conference - March 7-10, 2010, Toronto

CIM Conference - May 9-12, 2010, Vancouver

GeoCanada 2010, May 10-14, 2010, Calgary