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Advice for Employers and Recruiters

Recruiting to Booming Company Towns

Steven Rothberg AvatarSteven Rothberg
February 27, 2007


Map of Alberta, CanadaI’m in Edmonton, Alberta for the retirement ceremonies for Mark Messier, one of the greatest hockey players of all time and a key to the five Stanley Cups won by the Oilers. While the Messier retirement game against Wayne Gretzky’s Phoenix Coyotes is big here, other news which is big here in Oil Town are the recruiting challenges faced by the oil exploration companies.


Northeastern Alberta is absolutely booming because of the massive amounts of oil sands. Many estimate that the province has the second largest supply of recoverable oil in the world with only Saudi Arabia having more. But the oil sands are located in very remote areas. The biggest city in the area is Fort McMurray a/k/a Fort McMoney, a town of 64,000 people where single family homes are selling for $500,000 and mobile homes for $300,000.
So how do you recruit people to work in areas that are so far from family, friends, culture, and comfort? The solution arrived at by the oil companies and support services for these towns is to pay their workers a fortune. In the nearby regional municipality of Wood Buffalo, the median family income was $120,100 in 2004. With salaries increases coming fast and furious, that may hit $150,000 in 2007.
So do workers hang around? Hardly. Ten percent of Fort McMurray residents moved there within the past seven months. Slightly less than 17 percent have lived there for less than a year. Less than 35 percent have lived there for three years. And less than 35 percent have lived there for 11 or more years.
Although these employers may not have a choice in how to recruit their employees, too many employers believe that the answer to their recruiting woes is in paying more than do their competitors. The problem with that strategy is that the people that you end up recruiting are those which place the highest value on money and those are also the people who are the most likely to quit for a job that pays even slightly better. Because they have the least loyalty, you’ll end up with the most turnover. And so the cycle goes on and on.
I’m not advocating underpaying employees. Hardly. I strongly believe in paying people what they’re worth. I’d never want to lose a good employee because they have been offered more money by an employer across the street. But I strongly believe that the key to keeping great people is to surround them with other great people. Make their work lives enriching and fun. Trust them but hold them accountable. And, if possible, try to make sure that your facilities are not located in northeastern Alberta.

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