Emerging workforce presents challenges and opportunities

As the Baby Boomer generation continues to leave the mining and mineral processing industries and enter into retirement, the industries are faced with multiple challenges moving forward. The obvious are how to replace not just the person, but also their institutional knowledge. The more subtle question is how to adapt the industries to become an attractive career choice for the emerging workforce, and one they will join and stay with for years to come. Four generations, Baby Boomers (born 1946-1964), Generation X (1965-1980), Millennials (1981-1996) and Gen Z (1997- 2010) are currently in the workforce working side-by-side. While their academic credentials might be similar, the motivations of each generation can be quite different. “The “why” is much different for those generations,” Skylie Estep told Mining Engineering. She is the human resources manager for South32’s Hermosa project, where she is involved with recruiting and retaining a workforce for the developing zinclead- manganese project south of Tucson, AZ. She has held similar positions with Barrick and Newmont and noted that the “why” does not change for things such as health and safety in the industry, but that other motivations have changed over the past few years. Things such as professional challenges and variety, flexibility and work-life balance are very important to the emerging workforce. Likewise are company values such as sustainability and diversity. “The use of technology, being forwardfocused and having a focus on sustainability makes a big difference for the emerging generation of the workforce,” Estep said. “For a lot of people now, it’s not just about making money — but it’s how are you leaving a legacy as a company, what is the company doing to support the community, what is it doing to ensure that there is diversity in the workforce, and how is the company making its operations safer through the use of technology.” In its most recent annual survey of the top issues for mining and metals executives, EY found that environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues remain at the top of the list of concern. Investors and other stakeholders are demanding that mining companies conduct their operations in a transparent and environmentally sustainable manner. Employees are among those stakeholders. “It’s a very different animal if you are an employer wanting to retain and attract top talent from the Millennial generation than if you are trying to attract and retain top talent at the Baby Boomer or Gen X level,” said Rhonda Zuraff, co-founder of Pray and Co., a global talent recruiting agency that focuses on the mining industry. “It’s great to have a robust and diverse approach to attract talent, but what are you doing to talk to those various demographics, and what are you doing to retain them? “The emerging workforce wants very different things,” said Zuraff. “Compensation is not what will typically prompt a person to make a move to your company or stay with your company. It’s things like culture, job variety, and flexibility. The pandemic taught us that work can be done a lot of different ways and from different locations.” Opportunities abound For those looking for employment, or even for students who are considering the fields for academic study the mining industry is full of opportunities. Cayley Hoffman graduated with a mining engineering degree from the University of Arizona in 2020. She did not start college with the aim of obtaining a degree in mining, but was drawn to it by scholarship and career opportunities. She is now a mining engineer working for South32 at its Hermosa Project. Hoffman said that an internship with South 32 helped her learn about the company and ultimately led to her employment with the company. “I was able to experience the culture of the company, and learn how it works, which made for a very easy transition for me,” Hoffman said. Working for a company that is focused on health and safety as well as creating sustainable operations was attractive to Hoffman, as was the ability to stay in the area and not work at a remote mine location. As for factors that keep her at South32, she said flexibility to work remotely is an important factor. “Having the flexibility to work remotely or even a hybrid schedule is a make or break factor for a lot of people.” ESG policy Many people entering the workforce place a high value on the opportunity to make a meaningful contribution in a company that they feel good about. Taylor Dillion, a project manager from ERM, a consulting firm that helps mining companies meet sustainability goals, has a position that fits the bill for a lot of these. She has the flexibility to work from home and be engaged with her young children while also working with various clients, which offers her new challenges and exposure to various operations. These are important in a place like Elko, NV where shifts at the gold mines often mean leaving for work in the wee hours of the morning, and returning home long after the sun has set. “There are jobs that you have to be at the site, but not all of them,” said Zuraff. “There are hybrid schedules, where a person might be able to work two days from home, or fully remote with acknowledgement that they might have to travel to sites more often. It can be a tough pill to swallow for those of us who are not accustomed to approaching work that way, but thinking outside the box to attract and retain talent is a must if you are going to compete for the top talent.” Technology plays an important role in remote or hybrid schedules. Estep said South32 is planning to have remote operating centers in its plans that could open jobs to even more potential employees, such as a person with physical disabilities who might not be able to work on a mine site. “When you get away from the physical work to utilize technology it can make jobs safer and opens up more opportunity to build a more diverse workforce,” Estep said. Having a strong ESG policy and making commitments to the community is not only a demand of investors, but also of potential employees. Dillion is a first-generation mining engineer. She began her education at Missouri University of Science and Technology in Rolla, MO, as an engineering student, and an internship with Barrick Gold got her hooked on the mining industry. “ESG matters to employees, people want to feel like the work they do matters, and that it is more than just a paycheck,” said Dillion. ERM works closely with a number of mining clients, one of which is working to develop a lithium mine in Nevada. Dillion said that she has seen many young people interested in that project, in large part because they want to be involved with a mine that will produce a mineral that is part of the greenenergy transition. Lithium and battery metals represent a huge growth segment for the mining industry. At the University of Arizona, where some of the next wave of mining engineers will be taught, Jodi Banta, program manager at the School of Mining and Mineral Resources, and her team created a mining expo on campus as a way to introduce the profession to engineering students who might be unaware of what the industry has to offer. The event, held on Nov. 15, was called Mines for Limitless Minds and caught the attention of 15 companies eager to attract talent, including mining giants like Freeport-McMoRan, BHP, ASARCO, Copper World, Florence Copper, Hexagon, Hudbay and the Lundin Group, as well as General Motors and the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality. “Our objective was to showcase the industry. We wanted to show the exciting opportunities in the industry to the students,” Banta said. “It was really about how do students view mining. Do they see it as something that they might be interested in? Is it relevant to what they are studying. And this event also gave the sponsors the opportunity to showcase their company and their culture.” The career fair focused heavily on mining’s role in the energy transition, as well as the technology that the industry uses. Showing off electric vehicles, explaining what goes into them, and highlighting mining and sustainability was part of the expo. Banta said the expo helped illustrate that mining is not a profession with a shovel and pickaxe, but one in which employees use the most cutting edge, state-of-the-art technology in the world. Banta said the career fair allowed companies to introduce the industry to students, and help students understand that mining is essential to their daily lives. “The more the students learn about mining, the more they begin to understand that everything we have has to come from somewhere, and what mining’s role is in our daily lives,” said Banta. “When they are introduced to the opportunities in mining, some of them will see it’s a great career option.”

Emerging workforce presents challenges and opportunities

Authored by:
Wiliam Gleason

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