The challenges facing HR professionals in the energy industry seem to be changing as rapidly as the sector itself.
Not too long ago, we wrote about the major energy industry HR challenges of 2023, but it’s already time for a refresh. With shifts like the energy transition and heightened competition for talent, the landscape is constantly evolving, practically faster than we can keep up with it.
For 2025, HR faces nine critical challenges that could make or break talent management strategies in the energy industry. From shrinking talent pools to prolonged employee onboarding times, we’re breaking them all down for you.
And if you’re feeling overwhelmed by what lies ahead, we’ve got a solution—our team at Corban OneSource can help you handle these complexities with ease. But first, the challenges.
1. Shrinking Talent Pools
You’re not imagining it—finding great candidates feels harder than ever, and it’s not just at your company.
Energy industry HR is dealing with shrinking talent pools due to several factors. Workers are leaving the oil and gas sector for opportunities in new energy companies, lured in by the promise of innovation and stability that feels lacking in the face of market volatility.
Consulting guru McKinsey highlights that this phenomenon is accelerating alongside the energy transition, leaving traditional energy companies with even fewer options to pull talent from.
At the same time, energy companies are facing competition from non-industry players, too.
Tech companies, for instance, are a magnet for the kind of data-savvy engineers and developers that the energy sector also needs. If your HR team is noticing more résumés with unconventional experience or candidates jumping ship to different industries, these trends likely explain why.
The challenge moving forward will be maintaining a strong pipeline of talent despite these headwinds. How can your company keep up? It’s a complicated question, but improving your value proposition to employees is a good place to start.
2. Rising Costs of Employee Turnover
Employee turnover is expensive—really expensive.
Did you know that recruiting and training a new engineer can cost anywhere from one and a half to twice their annual salary? PwC Saratoga data confirms this staggering price tag, and the cost doesn’t stop there. The time and resources spent on finding and training replacements add an extra layer of strain on HR teams and budgets alike.
For HR professionals in the energy industry, juggling turnover while managing recruitment budgets can feel like an impossible equation. This cost pressure is only amplified when key talent walks out the door, leaving roles that are critical for operations sitting empty for months on end.
Addressing this challenge will require more than just simply filling the gaps. To mitigate turnover, you’ll need to start by engaging employees from day one, offering clear career growth opportunities, and fostering a supportive work environment that makes people want to stay.
3. High Employee Turnover Rates
As an add-on to the last point, high employee turnover rates (in addition to the high cost of turnover) are becoming a growing problem.
How long are your employees sticking around? For some segments of the energy industry, particularly services and equipment companies, retention has become a major headache.
Talent in these areas is in high demand outside of the sector as well as within it, making turnover rates uncomfortably high. Employees are lured into roles offering better compensation, growth opportunities, or even entirely different industry settings.
And it’s not just the hassle of losing staff—it’s the financial impact. Teams lose momentum when roles become revolving doors, and new hires often take two years or more to generate a significant return on investment for the company.
If you’re dealing with high turnover, it might be time to reassess your employee value proposition. Offering competitive benefits, promoting a strong company culture, and stepping up leadership engagement can make a real difference in reducing attrition.
4. Incomplete and Dispersed HR Data
Your HR data might be your company’s greatest blind spot. Too often, critical information is scattered across spreadsheets, legacy systems, and siloed platforms. This lack of centralized and complete HR data makes it incredibly challenging to gain a clear picture of employee performance, trends, and overall workforce health.
Just take a moment to imagine that you’re asked about the distribution of skill gaps across departments to plan future hiring needs. If you’re spending hours—or days—tracking down answers simply because your systems don’t communicate, you’re losing valuable time.
And in an industry as fast-paced as energy, lagging behind can come with real consequences.
The path forward demands an overhaul of how employee data is collected, stored, and analyzed. Integrating systems and leveraging HR analytics tools can transform decision-making by providing a single source of truth. It’s a big investment upfront, but it pays off in smarter, faster workforce strategies.
5. Prolonged Time to Employee Autonomy
Here’s a statistic that might make you wince—again, according to McKinsey, it typically takes a newly hired engineer or geoscientist five to seven years to become fully autonomous. That’s a long time to wait for employees to reach their full potential, especially for roles that demand significant expertise.
For a company in the energy industry, these extended timelines can slow progress on critical projects and put extra pressure on teams to compensate for still-developing hires. The energy industry is under enough pressure already—prolonged onboarding shouldn’t add to the list.
What can HR do to speed this up? Investing in structured onboarding and development programs is one smart strategy to pay attention to. Pairing new hires with mentors, providing them with the right tools, and fostering continuous learning opportunities can help you bridge the gap between a promising hire and a fully independent contributor.
How Corban OneSource Can Help You Future-Proof Your Organization
Feeling overwhelmed? At Corban OneSource, we understand the unique challenges that come with managing HR in the energy industry. That’s why we’ve spent years refining our energy industry HR outsourcing solutions to help businesses like yours stay ahead.
Whether it’s streamlining your talent management processes, assisting with succession strategies, or simply helping you reduce unnecessary admin work, we’re here to make your life easier.
And the best part? You can focus on what you do best while we take care of the heavy lifting.
If you’re ready to prepare for 2025 and beyond, drop us a line. Together, we’ll help your organization shine in an industry where challenges are just another excuse to innovate.
