‘Considerable upward pressure on remuneration’

Tony Kinsman, Chief Executive Officer, Sohar Alumunium talks about the steps taken up by the company on the HR front to ensure the successful development and operations of the US$2.4 billion greenfield aluminium smelter in Sohar

Aluminium is a new industry for Oman, therefore the experienced local people are relatively scarce. However, at the outset of this project we committed to hiring a large number of previously unskilled local people, providing them with extensive work-specific training that has given them unprecedented opportunities for the future. The skills these young Omanis have now acquired are comparable to those you would find anywhere in the world.

To date we have recruited around 900 people of the 1000 we will need, including expatriates, and provided skilled training to many more through our joint Bechtel-Sohar Aluminium construction training programme. Our experienced expatriate staff provide mentoring and on-the-job training and I am confident that when the smelter starts up in mid 2008 our operators and multi-functional technicians will be well-equipped to operate our smelter.

For our support and administration staff, most of whom have been with us for almost two years now, we have carefully chosen people who share our vision of creating a world-class facility in Sohar and who are committed to the high standards we expect from our company. Where experience has been lacking we have provided the necessary tools to allow our people to not only complete their work but also to excel.

Are you able to get the right talent since there is a shortage of talent or skilled people in the region? How has this talent-hunt impacted salary structures in the region?
For our operator or unskilled staff, we have had strong interest from the local region and consequently little trouble in recruitment. For the technician roles there is a significant shortage of skilled people in Oman. We have commenced to address this by commencing a technician training programme in the last few years in conjunction with other major companies in Oman and we train about 50 new college graduates each year at present.  We see this continuing for the foreseeable future.

In order to address the shortfall in the immediate future we have had to recruit expatriates but the number will reduce in time as the local trainees become qualified and experienced to take over these roles.

We are finding considerable competition from other large projects in the region both in our industry and in the petrochemical industries for skilled and experienced labour and this has put considerable an upward pressure on remuneration.

What criteria do you use to benchmark salaries? Is it able to keep pace with inflationary trends in the country?
We benchmark ourselves with other industries in Oman and in the Gulf generally. It is relatively easy to gain a good appreciation of the market when you are in the recruitment mode, as we have been, it will become more difficult when we have completed this phase. We also use a number of surveys to assist in our annual assessment of salary levels.

Does this shortage mean a shift in traditional employee sourcing bases as well? From where do you source your workforce?
We have mainly sourced our local employees from the Batinah region, in line with our commitment to support the people and industry in the region that our smelter will call ‘home’.  It is important to us that the Batinah community, and Sohar in particular, feels a sense of ownership of Sohar Aluminium and many families have at least one relative working for us in some capacity. We also have staff from other regions of Oman who are in the process of relocating to the region.

Do you think shortages will continue in 2008?
With the strong growth in our industry in the region we expect the shortages to become even more acute during 2008.
 

– Susmita De

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