With Millennials now making up the majority of employees at Schlumberger, the company’s CEO said the oilfield service giant is taking a new approach to management.
Speaking at the Scotia Howard Weil Annual Energy Conference in New Orleans, Paal Kibsgaard said Millennials now make up 55 percent of the company’s global workforce.
Employing more than 100,000 people in 85 nations around the world, the figures mean that more than half of the company’s employees are under 40 years old.
The demographic shift, Kibsgaard said, comes as the company is placing a greater emphasis on digital technology and modernizing its workflows and processes in the oilfield.
“For our people, our modernization program opens a broad range of new career opportunities spanning functions, technologies and geographies,” Kibsgaard said. “We are also evolving our management approach to become more collaborative and team-based. This will directly appeal to our growing number of Millennial employees.”
Coupled with advances in oilfield technology, the demographic and management changes are expected to bring financial benefits to Schlumberger’s customers and stockholders, Kibsgaard said.
“These transformational changes have already enabled us to lower the capital intensity of our business, removing a complete layer of our organizational structure, reduce our cost base and improving our operational agility,” Kibsgaard said.
Founded in 1926 and headquartered in Paris, Schlumberger set up its U.S. headquarters in Houston. The company finished 2018 with a $2.2 billion profit on $32.8 billion of revenue.
This article first appeared on the Houston Chronicle – an Energy Voice content partner. For more from the Houston Chronicle click here.