Recruitment and retention in the mining industry: A family and community issue

1
Recruitment and retention in the mining industry
A family and community issue

• Dr Julaine Allan

2
Abstract

• Retention of employees is vital to the growth of
  the mining industry. An employees family
  commitments and the familys response to change
  are key factors in decisions to change jobs,
  companies or locations. Relocation problems,
  including for example social isolation and
  loneliness, face all families who have a member
  in the mining industry. While some families will
  thrive on change and cope, some will not.
  Understanding family needs and supporting
  families through periods of relocation or other
  employment changes is an issue for the
  communities where the family lives. This paper
  reports the preliminary findings of qualitative
  in-depth interviews with mining families. The
  project aims to identify family problems related
  to relocations and travel requirements of
  employees in the mining industry and their
  strategies for coping with these problems. The
  ways the findings can inform community
  development activities and local government
  planning processes are discussed.

3
Outline of this paper

• Project background
• The mining context
• Conceptual framework
• Itinerant
• Qualitative methodology
• Findings relevant to this forum
• implications

4
Orange and district central NSW
5
Errowanbang

• Social and demographic changes

6
NSW local government social planning processes
7
The mining context

• FIFO
• 12 hour shifts
• Ancillary industries equipment, exploration,
  recreation
• Male dominated
• Minerals and coal described as fundamentally
  different

8
Conceptual framework

• The intersection of public and private worlds
• Gender roles and decision making
• Family and place

9
Itinerant

• An itinerant is a person who travels from place
  to place for work.
• A summary of definitions from Macquarie
  Dictionary, Wikipedia and other Googled sources.

10
Qualitative methodology

• Narrative inquiry
• Individual semi structured interviews
• Snowball sampling
• 30 interviews planned 15 completed

11
Interview themes

• Family history
• Relocation stories
• Problems faced
• Solutions found
• Aspirations for self
• Future plans

12
Participants

• 15 women (32 55 years) with partners
• 13 had children (10 had dependent children)
• 7 participants described their main role as a
  career or profession
• 8 participants described their main role as wife
  and/or mother. 3 of these participants were also
  in paid employment.

13
Preliminary findings relevant to this forum

• Making the decision to relocate
• Needs
• Challenges
• Place
• Priorities related to life stage

14
Making the decision The first move

• I just thought we would get married and stay
  forever, have kids, build a house. I had no idea.
  The move was a complete surprise.
• I knew when we got married what it would be
  like. Wed both been in mining long enough to
  know how it works.

15
Relocation honeymoon period?

• Any honey moon period only exists for the first
  move.
• It was exciting, a new life, a new country, an
  adventure. (describing the first move)
• I know what it will be like. I know exactly what
  it will be like. ( before the 5th move)

16
Making the decision

• the first thing I do when we think about moving
  is look at what I can do in the place. How far
  will I have to travel for work? Is there any
  work?
• I think you need to move within two years
  otherwise its too hard. If youve stayed
  somewhere longer than two years you like it.

17
Making the decision 2

• This time Im not going. Theres nothing there
  for me or the kids. When theyre older and can go
  to boarding school thats okay but now well do
  fly in fly out.
• To move this time would be going backwards
  smaller town, fewer services, fewer
  opportunities. I might consider bigger or coastal
  but not smaller and inland.

18
Needs before and after the move

• A house, a school and the transport options.
• You have to get a doctor, a mechanic and a
  hairdresser.
• Individual needs were often linked to specialist
  services e.g. health

19
Challenges

• you have to be out there, full on, selling
  yourself to people.
• I just go everywhere I can, wherever Im asked.
  I join in. Every person you meet could be a
  friend.
• We moved but he travelled more. He was away
  every week. We may as well have stayed put.

20
Challenges 2

• He could come home today and say what do you
  think about Melbourne?
• If the company gets taken over or some position
  comes up somewhere, anything could happen.

21
Challenges 3

• you never know if youll fit into the wives club
  this time.
• I see the Western Australian number plates
  around town at Christmas time and I know the
  families have turned up and what theyll be in
  for.

22
some places are just better than others

• he said you know what this place has that
  Kalgoorlie hasnt got? Grandparents, and it has.
  Theres more than one generation here.
• You have to be tough to live in some towns,
  physically and mentally.

23
Life stage issues

• Needs and challenges varied a great deal
  according to the womans life stage at the time
  of relocation.
• Young couples
• Small children
• Teenage children
• Older couples

24
Good places

• Have diversity of population age, gender,
  occupation
• Have employment opportunities
• Have health, education and infrastructure
• Have a population, or an area within them, that
  is used to people relocating
• people are more open
• the whole street was from somewhere else and
  they wanted to meet people.

25
Implications

• Place - community engagement practices by local
  or regional agencies
• Emphasise regional diversity
• Population profiling including migration patterns
• Identify and promote the existing social networks
  that welcome newcomers
• Social planning could incorporate population
  migrations and inclusion

26
Implications 2

• Needs of women and children
• Opportunities for socialising
• Good services and infrastructure
• Information about the area and services and
  activities available
• Pre move information
• Post - move information

27
Limitations of preliminary findings

• Sample consists mostly of mid-life women (32 -55
  years)
• Younger and older women will be included
• Sample does not include women living in remote
  areas.

28
Conclusion

• Places that experience a lot of population
  migration can become more attractive to, and
  supportive of, their newcomers. A key way of
  doing this is by recognising that women and
  children are the community members and service
  users with the greatest need for integration.

29
Dr Julaine Allan

• julaine.allan_at_bigpond.com