AFTER ALMOST FIVE
years as vice
president of human resources for
Peabody Energy’s significant Australian
coal operations, Geoff Woodcroft has
witnessed the highs and lows of coal
prices, talent shortages and human
resources budgets.
“We had quite a few years of very
prosperous growth and, like many of our
peers, we are now at a very critical point
in time. Many organisations are facing
headwinds that they haven’t experienced
before,” Woodcroft says of Australia’s
mining sector.
In 2011, the US-headquartered coal
giant achieved the strongest financial
results in its 129-year history with $8 billion
in revenue across its global operations.
Peabody’s metallurgical and thermal coal
projects in Queensland and New South
Wales accounted for half of those earnings.
Since that defining year, declining coal
prices have impacted revenue growth.
PEABODY RE-ENERGISES
talent solutions
From the impacts of retiring baby boomers to competing for future talent with the oil
and gas sector, Peabody Energy’s head of HR Geoff Woodcroft tells
Resource People
the coal sector’s workforce and skills challenges remain as complex as ever.
Despite this, Peabody expects global
coal demand to rise by 600 million tons
by 2016 and is targeting Australian sales
of a healthy 35 to 37 million tons this
year – just above the 34.9 million tons
sold in 2013.
The challenges facing the coal sector
makes internal skills development as
critical as ever.
“When you think of the current market
conditions in respect to the impact on talent,
it’s a real balancing act because we must
respond to current business imperatives to
reduce costs whilst keeping an eye to the
coming years. The decisions we make today
are going to shape our future, and we need
to get it right,” Woodcroft says.
“Prices may not go back to the dizzy
heights we had, but we will come through
this. And the companies that are making the
right decisions now about their talent needs
will be the ones who will be able to quickly
take advantage of the next upswing.”
MANAGING NEW EXPECTATIONS
Now the dust has settled on the ‘war for
talent’, one of the biggest challenges
for HR teams is managing employee
expectations formed during times of
high wages growth and very healthy
career development budgets.
At the height of the skills shortage,
Peabody like many other companies,
was having to offer significant salary
packages, including the buy-out of
bonuses and long-term incentives to
attract critical talent.
“Some people might say that
candidates were the only winners in the
war for talent but that’s really not true
because it has consistently raised their
expectations about what companies can
offer and how fast their career could
progress. That has to reach a ceiling
at some point, and some people are
finding that to be a difficult concept to
accept,” Woodcroft says.
“Helping our employees to
understand that now it’s really all
about business survival, execution and
remaining competitive in the current
market is a difficult task. Some of them
have never experienced a downward
trend in the market, and keeping
engagement levels high in the current
environment is very challenging.”
SKILLS CHALLENGES REMAIN
Like its competitors, Peabody experienced
a much-welcome decrease in staff attrition
rates within its 3000-strong workforce as
the coal market eased. This however, also
comes with its own challenges.
“If increased retention is occurring
across the mining industry, it means that
highly skilled talent is staying put, so there
are still shortages in some critical skills
areas,” Woodcroft says.
Peabody Energy’s Geoff Woodcroft
SUMMER 2014-15 RESOURCE
PEOPLE
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HUMAN RESOURCES
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