Wayne Allen
Chairman, Chief Executive Officer
Phillips Petroleum Co.
When I graduated from college and joined Phillips as a young engineer in 1961, the oil industry looked like a stable, thriving place to build an interesting and challenging career-and the year 2000 seemed like a date that existed only in science fiction.
Today, I can look back on many interesting and challenging assignments, but the industry has been anything but stable-only occasionally thriving-and the graduating class of 2000 is already in its junior year of high school.
What will the oil industry be like when these young people enter the job market 6 years from now? Will they find it as attractive as I did 33 years ago? I think the answer is "yes," and here's why:
First, the industry will be a much safer place to work. Great progress has already been made. In my early days on the job it was common to see oil field workers with missing fingers and other signs of serious injury, and accidents were frequent in refinery and plant environments.
I'm happy to say we don't tolerate this kind of thing any longer. My company and others in the industry have put the health and safety of workers at the top of the priority list, and our records will show even more significant improvement over the remainder of the 1990s.
Second, the oil industry will be a more rewarding place to work-and I mean that in the broadest sense. In regard to money, I don't think salaries will zoom upward over the next 6 years. But by the year 2000, I believe more companies will have put in place incentive compensation programs that will allow more workers to share in the financial success that they help to achieve. And looking beyond the dollars, working in the oil industry will be more rewarding because accountability systems are being strengthened in many companies. Credit will go where credit is due, and better jobs and more responsibility will go to the people who have demonstrated that they deserve them.
Finally, I think the oil industry will be a more satisfying place to work in the year 2000. People define satisfaction in many different ways, of course, but I see several positive trends with broad appeal:
- Greater diversity. Once there was some truth to the notion that our industry's workforce consisted mostly of good old boys from Texas and adjacent states. But that's changed a lot in recent years and will change even more dramatically in the future. To succeed in an increasingly competitive and more global business environment, our industry will be looking for people who can perform. Period.
- Enhanced technology. Computers and other technological advances have revolutionized our industry along with many others, and 6 years from now we'll be doing things we can't even dream about today. Technology will give people more choices in how they work, where they work, and with whom. Technology will handle the drudgery and let people do the thinking, which has always been a much more satisfying activity.
- More responsibility. Three decades ago there were many more layers of supervision in the oil industry than there are today, and there will be even fewer in the future. That means more people will be, in effect, their own bosses, free to make significant decisions in their areas of responsibility.
To many people, doing a worthwhile job of real benefit to society-and-being appreciated for it-is the greatest satisfaction of all. Our industry has had its share of criticism over the years, but I think we're making some headway in demonstrating the value of our contribution. Six years isn't very long. But I'll go out on a limb a bit and predict that, by the year 2000, there will be a stronger sense of pride in working for the oil industry. Our role in providing energy to people around the world will be better understood-and appreciated-than it is today. We will have earned that understanding and appreciation through our actions-by meeting people's needs, keeping costs low, and minimizing the environmental impact of our operations.
There's no doubt in my mind that working in the oil industry in the year 2000 will be safer, more rewarding, and more satisfying than ever before. I'd love to start all over again.
Copyright 1994 Oil & Gas Journal. All Rights Reserved.
Issue date: 11/07/94
