Oil Firms Face Surplus Manpower

The state-owned oil companies are gripped with a sense of fear and uncertainty in the post-APM era. The insecurity of these companies is palpable as a major chunk of the manpower employed by the oil companies is being deemed as expendable.

Top oil industry executives today said that as much as two-thirds of the manpower employed by oil industry is surplus, and of this at least half could be given the marching orders to protect the future of the industry.

The apprehensions were voiced today at the two-day HR round table on 'Strategic HRM challenges in the deregulated hydrocarbon sector", here today. The seminar was organised by the Indian School of Petroleum.

HL Zutshi, former chairman and managing director of Hindustan Petroleum Corporation (HPCL) said that, "APM acted as a dis-incentive for improvement. Now that the umbrella of security has gone we have to work to be fiercely competitive".

Arun Balakrishnan, director (human resources) with HPCL said, "the corporation has moved from being private to a nationalised company in 1975. We are now moving towards a situation where there is no fixed return on investment. With technology changes and multinationals thronging the sector in India, we have to move towards absorbing change in the market place".

N G Kannan, general manager (HR) of Indian Oil Corporation, said "Oil companies have to change the mindset from a protective to a competitive market place. There is a need to quickly respond to the market requirement."

In their presentation 'HRM challenges in the aftermath of privatisation and deregulation', Kannan and his HR team from IOC pointed out that the oil industry in India has come to a full circle. HR in IOC has institutionalised change management and leadership development to cope with the current as well as future challenges in the oil sector, the team added.

SA Narayan, director (HR) with Bharat Petroleum Corporation claimed that "there is a sense of guilt when companies offer VRS to its employees. One has to break away from the PSU dilemma."