Presentation given to the Committee on Geological and Geotechnical Engineering, Board of Earth Sciences and Resources, National Research Council of the National Academies Meeting, May 29, 2014 Open Session

1. Factors Impacting Attraction
and Retention of Employees
Eve Sprunt, PhD
Consultant
1

2. Impact of Nancy Hopkin’s 1994 survey
of the lab space allocated to female
faculty at MIT relative to their male
colleagues
Shift emphasis from individuals to
demographic groups
Reveal bias and demographic trends
Management is data-driven
Key drivers for management are
attrition and retention
2
Photo of the tape measure now in the MIT
Museum that Prof. Nancy Hopkins used to
demonstrate bias against female faculty

3. Society of Petroleum Engineers Surveys
 2013 social media survey on factors impacting attraction
and retention with 1737 responses, SPE Paper #168112
 December 2011 of SPE members under age 45 with 1392
responses, SPE Paper #151971
 May 2011 of entire SPE membership with 5570 responses,
SPE Paper #160928
Society of Exploration Geophysicists (2013)
 Almost 1600 responses, The Leading Edge (April 2014 and
July 2014)
3

4. Professional Society Surveys
• Exit interviews are notoriously inaccurate
• Professional societies can ask questions that employers may fear are too invasive
• But people are more reluctant to divulge personal information in surveys
distributed through social media than those coming by email from a professional
society
4
Survey Distribution Total Women Men No Gender
# % # % # %
2013 Retention
Survey
social media 1737 422 24% 875 50% 440 25%
Dec 2011 SPE
under age 45
emailed 1392 428 31% 947 68% 17 1%
May 2011 SPE
members
emailed 5570 774 14% 4078 73% 718 13%

5. Factors Impacting Employees
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• Pain-gain balance
• Opportunities to gain
• Pain – hostile work environment
• Factors to reduce the pain (e.g. better work-
life integration)

6. • People are motivated by opportunity.
• Satisfaction with work-life balance depends on opportunity
6

7. Opportunity or Insufficient Opportunity
are the biggest drivers for people to join or
leave an employer.
For older people, Opportunity is still the
most important factor, but not by as big a
margin over other factors.
7

8. For Both Men and Women Under Age 40
Same Top 4 Reasons
 Opportunity, challenge, career potential
 Develop new competencies & grow into a
position with new responsibilities
 Respect
 Good Pay
But top 4 account for only about 25% of “most important” reasons
8

9. Why People Leave
Slide 9
9

10. Why People Leave
Slide 10
Agreement between men and women on top five reasons
• Insufficient opportunity
• Develop new competencies
• Leadership/direction of company
• Better fit to core competencies
• For better pay
10

11. 11
Under age of 40
Men rank as more important
• Lack of recognition
• Self-employment
• Severance pay
Women rank as more important
• Conflict with boss
• Inflexible work schedule
• Follow relocated partner
• Conflict with co-workers
Are conflicts with supervisors and co-workers more
common and/or more severe for women?

12. Different Ways of Making Comparisons
Slide 12
• We compared different groups in both by how they ranked the factors and by the difference in the
percentage labeling a factor “most important.”
• “Conflict with boss” was a big percentage difference, but a small ranking difference
• “Follow relocated partner” was significantly different both ways 12

13. Gender Differences in Reasons for Leaving
Slide 13
• Women are more likely to leave because of
conflict with their boss and to follow their partner
• Women more likely to follow relocated partner
• Men are more likely to leave to be self employed
13

14. 0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
20 -24 25 - 29 30 - 34 35 -39 40 - 44 45 -49 50 - 54 55 -59 60 -64
%ofGenderinAgeBracket
Age
Dual Career Couples in the Petroleum Industry
The Emerging Majority
Men Women
14

15. Meet mate at school or at work
Often same discipline
Female petroleum engineers more likely
to have a petroleum engineer as their
partner than their male peers
15

16. Relative earnings important
in decision making
Women more likely to be in
couple of “equal earners”
Younger men more to be in
an “equal earner” couple
16
From 2013 Survey of the Society of Exploration Geophysicists
with nearly 1600 responses
0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
30%
35%
40%
45%
50%
25 to 29 30 to 34 35 to 39 40 to 44 45 to 49 50 to 54 55 to 59
%GenderinAgeRange
Age Range
Society of Exploration Geophysicists Survey
"Equal Earners" - 40% to 60% Household Income
Men
Women

17. How much each person contributes to
household income impacts:
Balance of power in relationship
Family priorities
 Protect both incomes
 Household duties
 Childcare
17

18. Single breadwinner may have difficulty understanding
the lifestyle and priorities of dual career couples
Men under age 40:
 Dual career men more likely to leave because of working
too many hours or conflict with their boss
 Other men more likely to leave for better pay and benefits
18

19. 19
Equal Women Equal Men
Dominant
Women
Dominant
Men
% Yes Rank % Yes Rank % Yes Rank % Yes Rank
Anywhere if asked 3% 16 13% 12 4% 16 11% 13
For a promotion 37% 5 33% 7 39% 8 33% 6
For international experience 54% 2 49% 2 52% 4 49% 2
To gain valuable experience 59% 1 55% 1 55% 2 49% 1
To a better location from a personal
perspective 43% 4 48% 3 55% 3 44% 4
For more money 35% 7 40% 4 58% 1 47% 3
To a location where my partner can find
work 50% 3 37% 5 41% 7 21% 9
To avoid unemployment 36% 6 37% 6 51% 5 41% 5
SEG Survey:
 Relative appeal of 18 conditions
 Big differences are potential
sources of conflict

20. SPE and SEG surveys - about 80% of equal earner
men and women consider both careers to be
equally important.
Managers don’t want to “waste resources” on
people who they do not consider fast track
material
Some managers - essential to have the employee
decide which career is more important
20

21. Women more likely to be asked than men
Women with children 2x as likely to be
asked as men with children
Women with children working for the same
employer as their partner 2X as likely to be
asked as equivalent man
Men and women with children 2X as likely
to be asked if they work for same employer
If not asking, what is the supervisor
assuming?
21

22. 22
Advantages
• Coordinate relocation
• Ease in picking home
location
• Easier childcare
• Coordinate travel
• Coordinate daily
schedule
Disadvantages
•Employer requires that
one career leads and
the other follows
•Benefits reduced
•Employer coordinates
careers as a couple
•Job security

23. Why People Left Petroleum Industry
Top 3 reasons for women:
 For more interesting work
 Insufficient opportunity
 To live in a location I like better
To “take care of my child/children was in 7th place
behind several “opportunities”
Top 3 reasons for men:
 To live in a location I like better
 Retirement
 Terminated and couldn’t get another job
23

24. Many women don’t start becoming
frustrated with their rate of advancement
at work until they are in their 30’s.
If a mother thinks that her
opportunities are limited, she may
decide that the rewards of working
are not sufficiently attractive.
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25. Under age 40
Women consider the following factors to
be much more important than their male
peers
 Flexible work schedule
 Good relationship with co-workers
 Trust in organization and management
25

26. 26
 A chance to make a difference
 Part-time work
 Telecommuting
Of 20 possible incentives, 3 were most enticing for
people of all ages who had left the workforce
Retirees Mothers

27. Exclusion from the “fast track”
• Lack of a sponsor
• Conflict with supervisor
• Conflict with co-workers
• Communication issues
• Unwillingness to relocate
• Perceptions of insufficient dedication to career
27

28. 28

29. Pain-gain balance
Sense of opportunity is critical
Hostile work environment major factor for those
impacted
Workforce of the future will be primarily
composed of dual career couples for whom
relocation and child-rearing are big challenges
Work flexibility can alleviate the pain side of the
balance to improve employee satisfaction
29

30. 30