It’s no secret Australia’s mining sector is facing a major (and growing) skills shortage. The vast majority (86%) of mining executives say it’s harder to recruit and retain talent now than just two years ago. And concerningly, 71% of mining leaders are finding the talent shortage is holding them back from delivering on production targets and strategic objectives.  

For the mining sector, the talent shortage is the combination and culmination of several macroeconomic and reputational factors, including a shrinking talent pool since Covid-19; concerns over the sector’s sustainability; and the fact many young people simply don’t see a future in traditional mining.  

According to a recent report by McKinsey, “mining is not currently an aspirational industry for young talent to join”. In fact, there has been a significant 63% drop in mining engineering enrolment in Australia since 2014.

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Source: McKinsey & Company

In many mining organisations, a lack of innovative and sophisticated technology also remains a major problem. While many organisations are now embarking on digital transformation initiatives, the sector is still heavily reliant on dated, manual solutions—particularly for core functions like HR management and ERP. This has serious implications for employee experience. Without data-led insights and centralised management tools, it’s very hard for organisations to provide the positive, seamless and end-to-end experience which employees are looking for.    

So as a new, future-focused mining organisation, how can you reverse this trend? What steps can you take to attract the new generation of workers to your organisation?  

The First Step: Put The Right Technology Foundations In Place

Today’s workers expect a positive digital experience from the first moment they interact with your organisation.  

The skills shortage means that if a worker doesn’t have a positive experience, it’s very easy for them to leave and find a position elsewhere.  In fact, 24% of employees say they would consider leaving a job because the technology they used wasn’t well-suited to their needs.

The right technology isn’t just a new, piecemeal HR or ERP solution that meets your short-term goals. For lasting results, you need to step back and think about the technology you want to have in place long-term.

• Can it scale and evolve with your organisation?
• Does it offer powerful and sophisticated HR management tools which will give your organisation a point of difference?
• Will it integrate with your core business systems and provide you with overarching insight?  

At DyFlex, we recommend mining organisations focus on four key areas when looking for technology that can enhance the employee experience:  

#1 – Integration With Core Business Systems

Having data in disparate, siloed systems can be a major overhead – and very quickly consume time and resources. It also limits the extent to which you can make truly accurate and informed decisions.  

Relying on disparate point solutions to manage each aspect of your business may also be sufficient now— but what will happen as you add more staff, open new locations, or need to expand your production capacity?

For this reason, it’s important to choose highly interoperable solutions like SAP SuccessFactors or SAP S/4 HANA—both of which integrate seamlessly with your core business systems. This means that you have a single, consolidated source of truth for all your organisation’s data – from HR to finance, payroll, project management, to asset management, sales and marketing, and more.  

SAP also offers their software on a modular basis, which means it’s able to grow with you.  

#2 – Smooth, Efficient Onboarding

When it comes to onboarding, the old adage holds true: start as you intend to finish. A positive onboarding experience is one in which processes are as seamless and consistent as possible for every new starter. This means automating laborious tasks, enabling self-service, and reducing manual data entry—so employees can get on with their actual job, sooner. For mining organisations which typically have a large contingent workforce—with staff on quite diverse contracts—providing this level of consistency is essential.  

A trusted HR solution like SAP SuccessFactors can deliver this positive experience from the outset. It fast-tracks the hiring process, with step-by-step wizards, intuitive dashboards, and built-in electronic forms. As well as onboarding, it also includes tools for cross-boarding and offboarding for new hires, internal transfers, and outgoing employees. Plus, HR managers get full visibility of all onboarding activity, via a single pane of glass.  

#3 – Customised Experiences At Every Step

Once you have recruited staff, it’s critical that they continue to have a positive employee experience—with opportunities for development, collaboration, training, and feedback. Using cutting-edge technology to offer your employees personalised and customised experiences can be a crucial point of difference for your mining organisation.  

With SAP SuccessFactors, personalised dashboards allow employees to track their progress towards goals, view performance metrics, and access learning and development resources. It also includes social collaboration tools through which employees can connect and share knowledge and best practices. By incorporating a Qualtrics EX module into your overall SAP SuccessFactors solution, you can also gather employee data right across the employee lifecycle, and deliver predictive and personal insights based on employee feedback.  

#4 – Access To Data For Improved HR Decision Making

To effectively attract and retain employees, your HR leaders need to be able to make accurate decisions leveraging real-time data. This is a key reason to switch to a cloud-based, data-led solution like SAP SuccessFactors.  

Via a user-friendly dashboard, your HR leaders get at-a-glance insights on a range of employee-related metrics, including turnover rates, time-to-hire, sentiment, and overall performance. With access to this data, your organisation can then quickly identify issues and opportunities, and respond proactively—maximising retention and minimising attrition.  

SAP S/4 HANA also provides real-time analytics and insights into your business’ operations, which can help you make faster and more informed decisions. This includes into customer behaviour and preferences, as well as the performance of your supply chain and finances.  

Is Your Organisation Ready To Tackle The Skills Shortage?  

For mining organisations, recruiting and retaining talented employees can be extremely difficult. However, with the right HR platform and ERP solution in place you can boost your chances of success—delivering more rewarding experiences for your people at every step.  

Talk to the team here at DyFlex about any employee experience challenges you are facing, and how implementing an SAP SuccessFactors solution or S/4 HANA could help. Get in touch.

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