The Hindu Business Line : ONGC worried over exodus of specialists

WORRIED over the exodus of experienced specialists and technical experts to private players in the oil exploration sector, ONGC has approached the Department of Public Enterprises (DPE) seeking its consent for independently fixing salaries and wages for professionals at market-determined rates.

While the DPE is yet to take a view on the issue, the company plans to create a comfort zone for its technical manpower pool by creating a `specialist cadre'.

The proposal, to be placed for board approval in this quarter, calls for creation of a separate career path for specialists up to board level.

If adopted, it will allow ONGC to offer highly lucrative career improvement opportunities to its key personnel.

While not quite terming the exodus problem as alarming, Dr A.K. Balyan, the Director (HR), admitted that the company has become a poaching ground for the private players in the last one year.

ONGC is also facing shortage of experienced professionals in geo-physics, instrumentation, and finance.

While Dr Balyan did not disclose the number of people ONGC had lost in the last one year, unconfirmed figures put the figure around 150, including a substantial number of drilling experts.

Poaching is predominant with regard to specialists having 10-15 years of experience in the exploration and production major.

"We (ONGC) are concerned about the trend and have approached the DPE for a free hand in offering our best resources to deserving people," said Dr Balyan. "We at least need to pay them as per the industry norms."

The company has already conducted a survey of the industry wages for such specialists and found that people with 10-15 years of experience are offered 10 times higher salaries by the private players.

He, however, cited the poaching menace as not specific to ONGC alone but common to the entire PSU sector.

"Currently, PSUs are allowed to revise wages and salaries every 5-10 years. If this is allowed to continue, the talent pool of the PSU sector will soon be affected."'

Dr Balyan also said that IIM and IIT graduates do not find much interest in working with the oil major and vice-versa.

"Though of late there has been some interest among the IITians, traditionally we have found ourselves treated as only a training ground by the IIM pass-outs."