One of my major research objectives was to identify the categories of Ghanaians who succeed in taking advantage of the new offshore employment opportunities. To explore the profile of Ghanaian rig workers, information such as age, gender, marital status, number of children, educational background, previous employment and the region/ethnicity of the rig workers are analyzed which enabled me do a status inventory on rig workers. I also present employers’ reasons for recruiting these categories of workers.
65 Both employers and offshore workers find working on an oil rig very difficult. Recruitment companies prefer to recruit young people who can manage the demanding nature of the work. According to an official of a recruitment company, they recruit people who have finished giving birth and/or have independent children. Rig workers spend 28 days offshore and have to leave their family behind.Both rig workers and officials of recruitment companies alluded to the fact that, people (especially women) who have young children could have divided attention while working on the rig. Societal norms place the greater part of child care and home keeping responsibilities on women. Ghanaian women therefore, seek employment in jobs that suits these roles. This makes it difficult for Ghanaian women to take up employment in jobs that requires long absence from home such as offshore work and is reflected by few women working on the rigs.
Both rig workers and officials acknowledged the fact that, due to the high risk associated with the offshore work, it is inappropriate to have people with divided attention working on the rig. The work requires hundred percent concentrations to avoid mistakes that could lead to accidents. Employers therefore prefer to employ people without childcare responsibilities. When employers are making decision on who they recruit, they are concerned with safety, efficiency and profit. Prospective employees on the other hand, take into consideration their reproductive life when they decide to seek employment in a particular job due to the high Ghanaian cultural value on children.
According to an expatriate manager, it could be challenging for a young unmarried woman especially, to make a career of rig work while thinking of having children. When a woman gets pregnant, she cannot continue with the rig work. Cecelia (35) was a dishwasher who got pregnant while working on the rig and had to stop the work until after she delivered. According to her employer, Cecelia is one of his most hardworking staff and it was difficult for him when he had to manage without her for over a year. According to Cecelia herself, because she had a surgery during delivery she is not able to work as much as she could prior to her pregnancy. Recruitment companies therefore avoid recruiting these categories of women. The table 5 below is a summary of basic information on the rig workers surveyed.
An important category of people that the companies prefer, are those with previous offshore experience (see table 5 below). The reason is because of the high operational cost of the rigs,
66 there is little room for errors. According to an official of a rig company, it costs about half a million dollars or more to operate a rig a day. Rig workers with previous offshore experience are more efficient and minimize the occurrence of errors that could impede operations. Officials of rig companies and local recruitment companies indicated that, sending inexperienced workers to the rig could affect their out-put. They prefer to blend the inexperienced workers with the experienced ones by including some few inexperience workers in every crew sent offshore. The experienced workers train the inexperienced workers.
Apart from the need to ensure efficient and optimum out-put by the rig workers, the local recruitment companies also need to ensure their credibility. Excellent performance from the rig workers is crucial in ensuring their chances of getting more contracts from the international companies and also sustaining existing contracts. The director of operations of a recruitment company narrated a case where they sent some inexperienced workers they had recently trained to the rig which he described as a “disaster”. Because the inexperience rig workers were in majority in that particular crew, several errors occurred which affected operations on the rig and almost caused the company to lose the contract. They immediately withdrew most of the inexperienced workers and replaced them with the experienced workers.
Table 5: Background of Ghanaian rig workers surveyed. Male Female (%)
Age Youngest 30 25 Oldest 62 39 Marital status Married 35 3 Single 2 2 Education No Education 4 -
Junior secondary school 1 2
Senior secondary school 3 -
Technical/Vocational training. 13 2
Middle school certificate 11 1
Tertiary 7 - Ethnicity Ewe 11 - Fante 11 5 Ga-Adangbe 14 - Other 1 - Previous offshore experience Yes 24 - No 13 5 Total survey 42 (100) 37(88.1%) 5 (11.9%)
67 An offshore installation manager noted that, though they provide training opportunities for Ghanaian rig workers, they [rig companies] still prefer people with previous offshore experience. He indicated that the “rookie mistakes” of the new rig workers (the mistakes they make as a result of their inexperience) can cost them time and money. They try as much as possible to integrate new rig workers with the experienced ones.
Since employers prefer people with previous offshore experience, Ghanaians with many years of offshore experience have higher chances of getting recruited. From the survey, 57.1% of informants all of whom are men have previous offshore experience. Men therefore have greater opportunity of getting rig work than women. Apart from these qualities that employers look for, the people who get the offshore jobs are also those who are well connected. The next section shall delve in details, the role of social networks in the employment process.