5-Step Plan to Help Easy Transitions within the Hydropower Workforce

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A New Useful resource is Equipping Hydropower Organizations With Instruments That Can Facilitate Seamless Succession Planning and Promote Strong Information Sharing Practices

The excellent news: Hydropower’s reliability means it performs—and can proceed to play—an vital position within the electrical grid, supporting variable renewable vitality sources like photo voltaic and wind. And current and new hydropower initiatives are anticipated to play a pivotal position as we transition to 100% clear vitality within the electrical energy sector. That would imply substantial progress within the hydropower workforce.

The unhealthy information: The hydropower trade’s workforce is experiencing main transitions, because it’s seeing an growing variety of employees retire. The trade now faces the troublesome challenges of not solely making certain that it might recruit sufficient employees to fill all the required roles, but additionally minimizing organizational data loss from employee departure. This organizational data loss can have main implications, resembling misplaced productiveness as new employees come up to the mark on organizational practices or elevated strain on current workers, which may trigger dissatisfaction and probably result in extra employee turnover.

A brand new useful resource developed by the Nationwide Renewable Vitality Laboratory (NREL) and funded by the U.S. Division of Vitality’s Water Energy Applied sciences Workplace may also help hydropower organizations put together for employee turnover and scale back data loss to make sure hydropower continues to play a serious position in a clear vitality future. The Information Sharing and Succession Planning Toolkit outlines a five-step course of that can be utilized by any hydropower group, irrespective of the place they’re of their workforce transition, to determine a system and tradition for data sharing.

“After we started this venture, we realized that there are very minimal sources particular to hydropower relating to succession planning and data sharing,” mentioned Adam Kanter, workforce growth researcher at NREL and the lead writer on the toolkit. “However we are able to see that hydropower is likely one of the industries that wants this sort of assist probably the most.”

To construct the toolkit, Kanter spent months gathering experience from different workforce growth sources, then solicited suggestions from members of hydropower associations and organizations.

“We had a superb mixture of views—some technical hydropower individuals, but additionally human sources employees who already had some expertise with data sharing and succession planning,” Kanter mentioned. “Their enter actually strengthened the toolkit.”

How To Use the Toolkit

The toolkit encompasses two vital ideas essential for profitable workforce transitions: data sharing, or the method of capturing abilities and knowledge and making that data out there to all workers; and succession planning, which helps leaders establish essential positions inside organizations and put together workers to fill these vacancies as incumbents retire or transfer on.

These ideas are embedded within the toolkit’s step-by-step method, which first shepherds organizations via assessing, documenting, capturing, and sharing current data. The device then guides them in making essential adjustments and drafting a plan to revisit every subject frequently.

Every of the 5 steps embrace downloadable instruments, templates, and checklists that simplify the method of evaluating organizational data sharing practices. Examples of accomplished worksheets are additionally included in every step, so the group can see the sorts of data they need to be gathering.

However the great thing about the toolkit is its flexibility, mentioned Kanter.

“Folks can use it chronologically, from Step 1 to Step 5, or they will skip on to constructing a job profile,” Kanter mentioned. “One of many main issues once we had been creating this was ensuring it’s helpful to individuals no matter the place they is likely to be on this course of. In the event that they’ve already assessed their group, and simply wish to be sure that they’re doing it proper, they will use this to validate their concepts.”

The toolkit was made publicly out there in April 2024, and it has already been shared with many hydropower trade companions, from which Kanter is continuous to hunt suggestions. “One of many huge advantages of getting the toolkit on-line is that we are able to proceed to replace it to fill gaps and reply to trade enter,” Kanter mentioned. Hydropower trade companions will even be capable of arrange one-on-one periods with Kanter to request help, get questions answered, or present suggestions.

“This toolkit comes at a time when hydropower organizations need assistance to make sure they’ve a professional, educated workforce prepared to assist hydropower take its place within the clear vitality transition,” Kanter mentioned.

Discover the Information Sharing and Succession Planning Toolkit, go to the Hydropower STEM Portal for data on hydropower-related job sources, and subscribe to the NREL water energy publication, The Present, to be sure to don’t miss a water energy replace.

Courtesy to NREL.