our people

Labour Pool Initiatives

Syncrude takes a three-stage approach to addressing its workforce needs. It begins by raising awareness of career opportunities in the oil sands through programs such as Take our Kids to Work Day and trades development initiatives.

This is followed by support for initiatives that develop the available pool of skilled labour, through college, technical and university-based programs. This then provides the foundation for comprehensive recruitment plans to address our specific labour requirements on an ongoing basis.

To address a shortage of available workforce skills caused by a robust local and provincial economy and changing workforce demographics, Syncrude is continuing work that has been underway for more than a decade educational institutions, businesses, industry associations, and governments.

Take our kids to Work day about 100 grade 9 students, all of who are the children of Syncrude employees, participated in the nation-wide Take our Kids to Work Day on november 7, 2007. The effort provided the opportunity for students to learn about their parents' vocation and workplace, and also served as a thought-starter regarding the students' own career interests.

Process Operator Training (External) Syncrude's Entry - Level Process Operator Trainee Program encourages candidates to consider a career as a process operator. Developed by Syncrude in association with the British Columbia Institute of Technology, the program consists of two months of intensive training, six months of evaluation in field-training situations, and two more months in the classroom. The experience rewards students by hiring them as paid casual employees during training. Syncrude has hired about 15 of the program's graduates since 2006 and dozens more are currently enrolled.

Apprenticeships Apprenticeships in recognized trades and technologies can be accessed through Syncrude directly or via three widely available programs in which Syncrude participates. The Alberta Aboriginal Apprenticeship Program links employers and Aboriginal apprentices and offers additional assistance to help them build successful working and learning relationships. The Community Cooperative Apprenticeship Program is an industry-driven education partnership providing training through annual rotating work placements. The Registered Apprenticeship Program is offered to high-school students in the form of work experience courses, Career and Technology Studies courses, and part-time employment.

The Syncrude Higher Education Awards Program (SHEAP) Children of Syncrude employees can qualify for up to $2,400 for each year of their post-secondary degree or diploma education. A total of about $930,000 in program scholarships was granted in 2007.

Scholarships, Bursaries and Endowments

	2007	2006	2005	2004	2003
Annual Contributions ($)	930,000	858,000	961,200	1,060,805	685,000
Number of Employee Student Scholarships	395	369	409	415	424
Number of Tuition Refunds to Syncrude Employees	153	122	136	96	128

Employee and Corporate Awards

Syncrude salutes the employees whose work received external recognition in 2007. We are also proud to have received several corporate awards that reinforce our efforts toward continued improvement.

Syncrude retiree and CosSyn technology senior associate Jatinder Singh was recognized by the Association of Professional Engineers, Geologists and Geophysicists of Alberta with the Community Service Award. Jay is national president of the Guru Nanak Shrine Fellowship and recently helped raise $2 million for the Guru Nanak Dev Healing Garden at the Mazankowski Alberta Heart Institute in Edmonton.

Syncrude General Counsel Ray Hansen Q.C., received the University of Alberta Alumni Honour Award for his contribution to the community, the university and the law profession. ray serves on the Board of Trustees of the Stollery Children's Hospital Foundation and the Wood Buffalo Branch of the Canadian Diabetes Association and, formerly, on the board of the Fort McMurray YMCA. He has also lectured on business and energy law at Keyano College and the University of Alberta. Ray is active in the affairs of the Canadian Bar Association and was the 2002–2003 president of the Canadian Corporate Counsel Association.

The Canadian Business Aviation Association recognized the Syncrude Flight Centre with two safety awards: one for jets passing 36,000 flight hours without incident, and the other for the role maintenance played in support of that feat. Syncrude's aircraft engineers have never had a lost-time incident or medical aid injury in more than two decades of aircraft maintenance. Syncrude's two jets transport 20,000 passengers every year.

At the Provincial Surface Mine Rescue Competition, Syncrude received the John T. Ryan Safety Trophy for achieving the lowest reportable injury rate among Alberta surface mines not producing metal or coal for 2006. It was the third time in five years Syncrude received this recognition.

Syncrude received the 2007 Premier's Award of Merit for Healthy Workplaces for its overall commitment to a healthy workplace. One example of this is the Health Rewards Program, which provides gift incentives to employees who participate in a diverse wellness program that encourages healthy eating, regular physical activity, and smoking cessation, as well as efforts to build workplace teams and recycle and conserve energy.

The Mining Association of Canada recognized Syncrude with a Towards Sustainable Mining Performance Award. It acknowledges Syncrude's commitment to sustainable development performance, especially in the areas of External Outreach and Crisis Management Planning.

Syncrude must continue to attract and retain a highly skilled workforce to responsibly sustain and expand its oil sands operations.

Syncrude has a comprehensive employee attraction and retention strategy that rewards our people and responds to changing conditions.

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