Houston and Out

Well this is it! My last day at Halliburton has arrived. I'm all packed up and ready to move back to BYU to finish up my MBA. The internship ended with quite a bang. At the beginning of the week I was able to go to Houston to meet with some of the HR leadership team. I must say I was quite impressed, and based on the quality of the people I met, Halliburton is in good hands. Thanks to Halliburton for a great summer, and I hope to see you next year!

They really rolled out the welcome mat for me in Houston.

Halliburton, An American Tradition

Chuck Bramlett, Sr. Director HR & OE, Western Hemisphere

Amy Grace, Director, Global Talent Acquisition

Wade Percival, HR Director, Completion and Production Division

Lori Von Heyking, Director, Global Compensation

Theresa Burkham, Supervisor, Global Compensation

Debbie Logan (to whom I'm practically related) Senior Manager Global Talent Development

Mahesh Puducheri, Senior Director - Talent Management

Well, the time has come to say goodbye to the Brighton camp. I'm going to Houston next week and won't be returning here at all. While Brighton isn't the flashiest camp in the Rockies, I am proud to call it home. The people here are amazing and have treated me like one of their own. So, thanks Brighton, I hope to see you again!

Home Sweet Home

The swank office I shared with Amy.

Amy, HR supervisor. Thanks for putting up with me this summer!

Phyllis, always making things run smoothly.

Dawn, HR training guru (with an unnecessarily pink office).

Burns Flat, Oklahoma

This week's journeying has led me to Burns Flat, Oklahoma. A teeny little town in the middle of nowhere, population 1700. Not exactly the place I would have expected to find a district of the largest oil services company in the U.S. Nevertheless, Halliburton has a district here, and I ventured out this week to see what I could learn. My gracious host was Bridget K., an HR generalist who works 3 days a week in Burns Flat and the other 2 in Oklahoma City.

Bridget laying down the law.

While out here, I've been doing more research for my retention project. Staffing is very hard due to the low applicant pool in the area. As I said, Burns Flat is tiny, and there are few population centers anywhere in the area. Thus, managers and supervisors feel like they are forced to hire applicants that sometimes have marginal qualifications for the job. This leads to high turnover as many new hires quickly realize they are not cut out for the oil field.

Bridget has been working with management, helping convince them that they can afford to be more selective when making hiring decisions. Hopefully this will cut down a bit on turnover, and all the costs associated with it.

Bridget and Troy, a local supervisor, took me out on a frac job. Here are some pictures:

Troy, a man among men.

Filling out Hazard Observation cards.

More hazing. Look at the glasses they made me wear.

Bridget calls this well head configuration a "flower."

Note the "alternative energy" windmills in the background. Al Gore would be proud.

Rock Springs WY

As part of my continuing effort to see what Halliburton is like outside of Brighton, I went to Rock Springs, Wyoming this week. They have a beautiful new facility, that's around 200,000 square feet. Quite different than the cramped quarters in Brighton.

I talked with Kyle, the local HR manager, about retention and hiring. They have recently lost the distinction of being the camp in the northern region with the highest turnover rate. Kyle said they have done some things to tweak their recruiting that has proved to be very effective. They dropped from a 50% turnover rate to about a 20% turnover rate.

He also took me out on location. It was very different from the frac jobs in Brighton and Vernal. There were service companies all over the place, and the site had dozens of different well heads. Right next to the well that we were frac'ing, another company was drilling a new well. Here are some pictures.

Back of Kyle's head.

Safety Supervisor

Well heads in a row.

Engineers doing their thing.

Just like "Black Gold!"

Echo Crew

Last week I decided to go out from start to finish on a frac job. I met up with Echo crew on Wednesday morning. Luckily they had a late start, so I didn't have to get there until the leisurely hour of 4:00am. (They normally meet at 2:00 or 3:00am to drive out to location). Watching them "rig-up" the equipment was intriguing. They have a small cleared out area around the well head in which they have to position ten 18 wheelers and several other large trailers. The equipment all has to be lined up in precisely the right position, because when doing the frac job, they actually hook all of the trucks together via large iron tubes. For more information on fracturing, go here: (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydraulic_fracturing).

Sunrise on the way to the job.

My first time inside an 18-Wheeler.

Rigging up the iron.

The hazing must be over...they gave me hearing protection this time.

T-Rex scavenging for food.

Anniversary

Today we had a celebration in Denver. Amy and Leila recorded their one year anniversaries with Halliburton. And Selene has been here for 8 years. Ed treated us to Mexican food at a nice little place just outside of downtown. Congratulations one and all.

Corey from recruiting.

Leila from recruiting.

Selene, HR Admin.

Eric, sipping on a Halliburton Mate Gourd.

Grand Junction, Colorado

Grand Junction, Colorado is about 200 miles outside of Denver, and the most populous city on the Western slope in Colorado. They grow fruit and drill for oil and natural gas. That's about it. Luckily Halliburton is good at one of those things, so we have quite a presence in Grand Junction.

This is the mountain pass I went through on the way to Grand Junction from Vernal.

Larry, Kim, and Stephanie

Sunset in the middle of nowhere.

Vernal, UT

Vernal is a small town in Uinta County Utah with a population of about 8000. The area is currently in a fossil fuel boom, and Halliburton is right in thick of things. The camp has several crews, and they run just about non-stop. Paul Moorman is the local HR generalist. He showed me around the place, and took me out on location for a frac job.

Paul Moorman

While out in the field I was able to generate some good research for my retention project. Hopefully I'll be able to make some suggestions that will help Halliburton hang on to their most valuable asset.

My trusty Ford "Exploder" (as Paul called it).

Does this hard hat make my head look huge?

(Or does my huge head make the hard hat look small)?

Sweet Moustache

Horsepower

Rocky Mountain Week

This week I set off in search of adventure, to see what Halliburton was like outside of Brighton/Denver, and to work on my Generation Y retention project. I don't think I've mentioned the project previously on the blog. Halliburton is great at hiring Generation Y'ers, but they don't always stay around for very long. The project I've been working on for the past couple of weeks is simply: how do we retain them?


To get some first-hand viewpoints from those in the field I took a trip to our camps in Vernal, UT and Grand Junction, CO. I'm going to use the research to help determine what needs to be done to increase retention. Fun stuff!

Pat Goen 30 Years

Pat Goen celebrated 30 years with Halliburton this year. Many of the HR staff in the Northern Region gathered at Dave & Buster'sin Denver to celebrate. A good time was had by all.

On Location

Today Ramsey, one of the engineers, took me out on a frac job. They didn't let me swing any hammers, but I did get an up close and personal look at the work that keeps Halliburton moving. Without these guys doing what they do in the rain, snow, heat, and cold, we would cease to exist.