The “go-to” team within our Oil and Gas business, the Personnel Logistics Group (PLG), has grown rapidly since inception and is now three times its original size.
Whether they’re onboarding employees, maintaining rosters or coordinating training exercises, the team are the main point of contact for our people in Oil and Gas, providing essential support once someone is onboarded.
We caught up with Manager PLG, Lee-Anne Foster to talk about the team, their rapid growth and what’s in store for the year ahead.
Lee-Anne has been with Monadelphous for 12 years and worked across the divisions before commencing her current role in 2019.
What does the Personnel Logistics Group do?
Lee-Anne: The team is what I would describe as a highly supportive link between recruitment and our people and Operations. Once someone gets through recruitment process, they are handed over to us to manage their PPE and training requirements, their rosters, itineraries and flights.
Within the team, each person is assigned to a contract and, due to the size of the contracts, there can be three or four people working on a single contract. We offer a focused and high-level support service to our people, particularly those based offshore. This includes a dedicated on-call emergency phone which allows us to offer 24/7 support.
How has the team changed or grown over the years?
Lee-Anne: Since 2020, the team has grown from a team of seven to now a team of 22. In addition, we have a support team based in Manila which has also grown to be a team of seven.
We are comprised of three departments and handle everything to do with our people once they have been recruited, including onboarding, mobilisation, training and payroll.
The first offshore contract came about in 2017 and support administration functions out of Vic Park. Prior to that we only had administrators based in Karratha. A few years later, we now have a large support team in place to assist our people 24/7, 365 days of the year.
COVID had a big impact on our team, particularly with people working in remote locations and the level of support required.
What impact has rapid growth had on the way the team works?
Lee-Anne: We are always going to have peaks and troughs in our work but we have been able to take lessons from last year with the major turnarounds and are well equipped for the year ahead.
We have built up the team quite rapidly, but it was important that we built a team with the right culture and recruited accordingly. I really believe in the importance of having the right people in the role who have the right attitude.
What does 2023 look like for the Personnel Logistics Group?
Lee-Anne: I think we are going to see even higher numbers this year in terms of the numbers of trainings and mobilisations we manage as a team.
Last year, we managed 4,357 training bookings and had 5,355 mobilisations – averaging about 446 a month across our projects. Those numbers highlight just how many people our team has an interface with throughout the year.
With another major turnaround coming up – one of the largest we have been involved with – and further turnaround activity later this year, the preparation and planning work is already underway.
I’m looking forward to what will be another busy year ahead as we have a wonderful team of people who have built great relationships with our operations over the years.