A lifecycle approach to designing a future-ready workforce
The future of work in energy will not be powered by bigger workforces, but by smarter ones—designed with purpose, aligned to asset lifecycles, and orchestrated by people who sit at the centre of increasingly automated systems.
In earlier papers in this series— Challenges ahead, Opportunities ahead, Energy transition, and Technology advancement— we outlined the external forces reshaping the workforce and the internal shifts companies must make. We explored automation-first design, digital twins, the shrinking labour pool, and the rise of the “human in the middle”—the skilled generalist who supervises complex operations consisting of integrated digital, hybrid and legacy systems.
This paper now moves us from insight to action.
We introduce a practical model based on the classic oil and gas upstream asset lifecycle: develop, construct, operate, sustain, retire, support. Each phase presents different workforce demands—and different opportunities for reinvention. By understanding how the shape of work evolves across the lifecycle, energy companies can better design roles, target investments, and transition legacy operations to the future.
The asset lifecycle model
The upstream oil and gas industry structures itself along the lifecycle stages of its assets—each one with distinct labour needs, digital constraints, and opportunities for transformation.
The five-stage lifecycle model—develop, construct, operate, sustain, retire, support—provides a structured lens to rethink the workforce of the future. It recognizes that no two stages face the same pressures. For example, greenfield wells in the develop phase may be endowed with the latest in digital capabilities reflective of the capabilities of today’s workforce. But once those assets transition into operate, they immediately become brownfield—inflexible, continuously running, and costly to take offline.
Each stage interacts with the others, often asynchronously. An asset may be built to a modern standard but operated under outdated workflows. A well nearing retirement may still rely on the knowledge of an aging technician with no digital handover plan. To respond effectively, organizations should aim for a future workforce that can adapt to the evolving asset mix throughout the full lifecycle of their assets.
Workforce of the future by lifecycle stage
Develop
In the earliest stages of exploration and appraisal, the most future-oriented workforce design decisions can—and should—be made. Here, organizations have the opportunity to embed automation, digital workflows, and data-centric operations from the start. In this stage, the workforce needs digital-native planners, data scientists, subsurface modelers, and systems thinkers—people who can design for a distant horizon. The risk is defaulting to outdated legacy processes. Developing future-ready assets means incorporating points of view that advance technical innovation alongside those who promote operational feasibility.
Construct
The construction workforce in oil and gas is largely outsourced to services companies, operating on tight timelines and under intense safety and cost pressures. But this phase is a critical bridge to future operations—and the workforce here must reflect that. Service providers face the same labour and skills challenges as operators, and must equip their crews with digital tools, mobile platforms, and data capture systems that create future-ready infrastructure. Smart construction today means embedding sensors, collecting digital ‘as-builts,’ and enabling field teams to contribute to the digital data foundation that operations and maintenance will rely on for years to come.
Operate
Operations teams are the backbone of daily production, but their role is being redefined. As companies shift to automation-first workflows and face mounting carbon obligations, operators will find themselves managing a blend of legacy systems and new technologies. The future workforce needs to be human in the middle—not manual doers, but skilled generalists who can supervise automation, validate AI outputs, and make cross-system decisions in real time. With shrinking headcount and non-uniform assets, the ability to see the full picture may well matter more than the deep specialization models of the past. Operations will continue but in a smaller, sharper, and more strategic configuration.
Sustain
As assets age, the challenge becomes extending their productive lives without escalating cost. The workforce here must balance legacy know-how with modern methods—using predictive maintenance, remote inspections, and digital workflows to reduce downtime and stretch asset life. This is where the hybrid model takes hold: old equipment augmented with smart sensors, drones, and AI. The worker of the future in sustain is a cross-trained problem solver, skilled in both physical troubleshooting and digital diagnostics. These roles are often overlooked—but they’re critical to operational resilience, especially as labour tightens and companies look to get more from assets already in the field.
Retire
The retirement stage in upstream energy is primarily about wells—and the goal is clear: plug, abandon, and move on with minimal cost and maximum compliance. Most producers look to transfer aging wells and their asset retirement obligations where possible. When P&A becomes necessary, the work is often contracted to third parties who specialize in efficiency, safety, and regulatory precision. The future workforce in this space is lean, compliance-focused, and operationally sharp—not highly digital, but highly disciplined. As jurisdictions tighten expectations for environmental accountability, retiring assets cleanly and credibly becomes a reputational imperative as much as a financial one.
Support
Support functions—finance, HR, IT, supply chain, and many others—are shared across the business and deliver the commercial capabilities that enable the asset lifecycle to function economically. Energy executives recognize that the workforce of the future will leverage digital tools that embed corporate knowledge, standardize leading practices, and support safe, distributed work. The future workforce in these functions will be necessarily lean, data-centric, agile, and often delivered through partners. Internal roles will be oriented to oversight, orchestration, and exception management, and less on transactional execution.
Organizational responses: twelve actions to take now
Designing the workforce of the future requires concrete steps across planning, skills, systems, and innovation. These twelve actions offer a practical roadmap for companies navigating digital transformation, talent scarcity, and operational complexity. They reflect the lifecycle structure and align with the pressures outlined in previous papers.
Strategic foundations
- Embed digital and workforce planning early in the develop phase of new assets to avoid inheriting legacy constraints.
- Use workforce analytics to align current roles with future capabilities, guiding decisions on upskilling, redeployment, outsourcing, and redesign.
- Select digitally mature suppliers and partners to promote strong alignment with automation-first goals and data integration needs.
- Implement hybrid and remote work models where possible, supported by advanced connectivity and digital infrastructure, to improve agility and operational efficiency.
- Address cultural barriers to digital transformation by fostering an agile mindset and effective change management practices within the organization.
Workforce evolution
- Invest in digital learning platforms to support continuous upskilling in automation, robotics, analytics, and AI across the workforce.
- Combine the expertise of experienced professionals with the agility of early career workers to foster innovation and smooth transitions, particularly in sectors like energy transitioning to clean technologies.
- Outsource legacy systems support for non-mission-critical processes to free up internal resources for future-focused work.
Technology enablement
- Adopt automation-first design for all new workflows, starting in back office functions and expanding into operations.
- Consolidate and activate operational data to support AI-driven decision-making at the asset level.
- Run pilot programs on legacy assets to layer in digital tools, sensors, and automation—creating hybrid operating models.
Innovation and scale
- Maximize innovation in new wells, aiming for remote, autonomous operations with minimal human intervention.
Taken together, these actions move workforce planning from reactive to strategic—allowing companies to shape the future workforce deliberately, not inherit it by default.
Conclusion: Designing, not hiring, the next-generation workforce
The workforce of the future must be intentionally designed, aligned to the lifecycle of assets, and supported by smart technologies and agile systems. That means knowing what work needs doing, how best to do it, and only then, who should do it. For oil and gas producers, this shift is urgent. Labour is scarce, expectations are high, and the path forward demands a leaner, smarter, digitally empowered workforce. CGI helps companies make that shift—with the tools, platforms, and strategic insight to turn workforce vision into action.
This article was co-written by the following two experts:
| Geoffrey Cann, Advocate for Digital Innovation in Energy | Peter Warren, Vice-President, Global Industry Lead, Energy & Utilities, CGI |
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If you’d like more information on our work in this area, feel free to contact Peter.
References
- Warren, Peter and Geoffrey Cann. 2025. Workforce of the Future: Challenges Ahead. https://www.cgi.com/canada/en-ca/article/energy-and-utilities/workforce-future-energy-challenges-ahead
- Warren, Peter and Geoffrey Cann. 2025. Workforce of the Future: Opportunities Ahead. https://www.cgi.com/canada/en-ca/article/energy-and-utilities/workforce-future-energy-opportunities-ahead
- Warren, Peter and Geoffrey Cann. 2025. Workforce of the Future: Energy Transition. https://www.cgi.com/canada/en-ca/article/oil-and-gas/workforce-future-energy-challenge-transformation
- Warren, Peter and Geoffrey Cann. 2025. Workforce of the Future: Technology Advancement. https://www.cgi.com/canada/en-ca/article/energy-and-utilities/workforce-future-energy-technology-advancement
