Questions pop to mind Havoc....
Why use contractors to do "mandatory overtime"....that has never been an issue before...why now?
Vacation coverage....why now....it was never a problem before?
Why double the training pace....that many pilots leaving to cause this or is there some expansion taking place?
If there is turnover....as reported in other places that point the finger at the EMS side of the house as being a revolving door situation....why can the management not find a way to retain people and eliminate the need for additional training costs? Just where are all these pilots to come from? Is there no bottom to the well (as the Bob Suggs School of Helicopter Management endorses) or is the bucket hitting the bottom?
I would suggest the GOM companies for sure....and EMS outfits as well....have a retention problem....not a recruiting/training problem. When numbers along the lines of 30-40 percent annual turnover rate are publicized and a shortfall of about one pilot for every seven positions are known....that says something about the operators being out of touch.
Common sense tells us that each pilot retained is one less that must be identified, recruited, and trained. Maybe the US Helicopter industry could learn something from the US Trucking industry. Exactly the same thing happened there in the past few years but the trucking industry has come to grips with the problem by first admitting to themselves there was a problem.
The modern day HR movement is one impediment to success....and the idea that a file drawer full of Resumes means something is pure dreaming. When one weeds through the piles of Resumes....usually only one or two are of any value since the pilot has already found a job by the time you sift through the stack. Granted....a year or two down the line he might be free again but then he will send you another Resume probably. HR departments should not be doing the recruiting and hiring....that should be left to the Chief Engineers and Chief Pilots...while HR merely sees the necessary paperwork gets completed.