The Permian Basin runs on a workforce that cycles with commodity prices. Employers in Midland and Odessa fight the highest wage competition and some of the toughest retention conditions in Texas. We help Basin employers build people systems that survive both the boom and the bust.
Midland-Odessa's economy is the Permian Basin: exploration and production companies, oilfield services, trucking and logistics, equipment and fabrication, and the hospitality, healthcare, and public services that support a workforce under constant wage pressure. Cities, counties, hospitals, and school districts here compete for the same labor pool as the oilfield.
That produces HR conditions unique to the Basin. Compensation moves fast and unevenly. Supervisors are promoted mid-boom with no training. Layoffs arrive with the commodity cycle, and how they are handled determines both legal exposure and whether skilled people come back for the next cycle.
In boom conditions, employers hire fast and document nothing. In contraction, the same employers execute reductions with no defensible selection criteria and thin files, which is exactly when discrimination claims surface. The cycle punishes improvisation on both ends.
Public and civilian employers in the Basin face the inverse problem: they cannot match oilfield wages, so they must compete on everything else. Schedule stability, credible supervision, fair process, and visible development are retention tools, and they only work when they are built as systems instead of slogans.
Wage and hour risk in the oilfield is structural: day rates, bonuses that affect overtime calculations, travel and standby time, and misclassified consultants. These practices spread across a field operation quickly, and collective actions in this sector routinely cover every worker in the same role.
A structured review of pay practices, classification, documentation, and reduction planning costs a fraction of defending one collective action. Basin employers who build this infrastructure between cycles enter the next downturn with options instead of exposure.
Whether you're in crisis mode or building proactively, we meet you where you are.
Impartial investigations and proactive compliance audits that protect your organization from legal and reputational exposure. Defensible findings that hold up to scrutiny.
Ongoing senior HR judgment for organizations without a full internal HR department. Call before you act, and make defensible decisions the first time.
Legally sound, practical handbooks and HR policies that reflect how your organization actually operates and give managers structure they can apply.
Address the root causes of turnover in your organization. Understand why people leave and fix the systems that push them out.
Municipalities, county agencies, and public organizations navigating civil service rules, elected-official dynamics, and public accountability.
Learn MoreMission-driven organizations that need right-sized HR infrastructure to protect their people, their funding, and their ability to serve.
Learn MoreCompanies that have outgrown informal HR practices and need scalable structure to compete for talent and manage risk.
Learn MoreDirect, practical answers to the HR questions Texas employers ask us most.
Yes. Faulkner HR Solutions is based in San Antonio and serves Midland-Odessa and the Permian Basin on-site and remotely. Most engagements combine scheduled on-site work with responsive remote advisory support.
Small and mid-sized businesses, nonprofits, municipalities, and public sector employers across the Permian Basin. Most clients need senior HR judgment but do not have a full internal HR department.
Pricing depends on scope. Most clients use a monthly advisory retainer, a fixed-fee project such as a handbook rebuild or HR audit, or hourly support for investigations and employee relations issues. You get a clear quote before any work begins.
Start with a no-obligation strategy call. We identify your highest-risk HR gaps and outline a practical plan. You can also take the free HR System Risk Diagnostic first.
Schedule a no-obligation strategy call. We'll assess your most urgent HR vulnerabilities and outline a clear, defensible path forward.
Not ready for a call? Take the free HR System Risk Diagnostic and see where your people systems are exposed.