Sometimes it is easy to forget why oilfield hands go to work every day. The push for profits and to make shareholders happy overshadows the real reason the industry remains engaged in providing energy to the world. That reason is family.

Then along comes a story like this to remind us just how important our jobs are for making the world a better place for our children. In M-I SWACO’s company magazine Momentum, which was published earlier in 2014, there is a photo of Giovanna Ricci in her orange coveralls and hardhat.

Her dad, Paulo Ricci, began working offshore about 10 years ago for M-I SWACO, a Schlumberger company, when he was still single.

Since then he married Renata, and Giovanna was welcomed to the family. The salary he has earned working offshore has allowed him to buy his own home and support his family. However, he has to spend long hours away from home. Communications software allows him to see and talk with his family, providing a fair compensation for his absence.

And that is where his precocious and curious daughter surprised both him and his wife. Giovanna could see in the background that everyone at Paulo’s workplace wore orange coveralls. Brazil is a signatory of the International Maritime Authority, which strongly recommends the use of bright orange coveralls for safety. That’s when she hatched her plan.

She told her dad that she wanted some orange coveralls. Renata found someone to sew the coveralls for Giovanna a few months later. Then she told her parents that now that she had orange coveralls, she could go to work with her dad.

“My wife was really surprised. We both did not expect that kind of understanding from our young daughter. My wife and I are both very proud that our daughter is just 3 years old and has a good understanding about what life is and about how her father goes to work for long periods. We’re also really glad that she understood this, sees us as good example and is willing to copy us because she realizes that is the right thing to do,” he said.

“We’re showing her that work in the oil industry is an honest and good way to make a living. We try to not pressure her too much and let her destiny guide her on whatever is reserved for her,” he added. “She is already showing a strong inclination to math and logic, but that’s probably because it is what she sees in the home.”

The most important thing to come out of this for Paulo is the importance of work/life balance, especially because his job requires long times of absence from home. For Renata and Giovanna, this made them stronger as a family as they all realized that what really matters is not the quantity but the quality of their time together.

Yu can see the determination in that young girl’s face to be with her dad. And that’s what makes the work we do so worthwhile.

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