As a knowledge-based business our staff are our most valuable resource and their skills and expertise play an integral part in achieving our vision to be the outstanding supplier of specialist and integrated services.
We seek to develop the skills and talent of our staff, 60% of whom have degrees, with many others holding relevant technical qualifications.
Health and safety
Health and safety is integral to what we do and covers not just the safety of our own staff and business partners, but also the design advice that we provide to our clients.
As a global business, delivering projects worldwide, we operate in accordance with many differing legislative regimes that govern safety, health and welfare issues. We are committed to adopting and implementing appropriate health and safety systems that match, if not exceed, the requirements of the countries in which we operate. WSP is represented on local and national health and safety organisations around the world.
It is of fundamental importance to us that we embrace and embed a healthy and safe working culture, and we place emphasis on communicating our policies and procedures.
During the year we increased the coverage of our standardised accident and incident reporting to include 82% of our staff, and with the increased population, this indicated the following:
- 4 reportable work-related major injuries.
- 2 reportable work-related diseases.
- Staff sickness of 4 days per employee per year.
Knowledge management
As set out last year, we have prioritised effective knowledge management as a means of building resilience and improving staff skills, and this year we have embarked upon a new programme to promote and develop global knowledge networks. This is focussed on specific disciplines and sectors, and brings together specialists to work together and share skills and expertise. The groups are supported by our IT infrastructure which allows them to form a ‘virtual community’ regardless of where they are.
We continue to provide an increasing number of opportunities for staff to transfer internationally, and these assignments provide significant opportunities to share knowledge and experience that benefit both individuals and the business. They also help to promote improved cultural understanding among our diverse worldwide operations.
Equal opportunities and human rights
We aim to keep our workplaces free from unlawful discrimination on the grounds of gender, race, nationality, ethnic or national origin, sexual orientation, age, marital status, religious belief, disability or contract type. We are committed to ensuring that all staff have the opportunity to achieve their potential and that employment decisions are non-discriminatory.
We recognise the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and are committed to the principles of the UN Global Compact. We endorse the International Labour Organisation’s (‘ILO’) Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work and are committed to these guiding principles to ensure that human rights issues do not adversely impact upon our business and the communities in which our employees work. As a knowledge-based business employing technical staff who generally work in an office environment, we believe that the risk of breaches to human rights is low.
Employee survey
Our annual employee survey continues to be a major source of feedback and helps us identify and verify areas of improvement. It now covers 94% of permanent staff, with staff in the USA, South Africa and the Middle East participating for the first time.
The staff survey attracted a response from 78% of staff surveyed, and indicated an improvement in many key areas. Staff continue to give a high satisfaction rating of 74%. With its introduction into new parts of the world, the survey highlighted a number of key motivational and cultural differences between our staff that are indicative of the cultural diversity within WSP. These will continue to be monitored as we undertake more global initiatives.
Retention
We aim to ensure staff satisfaction, which we monitor through our annual staff survey, and to minimise the voluntary turnover of staff. However, staff turnover has increased from 14% in 2005 to 16% in 2006. There are a variety of reasons that have been identified for this increase, including market conditions and workforce mix which can have a bearing on annual comparisons.
Higher levels of staff turnover are a concern to us, and our analysis indicates that their highest levels apply to professionals in the earlier stages of their careers. This is a normal pattern which is to be expected as they seek to develop their careers and explore opportunities. Professionals in the earlier stages of their careers generally mention career development and the quest for wider experience as motivating factors, and this aspect of their concern has been the focus of a number of our initiatives. By contrast, there remains relative stability amongst more senior and experienced staff where turnover remains relatively low. The charts below set out the length of service and age distribution of staff throughout the Group.
In Sweden, we have piloted an intranet site focused on career development, and in the UK a performance management programme has been launched which provides us with a tool for personal development to set and communicate performance expectations. Over the coming year it is planned to implement these developments more widely across the business. We believe that with the current growth and diversity of the Group, WSP is well positioned to create space and allow staff to develop their skills and talent.
This is just part of our retention strategy and we also aim to motivate and support staff through flexible and competitive remuneration packages. We seek to ensure a good work-life balance for our staff and, wherever appropriate, we enable job sharing and flexible hours. Seven per cent of our permanent staff work on a part-time basis.
In addition to the experience that staff gain through the variety of projects undertaken by WSP, they also undertake formal vocational training and benefit from our web-based training portal, WSP University, which continues to expand. This year, WSP University embarked upon an interactive e-learning programme to complement existing training. Investment in training has continued to rise and this year amounted to £9m (2005: £8m), including opportunity cost.
Our highly successful Taskforce continues to provide early career professionals with an opportunity to shape the future of the business, and this year they hosted their bi-annual conference in Stockholm, with 130 delegates from across the world focused on the theme of business growth.
Recruitment
Attracting quality recruits to our business remains crucial for our continued success. Whilst we generally employ staff from the countries in which we operate, we increasingly look beyond national boundaries to introduce new ideas and talent.
Our internet careers site continues to provide an important global resource by which we source candidates. At national level we deploy a variety of other recruitment approaches that take account of market practices. Our staff are our ambassadors, and 78% have stated that they would have no hesitation in recommending us as a potential employer.
We continue to build our relationships with universities, and our annual graduate recruitment campaign, which focuses on careers fairs and assessment centres, enjoyed continued success, with graduates joining WSP.