Human Resources Review
Our people
Investment in people
The skills and capabilities of our people are key to our success. A high priority is placed on learning and development with an annual investment in training of over £20m during the year. More than 8,000 delegates attended Group programmes (an increase of 10% on the year before).
Our portfolio of programmes was enhanced to ensure that they addressed the key issues of Carbon Critical Design and diversity. New and updated programmes were introduced including, for example, a course on the leadership of virtual and remote teams in recognition of the fact that many projects now span geographic as well as internal organisational boundaries.
We have improved our graduate development programme, responding to the results of a review undertaken one year ago. The review highlighted many examples of exemplary practice, but also some areas where we needed to do better, particularly in ensuring the consistency of our delivery against the ‘promise’ that we make to new graduate trainees. This is particularly important given both the size of our graduate trainee population, which now exceeds 1,000 staff, and their importance to our future.
We have reviewed the training arrangements for all graduate trainees in conjunction with our staff and the major professional institutions, and have taken action to strengthen these where necessary. We have set up internal forums to bring together both graduate trainees and those responsible for their development to ensure that good practice is shared and high standards are maintained. We have also received accreditation for an Atkins Further Learning Programme by the Joint Board of Moderators to aid the progress of graduates with bachelor degrees to chartered status.
During the year we also created 11 technical networks to encourage excellence and professional development in the areas of: tall buildings; geotechnical engineering; carbon critical buildings; commercial due diligence; masterplanning; strategic and policy planning; structural engineering; tunnelling; bridge engineering; internal project management; and geospatial and integrated digital solutions. Each network is chaired by one of Atkins’ most experienced professionals in each of the disciplines.
In addition, through our University Liaison Directors programme, our engagement with universities has continued to grow and develop. Atkins currently has relationships with 16 universities in the UK, 10 in the USA, two in China, two in Singapore and one in Dubai.