Development l Vibrant l Involved l Loyal
D e v e l o p m e n t
Nurturing Talent - Being the employer of choice means attracting people like April Gu. With a civil engineering doctorate, the wastewater research engineer had many choices, yet last year she chose HDR. "I thought it would be a fantastic chance to work with JB Neethling because he is well-known in the wastewater industry," Gu said. When she met Neethling, she also discovered he was approachable – and so was the entire team. "I really like the environment here, and that is important."
Once you attract great people, the question becomes how to keep them, particularly at the critical three-to-10-year stage when they are likely to get restless and move on. The importance of mentoring and leadership training came through loud and clear in several focus groups with young HDR professionals, and developing a framework for every office is an integral part of our strategic plan.
Our clients also have weighed in on workforce issues and agree that such training is critical to staff retention and ultimately, better client service. As one client focus group participant said, "Ordinary people can do extraordinary things with good training and good management."
Top of Page
Essential Knowledge - Training and mentoring are essential for HDR to attract and retain a dynamic workforce. Sometimes overlooked in the heat of project deadlines, but equally important, is for employees to know what's going on and where they fit. Motivation doesn’t occur in a vacuum.
Because HDR has more than 6,400 professionals spread among more than 150 offices, communicating company strategy and objectives poses challenges. Local leaders are key links in the communication chain, and one of HDR's strategies is to develop leaders in this vital role.
Along with communication, employees need the tools and processes to help them work efficiently. Examples include the in-house copy center in Sacramento and onsite lunch vendors in Omaha. Flexible hours, increasingly important to a younger generation of workers, are gaining wider use. Company-wide initiatives include a standardized document management system. ProjectWise, HDR's document management system, allows for secure project document sharing over the internet.
Diversity is also critical to HDR's success and was a recurrent theme in client focus groups. Diversity outreach in 2003 included creation of the HDR Howard University Fellowship Program, which recognizes graduate students with exceptional talent in water and wastewater.
HDR defines diversity more broadly than race and gender; it also refers to educational and business backgrounds. A multidisciplinary approach will be necessary to serve clients better as the world continues to change.
Top of Page
Giving Back - Strong communities are America's cornerstones. We believe that the character of a place matters, and that character is formed by the quality of life the community provides. While our work contributes to this quality of life, everyone at HDR has a personal stake as well as a professional one.
HDR's Folsom office is one example of the thousands of hours and dollars contributed by HDR employees around the nation. More than a decade ago, employees formed a group called the Do-Gooders, and it's still going strong. In 2003 alone, they gave $3,000 to breast cancer research, $1,500 to an employee with a terminal illness, 15 Thanksgiving barrels with enough food to last each family nearly a week, and furniture, clothing and money to more than a dozen other individuals and charities who needed help."
This involvement is good for our office because it makes our employees feel like they give to the community and their friends, and that their lives are not just focused on work,” said Jenny Nalley, human resources administrator. "Everyone feels the positive impact of their contributions."
Community can also be defined in the larger sense of being an American, and no community service is greater than serving in the military. More than two dozen HDR employees or family members from 15 offices are on active duty, many of them in Iraq. HDR offices are gathering care package items for the deployed troops and helping their families back home.
A 1930 HDR calendar (then Henningson Engineering Company) may have said it best: "There is always time enough for kindness." Whether donating toys to abused children in Las Vegas, building wheelchair ramps in San Antonio or cleaning bike trails in Sioux Falls, HDR employees make time to be kind every day.
Top of Page
Clients for Life - Many of HDR's client relationships are measured in decades. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has trusted HDR with some of its most challenging environmental, civil engineering and architectural assignments since the 1950s. Omaha's Methodist Hospital became our first healthcare client in 1962, and we are still trusted advisors. The City of Las Vegas has relied on HDR for its wastewater facility needs since 1979, and there are dozens of other examples. Cultivating such "clients for life" is critical to HDR's success and a large part of our strategy in becoming or remaining the consultant of choice.
The key is relationships. People do business with people they trust and continue depending on them when the client or consultant changes jobs. One example is Advocate Health Care in Oak Brook, Illinois. When architecture principal Mike Doiel moved to HDR from a competing firm, Advocate followed him. "It always comes back to people. I can ask Mike to do things other architects can’t, such as space planning for a 100-bed hospital," said facilities and construction vice president Deborah Rohde.
The ability to adapt to changing project needs is another hallmark of good relationships. One of HDR's current U.S. Army Corps of Engineers projects is the $24 million West Gate Access Road design-build project at Fort Leonard Wood in Missouri. "Working with the joint-venture team of HDR/Bloomsdale has been an exceptional experience," said Angela Rolufs, chief of planning for the Fort Leonard Wood Directorate of Public Works. "When we needed to add an access control facility, they helped us provide a plan for the highest-quality facility within our budget. Best of all, they met a short deadline, which allowed us to use year-end funds that otherwise would have expired. They have exceeded all expectations while maintaining outstanding relationships with the installation and the community."
Top of Page