people. HOCHTIEF Facility Management is among the top 50 companies in Berlin on this count.
Starting early: Interns and graduates
We greatly value on-the-job training for the university graduates in our workforce, many of whom begin as trainees at HOCHTIEF. Over 100 new graduate employees were taken on in Germany during 2008 alone, first and foremost in technical disciplines. We support them with a personal development program and in other ways, for example, with the option of getting to know a number of very different parts of the company. We also foster internal networking among graduate employees with meetings and in-house workshops.
We work hard to win the enthusiasm of high-flying graduates for HOCHTIEF as early as possible. This is made all the more vital by the skills shortage in construction professions, as a result of which rivalry for the best talent starts early on. Activities such as participation in university fairs are consequently an integral part of our human resources work. We are to be found at campus events, career fairs and recruiting days throughout Germany. Internationally, of course, Turner, Flatiron and Leighton are on the ground at universities, colleges and schools to tell students and graduates about their businesses. Flatiron, for instance, has developed an early talent management strategy to secure high-caliber recruits for the company at the earliest possible stage.
Subject to personal consent, we keep a watch on young people such as interns who gain work experience with us and stand out through good performance. Our Blue Step loyalty program for former interns ensures that we stay in touch and support them through their studies. We offer
them opportunities to gain new experience, for example, in a work placement abroad.
The Bridge program for interns at Turner gives college students a chance to gain exposure to a construction profession during vacation time. This includes initial and further training courses. Turner likewise supports good interns during their studies through to graduation.
The same applies for Leighton companies. Thiess, for example, operates a targeted graduates program to link up with potential candidates from an early stage.
Leighton International has joined forces with Somaiya , a non-governmental organization, to take further key steps in countering the huge shortage of skilled labor in Asia. A specially developed training package has been put together and is mainly geared to sparking the enthusiasm of disadvantaged young people. Trainees first learn the theory in four to six-month courses which are taught partly by Leighton experts. They then start work on construction projects and acquire practical training on the job. The program has the ambitious target of training 50,000 new workers over the coming years.
Women in engineering professions are still a rarity in Germany. To help change this, the University of Duisburg-Essen organizes a Germany-wide Summer University once a year. HOCHTIEF took part for the sixth time in 2009. The University’s Academic Counseling Center invites girls in secondary education to attend the Summer University with the aim of encouraging them to study natural sciences or engineering with a whole week of researching and experimenting. A highlight is the Kontaktikum day when girls gain an inside view of working life in a company like HOCHTIEF.