Number of employees at HOCHTIEF
were major contracts in the Asia Pacific division and acquisitions
within the Services division.
High level of trainee numbers
In the year under review, HOCHTIEF had a total of 521
trainees in 31 different professions in Germany, 187 of
whom began their training in 2008. Thus, the number of
trainees increased compared to the prior year and we
continued to train young people beyond current demand
in order to give more of them a better qualified start to their
working lives. Following their traineeship, 72 percent of
trainees were hired in the year under review and twelve
trainees took up a course of study. We generally attach
great importance to providing our future employees with
sound training ourselves.
Staff development as key to success
In order to grow sustainably, a company needs highly qualified
employees with a high level of personal development.
We are well aware of this and act accordingly, working
continuously to improve staff development. This benefits
not just the company: It offers employees the opportunity
for continuous development, both personally and professionally,
and to make attractive career choices.
HOCHTIEF increased its expenditure on training and continuing
education again in the year under review in order to
go on motivating our employees to perform at their best
and offer our clients groundbreaking solutions. Employees'
willingness to take advantage of these offerings rose again in
2008, with the number of participants increasing by around
14.5 percent.
HOCHTIEF Academy program expanded
All of our measures and tools for employee and management
development are consolidated under the auspices of
the HOCHTIEF Academy in an end-to-end training program.
This in-house facility provides in-service continuing education
for industrial and technical employees as well as external
students. In the year under review, for instance,
eleven graduates were awarded the officially recognized
title of "Bachelor of Engineering – Construction Site Management."
In 2008, we expanded our offering to include the
"Bachelor of Facility Management" degree program. The
continuing education program is complemented by additional
areas of cooperation with renowned universities. For
example, our Australian subsidiary Leighton and its subsidiary
Thiess work with the University of Queensland, thereby
offering their employees comparable continuing education
opportunities.
Our US subsidiary pursues similar goals with Turner University.
Turner has, for example, set up an online learning
platform with development and training programs specific
to professional groups on areas such as quality management
or financing. We plan to make this platform available
to all Group employees worldwide.
Leadership program intensified
At the heart of staff development at HOCHTIEF lies the
ongoing, Group-wide training of the management team.
Above all, the aim here is to strengthen and consistently
fine-tune the role of managerial staff. In 2008, we continued
to forge ahead with the transfer of knowledge and experience
between the corporate units by way of Group-wide
management development initiatives. In this way, the
content of the leadership program was given an even
greater practical focus and continuous learning was promoted
throughout the Group.
Talent management optimized
In response to calls by employees for improvements in the
identification and development of talented junior staff, the
Group came up with a whole range of activities. To this end,
we refined all of our national and international programs for
analyzing potential, such as our HOCHTIEF forums, thereby
improving the parameters for early, personalized staff development.
Program set up for older employees
We do not just foster junior staff. The "50+" program aims to
recruit seasoned, older employees in particular for international
assignments, thereby benefiting from their expertise.
Practice has shown that there is considerable interest in
