Diversity In Action

Washington Group International: undaunted by challenges

The company seeks engineers and construction talent for many projects. Safety and employee development are important areas of emphasis

Trina Rodriguez: a presence in forty states and more than thirty countries.

Washington Group International is "a relatively new company," says Trina Rodriguez, HR specialist, but its roots go back to 1912 and the founding of the Morrison-Knudsen company. Today's Washington Group includes heritage companies like Washington Construction Company, Westinghouse Government Services, and Raytheon Engineers and Constructors. The company does business in six major areas: power, infrastructure, mining, energy and environment, defense and industrial/process. It has a presence in forty U.S. states and more than thirty countries.

Recent projects include the destruction of deadly chemical weapons in the U.S. and Eastern Europe, construction of the world's largest sulfur-handling facility in Qatar, installation of clean-air systems on power plants, and industrial maintenance for Fortune 500 companies.

Most of Washington Group's projects are complex and potentially dangerous, but its safety record is an industry model, Rodriguez notes. "More than half the construction industry professionals who've been certified as 'safety trained supervisors' by the Council on Certification, Health, Environmental and Safety Technologists are Washington Group employees." The company is the only engineering/management firm qualified for OSHA's corporate Voluntary Protection Program Star status.

Washington Group plans to add roughly 500 entry-level and experienced engineers and construction professionals this year, Rodriguez reports. It is particularly interested in construction, chemical, electrical, mechanical and nuclear engineering backgrounds. And Rodriguez hopes to tap a diverse pool of candidates by recruiting at SWE, NSBE and other diversity-focused organizations.

The company's "bread and butter comes largely through project management," Rodriguez says. Its school of project management excellence includes classroom training, yearly symposiums and online learning.

Senior leaders participate in twice-yearly reviews of the company's top performers, discussing their development and future placement. Several development programs groom selected employees for more responsible positions. Participants may work with senior leaders or assigned coaches and mentors. They construct detailed action plans for personal learning.

In a week-long leaders forum, senior executives instruct employees on leadership, finance, business development and strategic planning. In a related course participants practice resolving critical company problems. Recommendations from one such group led to the implementation of Washington Group Flex, an employee-driven approach to flexible work schedules.

Washington Group was the only engineering and construction firm on the "top twenty U.S. companies for developing leaders" list of HR firm Hewitt Associates, and its practices have been used as a benchmark by the American Productivity and Quality Center (www.apqc.org). Tuition reimbursement is available for degree programs at all levels.

Two years ago the company launched a rotation program for recent grads. Participants do three or four assignments over eighteen to twenty-four months. "These are some of the brightest young people I've met, and giving them the chance to experience our different business lines really enhances their career choices," says Rodriguez, who manages the program.

Washington Group is priming the technical pipeline by showing young people what it's like to work in engineering and construction fields. Company volunteers sponsor career days for middle and high school students, especially young women and minorities. To better prepare skilled craft workers for employment in the construction field, Washington Group safety professionals are providing OSHA safety training in technical trade schools.

Some of the company's projects require employees to be U.S. citizens. Others require security clearances or the ability to qualify for them. There are, however, plenty of Washington Group projects that require neither citizenship nor security clearance, Rodriguez says.

D/C