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Mott MacDonald is a management, engineering and development consultancy under employee-ownership by its 14,000 staff in 140 countries. Its business spans Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia and 42,549,000 km² of American continent in which it builds highways heading north of Vancouver to the ski resorts and airstrips down south in the hotter climes of Ecuador.
The firm operates across a large range of business areas: building services, bridges, business consultancy, energy, environment, foundations and geo-tech, highways, maritime, materials, oil and gas, project management, quantity surveying, railways, special services, structures, transport planning, tunnels and water.
It was formed in 1989 through the merger of long-standing engineering partnerships Mott, Hay & Anderson and Sir M MacDonald & Partners.
As expected of firms in its field, clients are drawn largely from government agencies. It’s a fact that stretches back to the 1920s, when the Egyptian Ministry of Works hired Sir Murdoch MacDonald to work on the construction of the Aswan Dam.
More recently, its clients have included Hong Kong Government’s Works Bureau, the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs, Los Angeles International Airport and the government of Guyana.
Mott MacDonald started out as a civil engineering company but is branching out into new markets all the time. Management consultancy is a big growth area.
Like many of its competitors, its business runs on the twin tracks of sustainable new construction and development plus managing and regenerating existing schemes. Water management has long been a key area, dating back to the firm’s involvement with the Aswan Dam between 1926 and 1933. Recently, it’s been helping to improve water quality in Lake Victoria.
Roads and transport projects still fill the firm’s books home and abroad, with work for UK Highways Agency and National Highways Authority of India alike. Business with Welsh Assembly Health sits next to health care initiatives in Africa and education planning in China.
In the last 12 months Mott MacDonald has
Graduates are paid on a sliding scale between £23,000 and £27,000 depending on location and the candidate’s level of qualification. They pay more, for example, if the graduate has a first class degree. £27,000 is earmarked for London-based hires with a masters.
Mott MacDonald is employee-owned which means some of the profits find their way back to employees through shares and performance related pay.
Standard benefits include a contributory pension scheme, life assurance, personal accident cover and 22–27 days leave, depending on service. The group also supports employees pursuing accreditation or other professional qualifications.
One aspect of Mott MacDonald benefits package that’s gained some public attention is the curiously named Pebbles system which offers flexible benefits. When the scheme received praise at the Employee Benefits Awards 2009, the judges said: ‘One element of its elements that caught the eye was the online forum for staff to discuss and challenge HR and reward practices’.
What does Mott MacDonald have in common with Blackwell bookshops, Unipart, John Lewis Partnership and the consulting firms Arup and PA Consulting? They’re all employee-owned businesses, which means that a significant number of their staff own shares in the organisation and are given some form of additional say in its running.
According to the Employee Ownership Association, independent research suggests that companies which mix shared ownership and employee participation enjoy high levels of motivation, enterprise and social responsibility among their employees.
Mott MacDonald is free from the influence of external shareholders and financial institutions and claims that it is primarily interested in using this freedom to act ethically. With projects in 140 countries worldwide, graduates could on find themselves in some interesting situations.
On the project, the boss lived with goat herders and drank mare’s milk vodka.
For example, the firm was commissioned by the WWF to review a habitat management action plan for the Altai-Sayan snow leopard. The project director was sent to Siberia where he stayed in a tent with herdsmen and ate the local diet of sheep fat washed down with mare’s milk vodka.
When they’re not camping on the Russian steppes, Mott MacDonald’s senior staff are reportedly on hand and approachable and play their role in staff development.
Our staff won’t take on projects if they don’t think it’s the right thing to do. They believe in acting ethically.
Being employee-owned means the company works for each other, not for share holders. It also gives you flexibility. If a policy isn’t working, we’re in a position to change it.
It’s definitely friendly, especially within the graduate community. Senior management like to progress and help where they can with the graduates.
We have a standard 37.5 hour working week but if a project requires overtime we pay it an hourly enhanced rate.
Melissa Hopper, graduate recruitment manager, Mott MacDonald
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