Our people

The Leighton Group is a serviced based organisation and our success is dependent on the quality of the service we deliver. Strength of leadership and our people’s skills and motivation are therefore crucial to our performance.

Without doubt, our people are the key asset driving the business. Leighton places considerable emphasis on leadership, responsibility and accountability, and employs some of the best people in the industry. They are project-focused, committed to hard work and achieving high quality standards, and get a lot of professional satisfaction out of meeting or beating targets. The Leighton Group is committed to developing their individual skills and career paths; accordingly training and human resources remain high on the agenda.

Creating a rewarding, challenging and safe workplace for all our people is part of the Group’s core values and one of its highest priorities. The importance of this is underlined by the fact that every day our operating companies are engaged in complex and difficult activities. We foster a performance driven culture throughout the Group and reward performance against stated objectives through various incentive schemes. Our people operate through a decentralised management structure that allows a high level of autonomy. It is a flexible structure that can adapt to changing market conditions and each of our companies has its own distinct identity and market position.

Broad skill base

Across the Group, we have a vast array of skills, competencies and experience. Whilst construction has been a core skill, we have progressively grown or acquired skills in industries as varied as telecommunications maintenance, waste recycling, toll-road operation and property development. In order to support specialist industry skills we have also developed competencies in project finance, community relations, information technology, project development and corporate affairs. The skills required by the project developer and contractor of tomorrow will evolve and change. We aim to stay at the forefront by having the right people to best meet those needs.

Management strength
Managing and developing the array of skills in each of the Group operating companies is a great challenge, but one met by capable, motivated managers. The Group’s strength of management is recognised as an asset and our management teams, throughout the countries and regions in which we operate, are highly regarded.

Defined autonomy

Management throughout the Group operates with autonomy and is encouraged to innovate and take responsibility for their business unit. This autonomy occurs within a framework of clearly defined guidelines and financial parameters. Targets for financial returns are set and strict assessment criteria are used when tendering for work.

Employee relations 

Group operating companies are responsible on an individual basis for managing workplace relations. This autonomous approach to employee relations helps to ensure that any issues that arise on a project can be quickly identified and resolved in the field. A workable negotiating framework, together with a balanced and sensible approach is also a key factor in maintaining healthy relationships.

Reward for performance

One of the core values of the Group is reward for performance. We strongly believe that people perform best when they have clearly defined goals and are allowed to operate – subject to certain management guidelines – with freedom to pursue those goals. We have simple ways of measuring the achievement of these goals such as ‘return on capital employed’ which, if achieved, also benefits shareholders.

While financial rewards are a strong motivator, we understand that career advancement and continual skill development are also important to our people. Many opportunities are available for people to grow and develop across a broad range of vocations, skills and professions.

Occupational health and safety

The health and safety of our workforce is more than a compliance issue. Leighton Holdings is committed to developing and maintaining a safety-conscious culture throughout the Group. We believe in creating a safe, challenging and fun workplace, while striving to ensure employees return home each day in the same health and condition as when they arrived at work.

Our commitment to safety starts at Board level. The Board sets the Group’s Safety Policy and oversees the Group’s safety performance through a review of quarterly performance reports from each of the operating companies. Leighton Holdings provides an umbrella framework that seeks to have the highest practical standards of behaviour and performance adopted and achieved by each Group company. Our approach to safety can be viewed in the Leighton Holdings Limited Safety Framework report.

In 2004, the Board further sharpened its focus on safety by reconstituting the Ethics Committee to form an Ethics and Compliance Committee. Occupational health and safety across the Group is one of this committee’s responsibilities.

Quarterly performance reports contain detailed statistics and management analysis of work-related incidents, derived from reporting criteria and targets that are standardised across the Group. Within the Group’s operating companies Safety Management Committees are responsible for implementing each company’s own safety policy. Leighton Group projects, both in Australia and offshore, are subjected to safety audits. These audits measure compliance with our health and safety policies.

Our emphasis on training and awareness programs – from employee inductions to regular safety workshops and reviews – seeks to create safer working environments, which ultimately helps to improve performance.

Further details on the Group's occupational health and safety performance can be found in the 'Directors' Report' of the Leighton Concise Annual Report 2011 and in the various operating company reports listed in the right column.