Our people
TAUW employs almost 1,300 professionals across the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, France, Spain and Italy, who work tirelessly for a clean, safe and sustainable living environment. These ambassadors for sustainability choose TAUW as a way to contribute to a more beautiful world. TAUW employees appreciate our distinct work culture which gives them considerable autonomy and plenty of opportunity for personal development.
Employee-owned company
Our dedicated experts guide clients on the path to a more sustainable future. Because TAUW thrives thanks to the efforts and talents of the people working for us, it is only natural that they share in the fruits of their labour. We put our people first, we define our own future together and we keep the profits within the company. How? By setting up a participation scheme for all permanent employees. We have been a fully employee-owned company since 2017!
Anyone with a permanent contract is given five share certificates but can buy additional ones if they want. Indeed, we actually encourage employees to purchase additional certificates and we aim to have a 70% employee-ownership of additional certificates.
% employees owning TAUW certificates
2017
2020
2021
2022
Ambition
TAUW leaders meeting in Paris
Each year, TAUW leaders (the Management participants and Key participants in our participation scheme) from all TAUW countries come together to discuss company strategy. In 2022 that meeting was held in Paris and Perrine Marchant was one of the Key Participants of TAUW France that organised the event.
Employee development
Professional and personal development is a top priority. TAUW provides a range of development opportunities from personal skills training to professional courses. Under the banner of TAUW University, our senior experts provide training courses in the areas of our expertise, such as soil, water and ecology. New and young employees are linked to a mentor and guided on the job. But we also look out for TAUW professionals with a long track record. Last year, a career reflection pilot was launched, the Master programme.
TAUW Master programme
TAUW pursues an active policy to retain skilled people and keep them engaged throughout their career with us. As part of that employee retention plan, TAUW piloted a Master programme in 2022, for senior employees aged 55 and over.
Jeroen Mooy (58) was one of the participants in the Master programme:
“Even my clients and business contacts have expressed their interest in and respect for this programme and its results. I feel it is one of the elements by which TAUW really stands out.”
Young@TAUW International (YTI)
Young@TAUW is the international internal network for all TAUW employees under 36 years. Its mission is ‘to connect passionate young TAUW employees across countries to facilitate international cooperation, knowledge exchange and (shared) personal growth.’
Through a range of activities, Young@TAUW attracts and retains passionate professionals and facilitates international cooperation from the bottom up. It does so by holding webinars, enabling flex-working experiences, contributing input on TAUW strategy on a Reflection Board and by organising national and international events.
2022 YTI annual meeting in Cologne
The YTI annual meetings have a professional and a cultural component. In 2022, Cologne, Germany was the setting for the third annual international meeting. We spoke to two young TAUWees, Konrad Lüftner (33), who was one of the organisers of the event, and Flore Theuillon (24) who came as a participant and left with the intention of becoming a YTI ambassador.
We understand the value of data
Data-related consultancy is not new. TAUW has plenty of experience in handling data for clients, such as Geographical Information Systems (GIS). Automation is helping us save time and is a useful technology to present and prepare data for our clients. On many projects, we build a dashboard tool that prepares and presents the information required by our client. Until recently we built a new dashboard for each client.
A group of TAUW colleagues from different disciplines got together and came up with an innovative approach.
Exploiting Public Databases with Marie Bosment
TAUW developed a new interactive environment to help clients access the data from SISE-Eaux, the reference database for tap water quality in France, and subsequently help our clients understand the data results.
Wellbeing and safety
TAUW is committed to the wellbeing and vitality of its employees. At TAUW we want our staff to be fit and healthy, to have a good work/life balance, as this contributes to the sustainable employability of our staff. We want them to be healthy, happy and productive at all stages of their careers. And that, of course, leads to a more resilient and successful organisation.
Employee satisfaction
(Data and targets only for TAUW NL)
To measure our employees’ well-being, we hold employee satisfaction surveys twice a year. Supervisors and managers were asked to discuss the results of these surveys with their team, which resulted in some positive and open conversations. In October, TAUW Netherlands organised an inspiration meeting for all managers, focused on work pressure, job satisfaction and warm professionalism.
Vitality: A healthy mind in a healthy body
Sportswear
TAUW believes it is important for employees to take good care of themselves to stay fit and healthy. Regular exercise is part of this. We want to support employees who already do so, and encourage those who do not. So we teamed up with Bioracer, manufacturer of professional running, cycling and fitness wear, to provide clothing that employees can buy with financial support from TAUW Netherlands.
Vitality activities
Job satisfaction is an important aspect for TAUW and our employees. Wellbeing includes vitality and mental and physical fitness, and sometimes just having plain fun. In 2022, TAUW Netherlands organised a number of activities to foster our employees’ wellbeing.
Vitality day: In collaboration with KNZB (Royal Dutch Swimming Federation) TAUW NL and Syntraal organised its first Vitality Day – an action-packed afternoon in which almost 220 colleagues took part. Activities included swimming, running, playing golf or volleyball, bootcamp exercises and yoga.
IJssel run: Deventer, the city where TAUW has its main office, organises an annual run in April along the beautiful banks of the river IJssel. TAUW sponsors and participates in the event. Last year, 51 fit TAUWees took part and were given TAUW running shirts. And TAUW even came second in the 15 km business competition!
MUD masters: In September, 50 brave TAUWees took part in the Mud Race obstacle course that wasn’t so much a race, as a lot of fun and, well…very muddy.
Safety
TAUW is committed to safe working conditions and we encourage our colleagues to report any unsafe situation or incident and to suspend their work if they think a work situation is unsafe.
In 2022 we focused on celebrating safety leadership of our colleagues and subcontractors. We actively reported and shared all the safety awards and compliments we issued. To emphasise the continued importance of safety, we organised our first TAUW Group Safety Week in October.
Safety Week
Traffic was the theme of the week, as accidents on the road are the main safety hazard for our employees. During the safety week we held a number of traffic-related instruction sessions and vlogs. We organised a safety quiz, in which over 250 colleagues participated. Each TAUW country also organised local initiatives, such as a tilt simulator, where participants could practise getting out of an overturned car, and first-response emergency training. By raising awareness for this important topic, we aim to further improve safety for TAUW employees.
Safety highlights
In 2022 TAUW Italy and TAUW Germany successfully renewed their ISO 45001. In the Netherlands, Syntraal was re-awarded the level 3 Safety Culture Ladder (SCL) certificate. TAUW Netherlands was awarded the level 3 certificate of the SCL for the entire organisation, including Staff and both Business Units. Our safety statistics are shared regularly at group and country level and include our safety objectives such as site safety visits, subcontractor auditing and safety recognitions.
Safety statistics 2022
Our people carefully comply with the TAUW safety rules, regulations and instructions concerning workplace safety to ensure that their work is carried out in the safest possible way. Unsafe situations, near misses and accidents are reported immediately and directly. Our Safety Incident Tool facilitates reporting and monitors the root causes of incidents. In 2022, the number of incident reports was slightly lower than in 2021, but remained relatively high with 427 incidents.
The statistics are displayed below in the figure. Compared with previous years, the number of incidents resulting in absence and medical treatments again decreased significantly and only one unfortunate incident during a TAUW-related event resulted in a recordable lost time incident. Our occupational safety focus areas are traffic, exposure to dangerous substances and slipping and tripping, as in previous years. For 2023 are new focus areas will be social safety and speak-up culture.
Diversity and Inclusion
TAUW is evolving from a male-dominated organisation to an organisation with greater diversity in terms of gender and cultural background. There is more progress to be made, but our company culture is becoming more inclusive and every TAUWee is made to feel welcome and encouraged to develop professionally and personally.
In 2022 we made further headway in gender equality:
Currently 64.2% of TAUW employees are men, 35.8% women; at management team level the figures are 66.4% men and 33.6% women.
Walk the talk with Clara Wierda
Clara Wierda is one of the six dignity and respect advisers for TAUW Netherlands and Syntraal.
Male / female division TAUW 2022
Male / female division TAUW 2021
Male / female division in country management teams 2022
Male / female division in country management teams 2021