Empowering the workforce: How Mott MacDonald supports its employees to succeed

Business Case

The built environment sector faces ongoing workforce challenges, including talent scarcity, an ageing workforce and evolving skill requirements, making it increasingly complex for engineering consultancies to attract and retain skilled professionals.

Despite this, Mott MacDonald has maintained strong employee engagement and reduced turnover in 2025. Key contributing factors include its inclusive workplace culture and employee-ownership model, which gives its people a stake in the business and a voice in decision-making. This, combined with merit-based hiring, transparent career pathways and a focus on employee wellbeing, have helped the organisation build a stable and motivated workforce.

For Mott MacDonald, fair employment practices are a natural extension of its ownership model, which demonstrates that when people share in the success of the business, they are also invested in shaping a better workplace.

Featured Fair and Progressive Employment Practices

• Merit-based hiring and progression
• Fair and transparent decision-making processes
• Inclusive workplace culture and equal opportunities
• Structured developmental and career pathways

Implementation

Setting the tone in recruitment

Mott MacDonald establishes a clear standard for fairness from the outset. All new starters and hiring managers complete unconscious bias training, with refresher workshops for hiring managers conducted every two years in Singapore, reinforcing inclusive practices and values. Mott MacDonald actively works to address gender representation across the built environment and engineering sectors, while encouraging applications from diverse talent pools, including those outside the industry. Recruitment decisions are based on objective criteria, skills, experiences, qualifications and alignment with Mott MacDonald's PRIDE values, Progress, Respect, Integrity, Drive and Excellence, through a competency-based interview process. This merit-based approach is reflected in a diverse workforce. An example of this is an employee who joined the organisation past retirement age and continues to contribute meaningfully as a senior transport engineer within the transport planning team six years on.

A voice for all

Mott MacDonald’s commitment to fairness extends well beyond recruitment. As an employee-owned organisation, shareholders and beneficiaries are united as a single community of stakeholders, sharing in the success of the business. This model gives employees both a stake in the organisation and a voice in its future, fostering a culture of belonging, accountability and long-term thinking.

Everyone has the opportunity to benefit from that success. Junior employees receive bonus units, giving them a stake in the company without needing to make a financial investment, while more senior staff may be offered a pathway to direct ownership through share purchases. Returns are aligned across the stakeholder community, with bonus units generating the same return as shares, and shareholders also receiving dividends. All stakeholders participate in the company's annual performance through a group bonus scheme, meaning success is shared on a consistent basis.

Employee ownership enables Mott MacDonald to make decisions independently and with a long-term view. These decisions are also driven by the company’s purpose and values, commitment to delivering excellence and the collective interest of its employees.

To further strengthen employee participation, Mott MacDonald recently introduced Our Voice, a forum designed to bring insights, perspectives and lived experiences from across the business into senior leadership discussions.

A workplace for all

Mott MacDonald's commitment to inclusion is reflected in both its workplace culture and physical environment. Its office incorporates accessible features, such as sliding doors and accessible bathrooms. When hiring persons with disabilities, the organisation further reviewed its fire evacuation protocols, developed a dedicated evacuation plan with assigned support staff, and made adjustments such as lowering counters. These measures, that go above and beyond standard requirements, have strengthened accessibility for current and future employees, and contributed to the organisation receiving the Enabling Mark (Silver) by SG Enable since 2023.

Inclusion is also championed through employee-led networks that advocate for age, neurodiversity, gender, ethnicity and disability inclusion. One example is the Inclusive Network for Women (INfW), which promotes support, collaboration and the advancement of women across the business through region wide and local events, educational sessions and targeted initiatives. Among its activities, the network has hosted panel discussions for International Women’s Day and lunch and learn sessions on topics such as imposter syndrome and menopause. The network is open to all employees, including men, fostering broader awareness and dialogue.

The INfW also run regional mentorship programmes, pairing female employees with senior leaders over three- to four-month cycles. Mentees receive mentorship in areas such as career planning and development, as well as confidence building and public speaking. These are practical, one-on-one conversations that help employees work through real challenges to support their professional growth.

More recently, Mott MacDonald launched a neurodiversity inclusion guide, supported by a region-wide panel discussion, where neurodiverse employees shared their lived experiences, sparking thoughtful Q&A and encouraging others to reflect on and share their own journeys. The conversation created space for openness, understanding and stronger connections across the organisation.

Growth for all

Mott MacDonald supports continuous development through both structured and self-directed opportunities. Employees allocated an individual development budget in the form of dedicated learning hours, empowering them to take ownership of their professional growth with the support of their managers.

The organisation actively invests in professional development through sponsorship of chartership attainment, professional memberships and further education. This includes supporting employees to pursue advanced qualifications. For example, one employee, a polytechnic diploma holder, was sponsored to complete a master's degree overseas, while another is pursuing a master's degree in environment and sustainability through a company scholarship whilst working a reduced schedule. In addition, the organisation supports leadership growth through structured development programmes for both emerging and senior leaders at regional and group levels.

Career pathways are outlined on the organisation’s intranet, detailing the functional and behavioural competencies required at each level. This provides employees with clarity on progression expectations. Managers and employees have structured check-ins every eight weeks, complemented by formal goal setting in the first quarter and performance assessments in the third quarter. Performance assessment measures inform decisions on salary reviews, performance bonus allocations and, if applicable, share allocations, linking performance with reward outcomes to recognise individuals.

For senior promotions, Mott MacDonald applies equality impact assessments alongside regional peer reviews to mitigate unconscious bias and discrimination. For instance, senior promotion papers proposed by the Asia leadership team may be reviewed by HR teams in Australia or New Zealand to identify any unintended or unconscious biases in evaluation. Feedback from multiple regional stakeholders who work closely with the employee is also factored into the promotion panel process.

The organisation's leadership complements these efforts by benchmarking its practices externally against the wider industry through partnerships with organisations such as the British Chamber of Commerce and the Association of Consulting Engineers Singapore, while also drawing on progressive practices from its Australia and New Zealand offices.

Graduates in their first three years of their careers also participate in the regional graduate programme that enables them to undergo technical and behavioural skills training. They gain professional development through structured learning and an annual Festival of Wild Ideas event, where they collaborate with their peers to recommend solutions to real-life business challenges and present them back to the regional leadership team.

Outcomes

Mott MacDonald Singapore’s sustained commitment to fair and progressive employment practices has delivered positive outcomes across employee engagement, client satisfaction, retention and employer reputation. These results reflect the organisation’s focus on creating an inclusive, high-performing workplace where people feel valued, supported and empowered to succeed.

“Our people have a genuine stake in our success and a voice in shaping how we work, from recruitment and career development through to business decisions. That ownership fosters accountability, inclusion and long-term thinking, which is reflected in the strength of our engagement, the stability of our workforce and the outcomes we deliver for our clients and the community.” - Ms Shu Ann Lee, People Advisory Manager, Asia, Mott MacDonald

Mott MacDonald won the Tripartite Alliance Award for Fair and Progressive Employment Practices in 2025.