STUDENT AND RESEARCH ENVIRONMENTS

Stabile recruitment is important

One of Veidekke's three stated priority areas within the theme of social responsibility is to ensure stable recruitment to the industry, which is particularly important in an economy-sensitive industry such as building and construction. Experience from previous economic crises in the industry, shows it is necessary to think long-term about the recruitment of key personnel, even in bad times, or otherwise run the risk of falling behind for many years when the economic cycle turns positive. Despite a more unstable economic situation in 2009, we have maintained contact with relevant student groups in all of Scandinavia. To ascertain the necessary background information for this contact, we conduct regular student surveys to ascertain their attitude towards Veidekke.

The primary impression from these surveys is that students in Norway and Denmark have a neutral relationship to the Group, but lack a clear profile on us as an employer. In Sweden, we have a very good reputation among future workers, but as a relatively small player, we must work harder to be visible. This is useful feedback which we will use in future promotional efforts of the company.

Partnership agreements and project cooperation

There has been an exciting development in the interaction with school and research environments in recent years, not at least because more and more people recognise the value of a close collaboration with industry players. Specifically, this has been expressed through partnership agreements with schools and educational institutions, and project collaborations around local and regional challenges. Veidekke, at any time, has a large number of students writing bachelor and master theses on issues within both the technological and commercial disciplines. A good example of cooperation with this environment is the Centre for the Construction Industry at BI (The Norwegian School of Management), where we contribute financial support. Executive vice president Bente Lillestøl is member of the Reference Group, which was headed by Veidekke’s president and CEO, Terje R. Venold until summer 2009. We also contribute to the BI's Centre for Social Responsibility. In Sweden, we participate on several research projects, partly related to the handling of hazardous waste on construction projects, risks associated with ultra-low energy buildings (passive houses) and efforts to create good air-tight buildings.