As a HR practitioner, why would I want our engineering organisation to invest in The Graduate Program in Engineering?

The Graduate Program in Engineering is one of the most detailed, practical and highly interactive programs that you can introduce to build the professional credentials and capability within your engineering organisation. The good news is that if you already have a ‘graduate development program’ in place, this program will support you and if you do not have a ‘graduate development program’ in place, this program will deliver a foundation for graduate development within your engineering organisation.

As a HR practitioner, what is Chartered Status, and why is it important to engineers in our engineering organisation?

Chartered Status is a competency benchmark for professional engineers in Australia and certifies that you practice in a competent, independent and ethical manner.

Chartered Status represents the highest standards of professionalism, leadership, up-to-date expertise, quality, safety, and the ability to undertake independent practice.

In the past Chartered Status has been a competitive advantage for engineers. Less than 1/3 of all engineers held the Chartered Status credentials. However, we are quickly seeing a shift in the engineering profession with more engineers becoming Chartered and it will soon become the recognition that represents professional hygiene rather than professional competitive advantage. What this means is that in the next decade, we could very likely see those without Chartered Status being left behind. This could start to impact on the perceived ability of your engineering organisation to deliver results in engineering projects, should you have engineers in your organisation who do not have Chartered Status. The impacts of this also increase significantly when we consider the difference the change in legislation around RPEQ now means for Queensland.

As a HR practitioner, how is the professional development included in The Graduate Program in Engineering different to our existing professional development initiatives?

The good news is that if you already have a ‘graduate development program’ in place, this program will support you and if you do not have a ‘graduate development program’ in place, this program will deliver a foundation for graduate development within your engineering organisation.

What this means is that you can implement The Graduate Program in Engineering into any organisation and it will either provide you with the ‘graduate development program’ that your engineers need, or it will further leverage the results of what you are already achieving with your existing ‘graduate development program’.

As a HR practitioner, how will The Graduate Program in Engineering support existing graduate, mentor and manager relationships?

How can I demonstrate this investment is critical to our engineering organisation, eg how do I explain the tangible benefits and ROI to my CEO, General Managers, and Senior Engineers?

We would all agree in some shape or form that graduate development is critical to the long term success of an engineering organisation. But often the challenging part is to explain what is the $ value or Return on Investment (ROI) to the organisation.

In answering this very important ROI question, it is important to unfold all of the costs and also to be conservative on what the return is.

Firstly, lets look at the investment beyond just the cost of the program:

• Cost per graduate to attend = $7,950
• Hours spent in professional development by the graduate over 3 years  = 150 hours @ $100 per hour = $15,000
• Hours spent by the graduate in professional reflection, working towards Chartered Status and taking part in the ‘organisational issue’ work based project = 60 hours @ $100 per hour = $6,000
• Hours spent by engineering managers per graduate over 3 years = 30 hours @ $250 per hour = $7,500
• Hours spent by mentors per graduate over 3 years = 30 hours @ $250 per hour = $7,500
• Hours spent by HR practitioners in keeping up to date with the developments of the program over 3 years = 20 hours @ 250 per hour = $7,500

The total investment in one graduate over three years is $51,450.

Now, lets look at the return over the three years:

Assumption: The average wage of your engineering graduate over the three years is $150,000 per year (includes salary, superannuation, insurances etc) = $450,000.

• 10% reduction in time taken to deliver results (above what is typical within your engineering organisation) = 10% of $450,000 = $45,000

• 10% improved performance in the workplace (either by billable hours or value to clients – above what is typical within your engineering organisation) = = 10% of $450,000 = $45,000

• 10% less time taken from engineering managers to manage graduates due to the graduates’ improved performance = 60 hours @ $250 per hour = $15,000

• Saving in ad-hoc training courses delivered internally or externally over 3 years on skills such as communication, time management, business management, engineering planning and design etc (includes cost of training at $1,000 per day including time of graduate and training provider x 9 days over 3 years) = $9,000

• Increased retention is expected to be 3 x normal retention (or in many cases much more) when graduates are inducted and developed and given meaningful career opportunities (the cost is conservatively $15,000 per annum for each year the graduate is retained because this is more than just the recruiting expense, but the cost of induction, time spent on the development of the original graduate and now a new graduate etc) = $45,000

The total return for one graduate over three years is $159,000 or more.

At a cost of no more than $51,450 per graduate the return is $159,000 or more, which equates to a ROI of 3 times.