Hawkins Group

Hawkins’ employees reap rewards of blended learning

Start work at privately-owned infrastructure and construction firm Hawkins Group and from day one you’ll find yourself immersed in a learning and development environment combining on-the-job, online and classroom-based training.

Hawkins Group has been going strong for over half a century, making a name for itself in some of the country’s largest and best known construction projects. Part of the reason is that its 700 staff are given valuable ‘blended learning’ opportunities.

Blended learning is a standout feature of Hawkins Business School – the company’s learning and development framework. What this means, in a nutshell, is that its employees are exposed to learning content through a mixture of face-to-face and digital / online methods.

Hawkins is constantly striving to improve its Hawkins Business School framework. New elements are always being developed and implemented. Next year, for instance, it’s likely that a calendar of short courses will be added to the classroom content. Other options being looked at include courses on sales, leadership, negotiations and personal effectiveness.

Over 800 classroom days are being taught this year. Two of the most significant classroom-based programmes are the Hawkins Management Programme and Hawkins Project Excellence.

Delivered in partnership with the University of Auckland Business School, the Management Programme develops leadership and management capability in Hawkins’ “current and future business leaders”. Running for eight months, the programme features six dedicated modules. Employees involved in this programme spend a total of 13.5 days in the classroom and, as part of their studies, complete a group project related to “current business improvements”.

The company’s Project Excellence Programme is delivered in partnership with cross sector organisation Constructing Excellence and is attached to NZQA’s framework. Project Excellence is an industry technical-based programme covering off five modules including supply chain management, construction management and project management.

The Hawkins Management and Hawkins Project Excellence programmes are both tremendously well utilised, with approximately 70 staff taking part.

Online learning is important for Hawkins; partly because of the firm’s geographical spread in New Zealand and abroad; partly because the company recognises that some people learn

better by engaging with technology.

On day one of employment, staff are given access to an ‘on-boarding website’. This provides new staff with valuable orientation information and keeps track of employees’ progress with required online learning tasks.

Let’s not forget that Hawkins’ online learning management system has a library of content that can be accessed 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The company’s online tools don’t stop there. Also used is a product called Hawkins Development Programme for staff performance and development reviews.

Hawkins even offers online self-help resources for employees and has recently launched internal webinars broadcast the length and breadth of the business. Two webinars have so far been run – one on BIM (Building Information Modelling), the other on ‘disruptive technology’.

Quite apart from the fact that, on average, Hawkins’ direct annual investment in learning tops $1000 per employee, evidence of the company’s innovative and forward-thinking approach to learning and development can be found everywhere.

Add all this together and it’s clear that the well-used maxim – people are your number one asset – is one that Hawkins Group holds dear to its heart. l