Tauw

Consultancy and Engineering Firm

Tauw is a European consultancy and engineering agency with a strong position in environmental advice and sustainable development of the living environment. The company was founded in 1928, and its main office has been situated in Deventer since 1975. Over 1,100 employees (of which 850 in the Netherlands) give advice about the environment, soils and water. The customer base consists of national, international and regional governments, water boards and the industrial sector.

Not only experienced ecologists, chemists and civil and construction engineers work at Tauw, but also young professionals of all education levels. They are essential and that is why they are offered a challenging and varied traineeship. But trainees are not the only ones who are offered training. Tauw highly values personal and professional development. Therefore, employees get the space to spend a significant share of their time on product and knowledge innovation.

To be able to acquire a stronger position at international level in sectors such as the industrial sector, Tauw keeps investing in new technological solutions. These investments are necessary to be able to remain a market leader in the coming years in this fast-changing environment. They strongly focus on data management and innovative translations of research results and advice. Nijhof: “We are making a lot of progress in the development and application of new measuring methods with drones and XRF, and the translation of the results with VR/AR.”

Another ‘innovation’ is the unique type of employee participation Tauw has chosen. Control and ownership are not included in the management structure. Annemieke Nijhof finds this participative leadership a very logical choice. “The connection that employees have with the Tauw organisation has always been strong. We don’t want a sort of partnership to arise, in which managers possess both the organisation’s power and also receive the largest part of the profits. We create the results together and everybody contributes to this in a financially equal way.”