In business, there are many milestones that warrant celebration. A contract with a brand new client is exciting. The completion of a project is satisfying. A long-time employee’s work anniversary is something to cheer. This year, however, marks a special milestone for Urban Engineers – our 60th year in business. To recognize this achievement, we are sharing the second of four blog posts to reflect on Urban’s work culture, the homegrown-approach to cultivating staff, employee dividends, and our vision for the future. Please read on to learn about who we are as an organization, and who we want to be in the years to come.

Just like Fortune 500 companies, Urban’s dividends are a key value to its shareholders. As owners of the firm, the employees are the sole benefactors of these dividends. These dividends are reinvested back into the company as employee benefits which are intended to enrich our culture. The focus of these benefits includes three main aspects: wellness, community, and education.

Wellness

Urban believes the wellness of its employees are essential. Healthy employees not only are happier employees, but they are also more productive. Our firm not only promotes the importance of physical fitness, but also understands mental health as well. This includes benefits that encourage healthy life/work balances. At Urban, wellness is achieved through a variety of ways, including flextime, competitive healthcare benefits, free health seminars, on-site fitness centers, extracurricular sports, and even on-site massages.

Community

At Urban we don’t just “do well,” we “do good.” We believe that we have an obligation to actively maintain the health and well-being of the communities in which we do business, and we enjoy giving back to the places that give so much to us. Our employees strive to make our communities better places to live through their projects and volunteerism. We promote service to our communities and professions as a way to translate our values and standards into visible action, adding value and depth to the communities in which we live.

Additionally, Urban provides internal vehicles to promote community within the organization. These include the Urban Young Member Forum, Urban Women’s Professional Network, and a new Diversity Committee. These groups develop leadership opportunities within the firm and will foster innovative best practices for our next 60 years of business.

Education

By promoting educational opportunities, Urban is not only a company of learners and innovators, but a developer of leaders. At Urban’s core, our training department provides every employee educational classes for free. Recognizing our own expertise within the industry, many of the Urban Training Institute’s courses are taught by in-house instructors. Beyond the institute, Urban offers generous tuition reimbursement programs to help accelerate one’s career. We also support numerous memberships to various organizations throughout the country so we can collaborate with our peers and help propel our industry forward.