Company Profile
Golder Associates
Company Overview
An international group of companies that provides ground engineering and environmental consulting services in support of environmental, industrial, natural resources, health, and civil engineering projects.
Facts at a Glance
• Founded in Toronto in 1960
• 144 offices worldwide
• 100% employee owned
• More than 7,000 employees
• More than 6,000 clients
• More than 12,000 projects yearly
• Clients/projects in more than 150 countries
• Consistently rated as one of the top design and engineering firms by
Engineering News Record Magazine
• Winner of “best firms to work for” contests in Africa, Australia, Canada,
Europe and the U.S. for the past 5 years
Market Sectors Service phases
• Agriculture & Forestry
• Feasibility
• Finance, Insurance, Real Estate, and Legal
• Permitting
• Land Development
• Construction
• Manufacturing
• Operations and Maintenance
• Mining
• Closure
• Oil & Gas
• Restoration
• Power
• Transportation
• Waste Management
• Water Resources
Types of Services
• Air quality
• Biological sciences
• Construction quality assurance
• Cultural sciences
• Environmental engineering
• Environmental health and safety
• Geophysics
• Geosciences
• Geotechnical engineering
• Hydrogeology
• Hydrology
• Information management
• Mining engineering
• Risk and decision analysis
Company History
The Start-
Golder Associates was founded in Toronto in 1960 as H. Q. Golder and Associates. The founders - Hugh Golder, Victor Milligan, Larry Soderman and John Seychuk - shared a unique combination of reputation and technical, business and operational skills. They also shared impeccable timing, for the market urgently needed a consulting company specialising in the new field of soil mechanics. The Department of Highways Ontario (DHO) was embarking on major road building, and an understanding of soil mechanics was to be key to the success of that program. In fact, Golder's first five projects were designing bridge foundations for DHO.
The first office was a two-bedroom apartment above a branch of the Bank of Nova Scotia and a music organ store. The first five employees were Hugh Golder, Victor Milligan, Alan Gass, Ilene Burkus and Jim Alexander, with John Seychuk joining later in the year.
Friday evenings evoked spirited discussions over a few beers about how big the company should become. After much debate they agreed to grow the company to no more than 25 people! In their wildest dreams the founders never envisioned a global company of 5,500 employees spread across 135 offices in 22 countries.
From Soil to Information Technology-
Initially, Golder offered services in soil mechanics and foundation engineering. This rapidly expanded to include rock mechanics in the 1970s. In the 1980s the company developed its groundwater expertise into the broader field of hydrogeology, and in particular, contaminated soil and groundwater. With the increasing environmental awareness, biological capabilities were added in the early 1990s, especially in aquatic and terrestrial biology and toxicology. In the late 1990s with the ongoing development of the company's capabilities in water-related fields, hydrology and hydraulic engineering services were added to Golder's repertoire. The new millennium brought skills in Geographic Information Systems, information management and cultural sciences.
At Your Service-
As Golder's range of technical disciplines has increased, so has the range of services. In the early years we offered specialist consulting services, acting as sub-consultant for a niche market. By 1980 the company was serving as prime consultant, providing project management, plus retaining the services of other sub-consultants on behalf of our clients. In the 1990s as our range of technical disciplines expanded, we began to offer full-service consulting packages, particularly for environmental impact assessment. This led to providing strategic and risk management services. We now provide contracting services so that clients can take advantage of turnkey service, particularly in remediation and restoration of contaminated sites.
Benefits
Why should you join Golder Associates?
Outstanding work environment: The operating companies that comprise Golder Associates have received numerous "Best Companies To Work For" awards and are widely recognized as being "Employers of Choice".
Personal opportunity: Golder Associates is committed to providing opportunities for personal growth, primarily by organic expansion of the company and internal promotion. The result has been substantial and sustained growth on a global basis providing for a wide range of exciting opportunities for staff.
Employee owned: As one of the largest 100% employee-owned consulting groups in the world, all full-time personnel have the opportunity to grow with the company as an owner and share in its success.
Global opportunities: From employee transfers to international exchange programs, Golder provides you with opportunities to strengthen your personal and professional skills by working in our network of offices around the world.
Personal development: Continually developing your skills is an important component in advancing your career. Through our internal training program, Golder U, we provide professional training opportunities, from project management to client development, aimed at helping you develop and refresh your skills. Our mentoring program also provides opportunities to work one-on-one with senior staff so you can further develop your life and career skills.
Career development: Our success relies on the continuous growth and development of our people. To support this, we maintain an annual Personal Performance and Development Review Program incorporating feedback from staff, peers and managers. The program includes individual goal setting aligned with company objectives, as well as self assessment.
Competitive salaries and benefits: Our people are the dominant factor in our success, and we remunerate accordingly. From base salary through our comprehensive benefit programs, we offer a competitive compensation package for employees.
Commitment to sustainability: Through our sponsorship and involvement in community development and environmental enhancement initiatives, and our focus on continual improvement and technical innovation, Golder Associates management and staff have demonstrated a commitment to the principles of sustainable development and improving the lives of our employees and communities in which we live and work, today and in the future.
In short, we are committed to being the best company of our kind in the world, a company that:
• Provides a rewarding environment for our people
• Delivers quality and value to our clients
• Delivers consistently superior return to shareholders
• Deserves and receives the respect of the community