Customer Story: SMEC Engineering

SMEC has long been one of Australia’s leading engineering consultancies — building hydroelectric plants, sports stadiums, and critical infrastructure across more than 40 countries. But sustaining that standard meant developing the next generation of engineers, not just hiring them.

Good wasn’t good enough

SMEC had a solid graduate program. Feedback was positive, retention was reasonable, and the L&D team was working hard. But the CEO identified a clear gap: the program wasn’t converting academic knowledge into on-the-job performance quickly enough, and it wasn’t scaling across 20 Australian sites without significant cost and duplication.

Graduates in regional offices weren’t getting the same training as those in major cities. If someone missed a session or joined outside a standard intake, they could wait months for the next round. Face-to-face delivery was expensive, time-consuming, and hard to keep consistent.

Blended by design

After interviewing current and past graduates, managers and training providers, the L&D team landed on a blended approach — combining face-to-face sessions for cultural connection with online learning that graduates could complete in their own time, from any location.

The challenge was finding a platform that could support fully customised content. Generic off-the-shelf training wouldn’t reflect SMEC’s unique environment or the specific skills graduates needed to succeed.

The team evaluated a full LMS rollout — which would have required expensive third-party content creation every time a new need arose — against Tribal Habits, which allowed SMEC staff to build their own modules directly. The decision was straightforward.

Up and running in two weeks

Technical implementation took two weeks. A fully functional graduate learning platform with custom content was in place within six weeks — roughly half the time a traditional LMS would have required.

Subject matter experts from across the business were brought in to build modules in their areas of expertise. Technical engineering disciplines, soft skills, business operations — all created by the people who knew those areas best, shaped by the L&D team into structured, engaging learning experiences.

Three goals. All delivered.

The program was built around three objectives — and tracked carefully against each.

On attraction and retention, the results were stark. Graduate turnover dropped from 17% in 2017 to 10.3% in 2019 — moving from 2% above the organisational average to 0.6% below it. In a workforce demographic known for being transient, that’s a significant shift. In the 2019 engagement survey, 79% of ANZ employees aged 18–24 said they would recommend SMEC to a friend seeking employment.

On technical breadth, graduates gained exposure to the full range of engineering disciplines across the business — not just their own area. Feedback consistently pointed to faster time-to-productivity and a clearer understanding of how their role fits into the wider organisation.

On professional skills, structured learning pathways covered everything from managing emails to running productive meetings — rounding out the graduate experience beyond purely technical development.

By 2019, 95% of participants rated the training as relevant and valuable. Manager feedback was equally strong, with tangible improvements in on-the-job performance noted across the business.

Recognised beyond the organisation

The results didn’t go unnoticed. SMEC’s Graduate Development Program won gold for Best Learning & Development Project (Induction/Onboarding) and silver for Best Learning Model (Blended) at the LearnX Live Awards 2019.

Based on the program’s success, the CEO of SMEC and CEO International of the Surbana Jurong Group advocated for expansion beyond ANZ. A modified version was deployed in the Africa Division, with a sister company joining the program shortly after.