OUR WEALTH PROPOSITION FOR YOU

We are fast-paced, focused, highly competitive, and always looking for ways to improve, become more efficient and effective, and really just be our best. We can sustain working like this, within our natural rhythm, mainly because Tungsten understands and empathises with the high energy demands that come with being this kind of type-A personality. We know we always get out what we put in.

Because of the successful outcomes that our team members have achieved, Tungsten has developed a bounty of wealth opportunities for them in return for borrowing them from their lives each week. These opportunities include working practices, rewards, and recognition that are world firsts for our industry. The following list details these opportunities.

In 2023 we won the Australian Financial Review Boss' Best Place to Work for the Property, Construction and Transport industry from over 700 nominated organisations across the whole of Australia and New Zealand. We were recognised specifically for our creation of 108TEN, our true four day workweek, rewarding our team member's efficiencies by paying them a five day salary for only four days of work. Read more about this on our dedicated 108TEN webpage.

Highly flexible working conditions

Flexibility is characteristic of our business and always has been. We view it simply as part of modern work, and we treat our team members as the responsible, educated, and intelligent adults that they are. Because we have developed and published transparent, output-focused, and self-accountable measures for our team, we are able to allow for much higher levels of flexibility than is the norm. Such provisions include working from home (when and as much as our team members wish and with only as much notice as it takes to write a Slack message), total cloud computing accessibility (including Dropbox, Slack, and Office365), personal laptops, no dress code, and the freedom to attend to personal appointments during the workday.

108TEN 4-Day Workweeks

We created and implemented our 108TEN policy because our team was consistently achieving efficiencies upwards of 124%. It is the first policy of its kind (to the best of our extensive knowledge) for any field of a civil engineering company anywhere in the world. We pay our team members for 10 days a fortnight (five days a week), and they only have to work 8 of those days (four days a week) provided that they continue to produce TEN days’ worth of output. This is not a condensed-hours model. Rather, Tungsten is literally rewarding its team members with a 50% longer weekend, knocking off after each Thursday, as a reward for simply doing their jobs smartly and efficiently.

Financial rewards

As another reward for results, we issue quarterly cash bonuses of up to 20% of team members’ gross annual salary. We have also created the Tungsten Shavings Scheme that is open to all team members who rack up five years of full-time tenure with us. As part of this scheme, our loyal team members own a portion of the company’s growth. By 2030, we aim to be up to 25% employee-owned, and up to 50% by 2040. Our team receives salary reviews annually that are completely transparent to the individual members. During the reviews, they are provided with current industry salary survey data and asked to put forward their salary review recommendations, and the firm is open and honest in return, explaining how the final salary review offer is calculated.

Well-being leave entitlements

We are big proponents of holistic health, which was, in fact, one of the main drivers behind the creation of the 108TEN policy. We view mental health as at least equal in importance to physical health and, as such, provide four annual well-being leave days to each team member. These days are typically planned a week or two in advance as mental rest days, though they can also be spontaneous down days on those rare occasions when team members simply feel that they aren’t mentally up to the task. No one besides you assesses your mental health for the well-being leave days, and we encourage all of our team members to take advantage of their full allotment of them.

Performance-enhancement system

Our world-class system is designed with performance enhancement in mind. Yes, it’s a great time to reflect, but our aim is to remain as forward-focused as possible. You may have been involved in some form of long-winded, laborious, boring, and undervalued KPI tick-and-flick in the past—well, this isn’t that, not even close. It’s not performance management or a performance review, either. Instead, through this systematic and structured forum, team members check in with their team leader and seek constructive feedback for performance enhancement, which then serves as the basis for developing an annual development plan with bi-monthly tasks and goals.

Improvement focus

We have created platforms, targets, and measures to allow everyone to contribute to improvements in processes, systems, and templates. We know that the best ideas come from those doing the work and that effective change occurs from the bottom up. It may sound dramatic, but, to us, stagnation is death—just ask Kodak or Blockbuster. We hold Uber Eats-catered project-close-out meetings for every project at the completion of both the design and the construction. We capture the gold nuggets of wisdom and lessons learned, and we implement, improve, and alter our processes and systems to suit the circumstances. We also have a platform for daily, spontaneous peer-to-peer recognition that we use to acknowledge the contributions of individual team members. It is used widely amongst our team with over fifty individual recognitions on average monthly.

Broad exposure

Our team members experience rapid career growth because we believe in the value of everyone knowing everything. You’ll be consistently but safely introduced to and involved in all aspects of design, documentation, site support, project management, client management, team leadership, and even business management. As an example, our engineers are able to design complete structures within just six months of graduating, to document complete structures after just twelve months, to lead projects after just two years, and to lead others after just three years. By that point, they are sufficiently competent (and then some) to be certified as CPEng.

Shape your role

Except in the formative years—when, we believe, it is highly beneficial for you to get a taste of everything—we do not have consistent role descriptions for everyone. Our preference is always to change the shape of the hole to fit the peg, so we tailor your role to suit your strengths and desires. Not keen on on-site inspections? No worries; others on the team love them. Rather not lead people? All good; others are natural-born leaders. Prefer not to be involved in industrial structures or to be paid for five days while working only four? Okay, well, sorry—we can’t really help you with that one!

Expectation certainty

We have well-documented processes for design, documentation, site support, project management, team leadership, business administration, and even business management. We believe that everything should run like clockwork and be produced with consistency and as little effort as possible. For further clarity, we have prepared documents that outline our minimum performance standards and the expectations for all team members, team leaders, and project managers. We have also prepared a cultural code of conduct and a full list of the professional and technical capabilities towards which team members at all of the various levels can strive. Lastly, but importantly, we each know the individual financial objectives of our roles and what it takes for us to maintain our wealth of opportunities.

Complete business transparency

The manner in which we run our business and the results that we achieve are no secret to our team members. To play on the field, to make a valuable contribution, and to win the game, you need the scoreboard to be completely transparent. We keep our team informed of our direction by circulating a two-year business strategy. We also publish the upcoming twelve-month financial targets and our monthly results. This way, all team members have line of sight and can calculate how their quarterly bonuses are tracking. We have a centralised document of current and historical monthly sales figures and software that displays current and historical project financial results for all to see. Our team members are informed of the upcoming project opportunities in our pipeline on a weekly basis, and their work schedules are programmed and published weekly as well.

OUR ANONYMOUS ANNUAL TEAM CULTURE SURVEYS REVEAL
WHAT OUR TEAM MEMBERS SAY ABOUT US

“The work-life balance is exceptional; there was never a question or problem if I needed to start late, exercise during the day or even work from home.”

“Tungsten Structures is a young, positive, and professional environment. I’ve learnt a lot across a range of projects and structural aspects, not just been pigeonholed.”

"An inclusive environment with an emphasis on our people and culture. We aim high and achieve our goals by supporting each other along the way."

"Tungsten Structures is a fast-paced and innovative workplace with a strong focus on its people, clients, and the environment. Here we embrace new ideas, curiosity, and differences."

“Senior management is open in the direction the firm is taking and instils confidence in decisions being made. It's also full of down-to-earth fun colleagues; that comes naturally from the work culture that they have built.”

“By the end of my internship I felt confident, responsible, and far more technically developed than my colleagues at university. The best thing about Tungsten, though, is at the roots, which is all about culture, autonomy, and flexibility.”

"I feel like Tungsten is a second home to me, much like a family of professionals, despite differences in culture and beliefs, always supportive of each other. And with the right amount of fun and work, Tungsten Structures is the best workplace."

“I love the autonomy that is encouraged while still providing a supportive workplace and team. I enjoy that we are true to our word and follow through with promises and our core principles are what we embody rather than just words on a page.”

"A fresh growing innovative structural engineering firm focussed on doing things differently and putting their people first. Tungsten is one of those companies that actually walks the talk, and it shows through the culture and quality of people on the team."

“Tungsten Structures is an atypical engineering company that commits to their values and well-being of their staff. They have created a collaborative environment where all staff can openly share views and contribute and shape processes within the business.”

“A supportive, engaged team that looks out for one another. You will never feel alone, but also no one is watching over your shoulder. The company as a whole is output-focused, so we are not afraid to change if there is a more efficient or less painful way to get to the end result.”

“In all honesty, the people at Tungsten are a relaxed bunch that are great to work with whilst also priding themselves on hard work and a high-level finished product for our clients. I can’t recommend enough the opportunity of working at Tungsten if you are privileged enough to be offered.”

“Very considerate business that aims to not only develop professional skills but to understand each person on the team and form strong bonds; you are not just a number or a nameless employee. They give the opportunity to work in a way that is the most comfortable and productive for the individual person.”

“I have a lot of friends from school, previous workplaces, and in my local community, and when I talk to them about my current work it makes me proud. Working flexible hours, not having to wear corporate attire or uniforms, makes me feel comfortable, and being comfortable means less stress and being more productive.”

"I feel very fortunate to work at Tungsten Structures, where I feel encouraged to step out of my comfort zone and embrace the fast-paced nature of consultancy all whilst being supported by a caring management team. Working hands-on with a project from day one to handover allows me to be exposed to all aspects of coordination, design, and site support."

"The team is a group of highly motivated and competent people who are all committed to the same goal: performing at the highest standard to deliver for our clients at a fast pace. Due to the shared values, the team members trust each other to perform and deliver, leading to an enjoyable environment where people truly work as a team and have the security to have fun in their roles."