Human Capital Management. As a global advisory and technology services provider, our human capital strategy is vital to our business. Our business depends substantially on attracting, developing, and retaining a highly qualified workforce that provides excellent, effective, and efficient performance reflecting the vast communities we serve. We have designed our human resources programs to enable a high-performing workforce to reach its full potential. We then develop our employees to prepare them for critical roles; reward and support employees through pay, benefit, and perquisite programs that we believe are competitive; and evolve and invest in technology, tools, and resources to empower employees to belong, grow, and thrive.
As of December 31, 2024, we employed over 9,300 people, 86% of whom were employed full-time. The results of our most recent employee engagement survey reflect a strong culture that encourages our employees to stay and grow a career with us. We are proud that a large number of our employees believe their values align with our values.
Culture and Values. At ICF, we cultivate a culture rooted in expertise, innovation, and purpose, with a deep commitment to caring for the world around us and for each other. We are a vibrant and growing community of experts with a variety of backgrounds and life experiences, united by our drive to make a positive impact. Our shared values emphasize integrity and collaboration as we embrace our personal passions and differences to challenge assumptions and deliver outcomes that we and our clients can be proud of. Grounded in data-driven insights, we foster a high-performance environment that values creativity, critical thinking, mutual respect and support, and a multidisciplinary approach. Since our founding in 1969, we have been a mission-driven company delivering exceptional solutions that empower communities, drive progress, and inspire lasting, positive change.
We believe our culture and values help us attract a wide pool of talent and perspectives so we can select the most capable people to support a workplace culture that best supports our clients we serve and the constituencies we support.
Talent Acquisition, Development, and Retention. Successful talent attraction and retention hinges on a healthy and recognizable employer brand. We have built a strong digital and social media presence with an employee-first lens to distinguish us as a named employer of choice. Employee voices and perspectives are at the heart of the stories we share. These recruitment marketing efforts drove two-thirds of the nearly half a million job applications to us in 2024 and resulted in one-third of all hires. Engagement with our talent community to create continuous connections with those who are interested in working for us is the second top source of job applications after major job boards. Our programmatic approach to hiring has resulted in a rapid time-to-find for new hires.
In the past year, we have been recognized on the Forbes list of America’s Best Management Consulting Firms and as an employer of choice in a range of categories by both Forbes and Newsweek. We have also been named as one of the best places to work by PRWeek and one of the best places to work in Washington, D.C., by Built In, a community for startups and tech companies.
Once a new hire joins us, we set them up for long-term success with a robust onboarding program, including sessions focused on our purpose and values and required compliance training. To further enhance this experience, new employees may participate in an optional peer coaching program to connect with other employees throughout their first year. In 2024, 98% of participants rated this as a valuable experience.
Another pillar of retention is helping our employees to grow by achieving personal and career success. We have tailored offerings for every stage of career, and every type of learner, ranging from experiential learning to informal learning like our mentoring program, and formal courses. In 2024, we delivered digital and instructor-led programs to build skills in various areas, including leadership, people management, project management, consulting, business development, finance, technology, and innovation skills. To increase enterprise-wide access to industry-leading content, we also partnered with best-in-class providers like LinkedIn Learning, Udemy, Workday, and Microsoft for digital learning in self-paced programs.
For managers and leaders, we offer programs that support their development and ensure they have the tools and resources they need to be effective, whether they are at an emerging, experienced, or senior level. Our key focus area is taking an enterprise-wide approach to continue building our pipeline of tomorrow’s leaders.
Another area of employee development is our intentional culture of continuous coaching and feedback through our Impact Conversations program. In addition, our anytime feedback process and recognition program empower employees to receive (and give) feedback or kudos from peers, managers, and leaders at any point during the year. In 2024, all eligible employees also received a performance appraisal with feedback from their manager on their 2023 performance.
Historically, we experience employee voluntary turnover that is consistently below industry benchmarks. In 2024, our overall company turnover was 12.6% and 10% when excluding our on-call team members.