Engineering The Future: Build a Workforce Pipeline That Doesn’t Leak

As our nation works to improve aging and crumbling infrastructure, assembling and retaining the workforce needed to achieve those goals remains a major challenge. Never in my lifetime has the need for civil engineers and all the trades that support them been greater. In the last decade, we’ve witnessed flat enrollments in civil engineering schools for tech associate’s and bachelor’s degrees as well as in the construction trades. That’s further complicated by the fact that the largest cohort in most of these jobs are baby boomers, many of whom are set to retire soon.

In my December 2024 column, “Where Have All the Workers Gone?”, I spoke to all these statistics and presented some solutions. I’m pleased to report that later in December, the President’s National Infrastructure Advisory Council adopted our latest report: “Electrifying the Workforce.” The report is a great scan of some of the country’s best practices in nurturing the current and future workforce. Some recommendations include the following:

• Developing a comprehensive national strategy built on the approach outlined in the National Cyber Workforce and Education Strategy (bit.ly/3DKoJVC)

• Developing a cross-sectoral, multi-disciplinary, predominantly technical and skills-based strategy for future infrastructure jobs, including electro-mechanical, manufacturing and fabrication, construction, and a host of engineering specialties

• Addressing gaps in secondary- and higher-education curriculum, training and access

• Addressing current workforce shortages by engaging previously underrepresented communities

• Improving career awareness by developing a clearinghouse for workforce-development information and data

The graphic below was developed for the report and defines the under-resourcing dilemma.

Survey Says

Workforce retention is another aspect of our current challenge that’s being addressed by the engineering sector. For example, GHD has a suite of programs to address issues that impact retention and acknowledge the importance of creating safe and supportive spaces. Monthly, we issue an anonymous employee check-in survey to identify how the individual sees employer engagement in their individual growth and wellbeing. The feedback from the surveys helps inform corporate activities.

Some of the activities include wellbeing resource training for leaders that includes guidance on how to address stress, how to have empathetic conversations, tips for avoiding team burnout, a manager toolkit portal, coffee chats and employee resource groups (ERGs). In the Americas alone, GHD has 10 ERGs that create programs for employees across the country.

Additionally, GHD has an Enterprise Wellbeing Strategy that includes extensive resources and strategies that became critically important during the COVID-19 era to keep employees engaged, since many were dealing with isolation. Now, post-pandemic, these types of strategies are a great tool to connect people to expertise worldwide, whether it’s regarding a technical-expertise question, a client opportunity or challenge, or just to connect with similar colleagues worldwide. As an industry, we must recognize that employee engagement is key to overall success and retaining employees.

 

 

 

Other helpful programs in the industry are targeted directly at new graduates—offering an integrated, holistic approach to developing future leaders and technical specialists by providing graduates with the tools and opportunities required to establish and build a successful career. In these programs, participants learn about the business, core values, their team and, most importantly, themselves. These new grad programs are centered on the development of decision-making, communication, technical and critical leadership skills, and offer a variety of developmental activities, including on-the-job experiences and the creation of networks that will last a lifetime.

Continuing-education programs, such as the GHD Business School, also are essential for professional development and employee satisfaction. These programs should be guided by the following principles:

• Ensure learning opportunities are effectively supported through the utilization of highly effective trainers, content experts and support staff

• Maintain an unwavering commitment to quality education products through use of needs-assessment methods, highly qualified training-content developers and course evaluation/assessment/continual-improvement mechanisms

• Ensure employees have access and availability to training globally

• Ensure regulatory requirements are met through the provision of accurate, comprehensive and current training materials

• Keep training records accurate, comprehensive and current

• Provide Continuing Education Credits (CEUs) and Professional Development Hours (PDHs) for professional services within the company

Formal Networks

A final, essential area to highlight is the importance of formal mentor networks. Often set up as volunteer programs, these networks connect individuals of varying levels of experience to help newer employees grow within the company and include a formal program that links new associates and principals to longtime/existing principals to aid in their journey toward effective leadership.

These types of programs—and many more—can directly result in industry-leading retention rates. It’s a testament to the fact that when you focus on achieving excellent outcomes, you end up with great results.