16B — July 31 - August 13, 2015 — Owners, Developers & Managers — M id A tlantic
Real Estate Journal
www.marejournal.com
A rchitects & E ngineers
By Glenn Ebersole, Hollenbach Construction, Inc. Are you prepared for the Millennial generation of architects and engineers?
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offer employees a relaxing es- cape. Workdays are sometimes cut short to accommodate vol- unteer work by employees. It is more common for employees to occasionally telecommute. The real driving force behind these changes are the Millennials! Millennials typically include anyone born between 1982 and the early 2000’s. Today, there are about 80 million Millen- nials and they are taking on the work force and influencing change. While Baby Boomers and Gen X made up more than half the work force a few years ago, studies indicate that by
2020 they will be outnum- bered by Millennials. The A/E community is a completely different industry today than it was at the time the previous generations entered the work place. This means the work en- vironment needs to adapt and those architects and engineers running companies need to be prepared for the Millennials. Millennials are inspired by completely different factors than their predecessors and they tend to be most productive in environments that foster cre- ativity and self-expression. In past generations, it was normal
oldest now in their early 30s) are preparing to and moving into the business mainstream, including architectural and en- gineering firms. The diversity of generations in the workplace and successfully navigating this personnel change is a real challenge to the Architectural/ Engineering (A/E) community. Today’s architectural and engineering offices provide evidence that walls are coming down and floor space is opening up into trendy new designs. Where small break areas used to be common, now there are café’s and lounge areas that
to work for one company for a very long time. However, that is not the case withMillennials. In fact a 2012 survey showed that a Millennial expects to stay at a job for less than 5 years. Knowing this employers of Millennial architects and engineers need to be concerned about future turnover among Millennials, since this surely will become a factor into at just about the time when many Baby Boomers will be entering retirement. The A/E industry is constantly evolving and sees increasing competition. There- fore, it is crucial to understand what inspires the Millennial A/E talent and to be prepared to retain and recruit needed A/E employees. Preparing for the Millennials requires being proactive and providing some very important items. Some of these include: • A flexible schedule: A 2013 study by PwC showed that 64% of Millennials like to occasionally work from home. Today’s technology makes tele- commuting easy and efficient, while also enabling real-time communication, file sharing, and meeting facilitation with anyone at the office. A flexible schedule will help keep a Mil- lennial satisfied with his or her job, and will create & enhance the feeling that management is understanding and caring. And this builds confidence in leadership, which is essential to higher A/E retention rates. • A clear understaning of the company’s vision, mis- sion & core values: Millen- nials need to hear and see that the company’s vision, mission and core values are stressed in all the company does. They want to work for a company with strong values. The Millen- nials want to make a difference and seek to become involved in community service through vol- unteering and outreach efforts. • A path for advancement: Millennials look for a path for advancement within their com- pany. They are eager to learn as much as possible about their field, and they want to be fairly compensated. It is important to provide an understanding of the advancement process, espe- cially during the hiring process. Millennials absolutely crave instant feedback for their work and thrive on encouragement. They prefer to have monthly sit-downs with individuals to check in on current projects continued on page 18B
ook around in today’s workplace and it is very obvious that today’s
work force is undergo ing s i gn i f i c an t fundamental changes. Ev- ery day we observe that: 10,000 Baby Boomers are turning 65
Glenn Ebersole
and there is a growing number of them heading into retire- ment; the Gen Xers are running businesses and organizations and the Millennials (with the
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