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NEW RELEASE
2019 RECRUITMENT AND RETENTION SURVEY The survey has statistics relating to all the latest methods used to hire and retain professionals in the industry. This survey contains data about recruiting methods and policies, training, HR departments experiences, attitudes, and challenges regarding the hiring and firing process, turnover rates, and compensation and benefits. Are you looking for hiring methods, expectations, and metrics in the AEC Industry? Do you know what most firms in the industry are doing to recruit top talent? This survey covers all areas of recruitment from the search process through integrating a new candidate into a firm. The 2019 Recruitment and Retention Survey of AEC Firms also has data about HR departments and the use of outside executive search firms. Visit bit.ly/2KcLfHp for more information.
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CHRISTINA ZWEIG NIEHUES, from page 1
specifically recruiting women to ensure a diverse, non-discriminatory culture. We know firms have to recruit women, because more of them are pursuing degrees in STEM and design-related fields. More of them are entering the workforce, but the data shows they aren’t staying. More than 90 percent of firm principals are men. What’s happening to all the women? Many women leave the industry in their late 20s and early 30s. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that only 21 percent of firms provide paid maternity leave, with an average length of time of 5.4 weeks. Nearly half, 41 percent of AEC firms, have no maternity leave (64 percent have no paternity leave). That means if someone gets pregnant and has a child, they have to use PTO or sick leave. The average number of PTO days is now 22, and the median is 16, across all AEC firm types and job roles. This means for a woman, even if you could manage to not take a single day off work all year for any reason and work until the day you gave birth, you may only have two to three weeks to recover and spend time with your newborn before having to go back to work full-time. Just about half of all firms are subject to the Family and Medical Leave Act, which says that covered employers must grant an eligible employee up to a total of 12 work weeks of unpaid leave during any 12-month period for one or more of the following reasons: Birth and care of a newborn child of the employee; placement with the employee of a son or daughter for adoption or foster care; care for an immediate family member (spouse, child, or parent) with a serious health condition; or to take medical leave when the employee is unable to work because of a serious health condition. Of the firms which are subject to this act, the median number of employees who have taken leave over the past year is just three. These numbers above only address the issue of becoming a parent, not even the challenges faced by single working parents who already have children. My experience in the industry, highlighted by the comments above, is that many people working in the AEC industry are supportive of each other, encouraging to those entering the industry, and supportive of more diverse teams. However, policy doesn’t reflect these attributes. It’s time for a change and more progressive policies. The tech industry has done it, and found ways to continue to encourage productivity and profitability – the AEC industry can do it too!
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CHRISTINA ZWEIG NIEHUES is director of research and e-commerce at Zweig Group. She can be reached at czweig@zweiggroup.com.
© Copyright 2019. Zweig Group. All rights reserved.
THE ZWEIG LETTER September 16, 2019, ISSUE 1312
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