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BUSINESS NEWS JENNIFER TAYLOR OF BURNS & MCDONNELL NAMED ENGINEER OF THE YEAR BY ASCE KANSAS CITY Jennifer Taylor, PE, a senior civil engineer at Burns & McDonnell , is being honored as Engineer of the Year by the American Society of Civil Engineers Kansas City Section. Taylor received the honor for her commitment to serving her profession and leadership in ASCE at the national and section levels. “Jennifer has a very diverse background and proven track record of stepping up and meeting challenges,” says Kenda Caskey, vice president, Oil, Gas, and Chemical Group, Burns & McDonnell. “She leads by example, immersing herself in delivering solutions for clients and empowering others to do the

same. She also inspires others to volunteer their time and resources by demonstrating contagious passion and enthusiasm.” As part of the Oil, Gas, and Chemical Group at Burns & McDonnell, Taylor provides civil engineering services for projects ranging from railroads to ponds, keeping waterways safe for clients. Taylor also specializes in stormwater management and highway engineering, providing a unique perspective when combined with her dual bachelor’s degrees in business and civil engineering. Taylor has been an active ASCE member since college, serving as a past Kansas City Section president and member of the national

organization’s Sustainability Committee. In addition to her work with ASCE, Taylor is a Girl Scouts Daisy Troop co-leader and Blue River Watershed Association Board president. Burns & McDonnell is a family of companies made up of more than 6,000 engineers, architects, construction professionals, scientists, consultants, and entrepreneurs with offices across the country and throughout the world. Burns & McDonnell strives to create amazing success for our clients and amazing careers for our employee-owners. Burns & McDonnell is 100 percent employee-owned and is proud to be on Fortune ’s 2018 list of 100 Best Companies to Work For.

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a professional development curriculum that will lead to career advancement, and 82 percent of employees can use work time for professional development/continuing education. “Best Firms and Hot Firms continue to distinguish themselves in a highly competitive industry by taking care of their employees and improving their operations.” Our Hot Firm list also provides us with great information about the top growing firms in the industry. Firms on this year’s list saw an average of 76 percent growth over the last three years, and grew by an average of $25.2 million over the same time frame. Firms that placed in the top 10 averaged 133 percent growth and grew by an average of $96.8 million over the last three years. While the percentage growth has continued to slow down over the last few years, dollar revenue growth is up. Efficiency for Hot Firms also continues to improve. Net service revenue per employee for the top 100 reached $187,664, and for the top 10, it was $252,442. M&A activity remains strong, too, with 40 percent of the top 100 firms buying or merging with another firm, and with the average number of transactions being 3.3 over the last three years. M&A is a great way for firms to continue to grow and add talent at a time when organic growth can be difficult, and the survey tells us Hot Firms are finding ways to execute their growth strategies. I could go on and on about the treasure trove of information mined from our Best Firm and Hot Firm surveys, but with what I’ve shared, I think you get the point. Best Firms and Hot Firms continue to distinguish themselves in a highly competitive industry by taking care of their employees and improving their operations. To show appreciation for all their hard work, Zweig Group is celebrating their achievements at the annual Hot Firm & A/E Industry Awards Conference on September 20-21 at the Fairmont in Dallas. Grab your cowboy hat and boots and join us! KYLE AHERN is awards manager at Zweig Group. Contact him at kahern@zweiggroup.com .

all staff, up from 69 percent in 2016. However, less than 50 percent of firms said they have a formal ownership transition plan in place. At Zweig Group, we have an open-book management philosophy. Revenue data is shared firm-wide on a monthly basis. We believe this is very important to the positive culture of our firm. Twenty percent of survey respondents said they share revenue data firm-wide on a monthly basis, while 23 percent share it annually, 7 percent semi- annually, and 17 percent quarterly. On the other hand, 17 percent don’t share revenue data firm-wide at all. With the labor shortage in the industry, firms are coming up with creative ideas to attract top talent. Different options for employees such as flexible starting times, condensed work weeks, and other perks continue to rise. Seventy-one percent of firms say they offer these options and 60 percent offer telecommuting for select staff. Referral bonuses and performance bonuses were the most common types given in 2017, at 72 percent for both of them. “With the labor shortage in the industry, firms are coming up with creative ideas to attract top talent. Different options for employees such as flexible starting times, condensed work weeks, and other perks continue to rise.” The big headliner was the sheer amount of bonuses handed out to employees. According to our survey data, a collective $224.3 million was paid out to Best Firm employees in 2017, an obvious indicator that the AEC industry is healthy. The average number of all paid time off offered by our Best Firms in 2017 was 18 days, with eight more days given for holidays. Scores were up across the board for how employees felt about different aspects of their compensation, signaling strong compensation growth and meaningful benefits. For example, 57 percent of employees say their firms offer

THE ZWEIG LETTER July 23, 2018, ISSUE 1257

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