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NEW FROM ZWEIG GROUP ZWEIG GROUP’S 2022 RECRUITMENT & RETENTION REPORT RELEASED Leading advisory and publishing firm for the AEC industry, Zweig Group, has released new research and insights on the topic of the AEC industry’s top challenge – recruitment and retention – in the 2022 Recruitment and Retention Report of AEC Firms .

than 30 days to hire a candidate, and the majority of firms (91 percent) admit they’ve made at least one “bad hire” in the past three years. Zweig Group’s 2022 Recruitment and Retention Report was comprisedwith data gathered from a number of company- administered, industry-wide surveys, including the online Recruitment and Retention Survey (113 respondents from January 2021 to February 2022), 2021 data from 134 individual firms in Zweig Group’s Best Firms to Work For Awards Program, employee sentiment data from hundreds of AEC firms and more than 15,000 individual responses, and insights from Zweig Group’s 2021 Policies, Procedures & Benefits Report of AEC Firms is also included to highlight topics such as compensation, leave policies, staffing policies, and much more. Zweig Group, three times on the Inc 500/5000 list, is the leading research, publishing, and consulting resource for the built environment. The firm provides strategy, mergers and acquisitions, business valuation,

ownership business

transition,

marketing,

development, market research, financial management, project management, recruiting and executive search services nationwide. Zweig Group also provides a comprehensive suite of products including industry reports and surveys, executive training, and business conferences covering virtually every aspect of AEC firm management. Headquartered in Fayetteville, Arkansas and Dallas, Texas. The firm’s mission, elevate the industry, has five tenets: promote, diversify, educate, change, and celebrate. Zweig Group’s vision is to facilitate action in pursuit of elevating individuals, firms, and thus the industry. More than a mission, this is a movement to advance the AEC profession, creating a world that celebrates the built environment and recognizes its impact on individuals, communities, and commerce. For more information, visit zweiggroup. com or call 800.466.6275.

This report contains key findings about the resources used and investments AEC firms are making to address their recruitment and retention strategies. While there was a slight slowdown in growth over the past two years, AEC industry firms have retained employees at a much-improved rate. Firms continue to have the same number of open positions relative to firm size as they had prior to the pandemic. Despite the fact that recruiting/hiring is such an important element of a firm’s success, 34 percent of survey respondents admit their hiring needs are beyond the scope of their in-house HR/ recruitment staff. More than 80 percent of firms say it takes, on average, more

I like to see these studies done on a continuous basis over an extended period of time, with the unedited results being fed back to everyone in the firm. The important thing is this: No matter how you do it, getting inside your clients’ brains is crucial to your long-term success. To the extent you are successful in doing this will ultimately determine what kind of work you can win and howwell you can actually do it. Mark Zweig is Zweig Group’s chairman and founder. Contact him at mzweig@zweiggroup.com. “If you really want to improve the quality of the work your firm puts out as well as improve the ‘client experience,’ you need to learn to think like your clients.”

MARK ZWEIG, from page 11

Architects & Engineers in Boston (they became part of Carter & Burgess about 25 years ago, and Carter & Burgess later became part of Jacobs Group). Sumner Schein was a more than 100-person company focused on retail clients and shopping malls. They did a lot of tenant improvement work for mall clients, so they decided to open a retail candy store in a mall they designed and go through the tenant buildout process. But perhaps even more importantly, they operated the store for a number of years afterward, using a wide variety of their employees to take turns working there. Can you imagine how valuable it would be for them to be able to tell a client who needed their services that they, too, owned and operated a retail business in a shopping mall? Client surveys are yet another way to get inside the heads of clients and potential clients. The problem with most of these is that they are one-shot deals, and not enough people inside the AEC firms conducting the studies see the unfiltered results.

EXCELLENCE IN CLIENT EXPERIENCE AWARD Zweig Group and Client Savvy have partnered to bring you an award that recognizes firms that solicit real client feedback from their client base and consistently excel at meeting expectations and delivering elevated experiences. Client experience is the strongest way to differentiate a professional services firm. CX top performers are three times as likely to be in the top quartile of revenue growth and profitability while consistently outperforming their peers in employee retention. Both potential clients and potential employees are looking for firms that are proven to be better. The Client Experience Award gives you a validated, trusted endorsement to attract and retain clients and employees. Click here to learn more!

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THE ZWEIG LETTER FEBRUARY 28, 2022, ISSUE 1430

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