Top 3 Retention Tips Engineering Employers
December 19, 2022
In 2018 a detailed overview prepared by Deloitte, the number one accounting firm in the world, revealed a lack of skillful engineering specialists in the manufacturing industry. As engineering talent continues to be more difficult to find and retain, organization’s face uncertainty in managing future challenges. It is estimated that up to 2 million positions will be left unfilled over the course of the next few years. The key to success lies in retaining current and future engineering talent that are currently in the organization. McFadden Engineering has reviewed and created a list of our top retention practices we employ and are eager to share these practices with future team members and others in the engineering industry.
Prioritize Retention
Although it is seemingly common sense, it is not always easy to prioritize retention within an organization. A large percentage of recruiters in the engineering industry found the shortage of engineering skills has negatively impacted the hiring process and is becoming a complex challenge. With this challenge comes the opportunity to reflect on your organizations internal status and focus on optimizing partnerships with your technical staff. This is a great way for employers to retain their top professionals and work through any industry challenges that may arise.
Prioritizing implementation of retention practices in your organization will generate positive outcomes for current and future employees. Actively showing employees they are genuinely cared for as a team member drives a deeper passion for hard work to achieve overall success and growth of a company.
Upskilling
Upskilling is providing team members with learning and skills development opportunities. This has become an essential retention practice for McFadden Engineering and is an optimal way to solve the problem of limited engineering skills. In 2019, Glassdoor conducted interviews with engineers to uncover what they appreciated most in an employer. Results showed a diverse training program was one of the things they valued the most. Largely due to the time invested in implementing training , employees feel as the company is dedicated to continuously improving company culture. Utilizing upskilling practices can incentivize engineers to shift their focus on skill development which will also progress their careers. In return, upskilling helps employers develop potential leaders within the organization while creating employee loyalty.
Pay Attention to Personality Types
In the engineering industry, having a diverse workplace is crucial for the creation of efficient ideas and solutions. However, it is important to harness diversity for your organization’s benefit. The first step in managing your company’s diversity is focusing on establishing a working relationship with each member of your engineering team. This allows you to get to know each employee and gain insight to how they work. Creating meaningful work relationships proves to employees that they are valued and play an important role in the company. Understanding the dynamic of a team and recognizing each member’s areas of expertise is critical in maintaining a strong group mentality.
Employers should find time to observe team interactions and the personality types present in the workspace. Observations will most likely show a mixture of personalities with some employees demonstrating dominance when communicating (extroverts) while others display a reserved demeanor and rarely initiate conversations with colleagues (introverts). Once team diversity is recognized, it is our job to help facilitate an environment where both personality types possess equal opportunities to express their points of view. When retaining introverts, you should encourage them to speak up so they know their ideas and contributions are welcomed and appreciated. Extroverts typically have no problem saying what is on their mind. In this case, the task is to challenge them to contemplate more and encourage them to pause before speaking, which will create a more balanced dialogue within the organization.
At McFadden Engineering, our team of talented engineers and geologists have more than a century of combined civil and environmental experience. Our company is a combination of personality types working together to generate environmentally sound solutions to water and wastewater problems. To learn more about our work, give or become a team member give us a call at 251-470-6870.