Architects and Engineers Competing for Talent in a Tight Market
One of the concerns we often see today for Architects and Engineers is the ability to secure and retain talent in an increasingly tight job market. Keeping our eye on the Architecture Billings Index (ABI), we are delighted about the favorable results reported over the past several months. Knowing this is an indicator of future growth, the next question is how do you attract and retain the right people?
A few things that your firm can evaluate includes:
Investing in career development.
By evaluating the different levels you currently have at your firm, you’ll be able to advance your talent from within. You can also begin identifying areas where adding talent would benefit your business by allowing you to expand your services because of a specialty area or take on more billable client work.
Updating your business plan.
Helping your business understand the level of staffing required to meet your projected workload will provide you a roadmap to follow. A by-product of taking this step is that you’ll end up evaluating your current financial position and can create a pro forma P&L statement for the upcoming years.
Performing a compensation assessment.
Surveying the competitive landscape and seeing how employee skills are defined by salaries and benefits will give you a benchmark on how you rank amongst your industry.
The American Institute of Architects reports a diminishing licensure rates among young professionals, which contributes to this need for increased awareness of human capital.
Working with the built community, we see that compensation assessments are guideposts to enable architects and engineers to make the most beneficial decisions when it comes to your employees’ salaries, incentive plans, and benefits. Not only will it assist you in retaining talent, it will also be a key when you are looking to hire and retain the best and brightest.
Having your professional advisors to help you navigate this territory, you can be one step ahead of the changing landscape in the talent acquisition process.
