“N o single thing created the workforce shortage, so no single thing can fix it.”
That was the recurring theme throughout the inaugural Engineering and Public Works Workforce Summit, held in April at ACEC’s Washington, D.C., headquarters. Part discovery process, part intensive brainstorming session, the Summit gathered nearly four dozen leaders from engineering and public works associations, academia, and government to share their impressions of what is causing the engineering talent shortage and to offer ideas to address it.
For two days, the group held a wide-ranging discussion on what the industry is doing to attract the next generation of engineers and, just as importantly, what we must do to retain and support our current workforce.
To level set, the first day of the Summit was spent identifying the challenges. Both panelists and participants arrived at the same conclusions: the industry needs to be more intentional about attracting young people to engineering, and much of what is being done is being done too late.
The group accepted as a given that talent is everywhere but that access is not equal. That said, panelists and participants alike shared both hard and anecdotal data showing that efforts to bridge the gap in access can yield significant dividends.
That conclusion led to a larger discussion on the vital role of STEM education, scholarships, community colleges, and robust mentorship programs.
But the workforce challenge is not limited to the beginning of the pipeline, and no discussion of the worker shortage would be complete without touching on how to retain existing workers. The workforce shortage is forcing firms to do more work with fewer workers. This comes at a time when younger workers are ascending in their careers and expecting that respect for work-life balance will be a given.
The work-life balance discussion led to a parallel discussion on remote work. A quick show of hands found that the majority of organizations represented at the Summit follow a hybrid model, with three days in the office and two days remote as the most common policy. That flexibility has become nonnegotiable for next-gen workers, but some attendees were concerned that it brings a cultural cost.
Even so, it cannot be stressed enough that work-life balance is one of the top—if not the top—priorities for younger workers. One attendee shared that of 20 potential interns who interviewed with her firm, 18 of them inquired about work-life balance. She went on to say that these young workers were for the most part not insisting on fully remote arrangements; most of them enjoyed the community and collaboration of an office setting. The ask, she said, is that working in the office not be mandatory every day.
The Summit adjourned with a commitment to not only continue collaboration but to formalize it through the creation of an Engineering Workforce Consortium by way of a Memorandum of Understanding. That blueprint will be delivered in the near future.