A/E Industry lacks planning, but still spending large on hiring

Zweig Group recently released the 2017 Recruitment & Retention Survey of Architecture, Engineering, Planning and Environmental Consulting Firms.  The survey found that the average firm is spending a significant amount on new hires, even at average turnover rates, yet may not be budgeting appropriately. 

Only 30 percent of firms who responded to the survey have an HR/Recruiting budget.  Sixty-five percent of industry firms have in-house hiring/recruitment staff, with 25 percent reporting their hiring needs are beyond the scope of this staff. 

Zweig Group’s director of executive search, Randy Wilburn, says firms can determine how much to budget for recruiting based on their needs, staff turnover rates, and growth projections. 

“For instance, if a company currently has 200 people and an average turnover rate of 8-10 percent (industry average), it can expect to lose 16-20 people each year. If that firm wants to grow by 15 percent annually, it will need to hire 30 people, plus make up for the 16-20 that will likely be lost through attrition.  This equates to a total of 46-50 people the firm needs to hire over a 12-month period,” he says. 

Hiring in this industry takes on average between 30 and 60 days, and firms spend on average $4,454 on each new hire. 

Using the numbers above, that 200-person firm is probably spending around $200,000 per year on new hires alone (not including salaries or bonuses)!

Firms are not spending significantly on the search phase of hiring, with word of mouth/referrals reported as the greatest source of new hires for the industry and internet advertising following closely behind (24 percent). 

For more information on this survey visit: zweiggroup.com/surveys.