Best Practices

SE3 Best Practices

Findings from the 2016 survey on engagement and equity in the structural engineering profession indicated that there are a variety of areas where significant improvements are needed in our profession. These areas include career development, transparency in pay and benefits, and work-life balance. Publishing the results of the survey is important to bring awareness to the current situation in our field of practice. However, the task of the SE3 committee is to go a step further and recommend best practices for achieving the goal of engagement and equity for all. The Best Practices Resource Guide provides a collection of actionable steps that can be taken by engineers at all levels, from entry level to principals, to move toward this goal.

Best Practice 1A
Business Management Training

What to know

Managers need business management training in topics such as effective communication, workflow management, how to motivate staff, and strategies to work with different types of people.

The 2016 SE3 survey results show that people who left the profession cited “poor management” as one of their top reasons for leaving.

Good management skills can positively impact productivity, performance and overall employee morale.

What to do
Firm Management

Firms should invest in management training.
Firms should require managers as well as individuals interested in management to participate in business management training.
Firm management should assign managers to a variety of projects and project teams to cultivate diverse experience.

Managers

Connect with other successful managers, find a mentor, educate themselves.
Seek additional management training opportunities outside the firm.
Host monthly discussion with other managers to share experiences.

Best Practice 1B
Performance Review Process

What to know

There is a disconnect between how managers and staff perceive expectations and opportunities for advancement.

The 2016 SE3 survey results show that, compared to entry staff/entry level engineers, principals/owners are 32% more likely to agree or strongly agree that expectations for advancement are effectively communicated in their firms.

Improving the performance review process can help bridge the gap between management and staff.
Stages in the performance review process may be vulnerable to implicit bias.

What to Do

Assess and improve your performance review process.
In an individual’s performance review, collect input from supervisors, peers, and staff reporting to the individual.
Normalize reviews across all disciplines and departments.
During performance reviews, be specific—qualitatively and quantitatively—about improvement requirements and timelines.
Provide real-time constructive criticism and positive recognition.

Best Practice 2
Align Daily Tasks with Career Goals

What to know

Having daily tasks that align with career objectives contributes greatly to career satisfaction.

The 2016 SE3 survey results found that across all age groups and genders, one of the factors that correlated most strongly with career satisfaction was having daily tasks that align with career objectives.

What to do

Supervisors should encourage employees to set reasonable goals that are specific, measureable, and time bound, then assign tasks that help employees achieve those goals.
Strive to give consistent feedback with recognition and reward or constructive criticism, where required, so that employees feel valued and can grow.
Link daily work to overall company goals so that employees are engaged within the company framework.

Best Practice 3
Mentorship

What to know

Mentorship bolsters confidence, self-esteem, and expands networking opportunities.

According to the 2016 SE3 survey results, respondents with identified mentors reported being more satisfied with career trajectory and career choice. Specifically, 83% of respondents with mentors reported being satisfied, while only 67% of respondents without mentors reported being satisfied.

Mentorship ensures higher engagement and retention.

The 2016 SE3 survey results highlight that respondents without mentors were 22% more likely to considering leaving the profession than respondents with mentors.

Mentorship challenges staff to aim for ambitious goals.

The 2016 SE3 survey results show that respondents with mentors were more likely to aspire to principal positions than respondents without mentors. Specifically, 41% of women and 35% of men with mentors aspired to be principals.

Mentorship fosters effective communication and bridges the knowledge gap between staff and management.

The 2016 SE3 survey results identify poor management (e.g. unclear directions, misaligned tasks, and lack of recognition/appreciation) as one of the top reasons people leave structural engineering.

What to do
Firm Management

Firm management should identify areas that require improvement (e.g. retention rate, engagement, etc.) and set up a mentorship process targeted at achieving these goals.
Firms should develop a fluid mentorship process that allows flexibility in choosing and changing mentors to help identify the right pair of mentor and mentee.
A multi-layered mentorship process should be promoted by the management that allows a mentee to create his or her own board of mentors, such as buddy/peer mentors, career mentors, life mentors, etc.

To cultivate a diverse group of mentors, management should develop and promote an inclusive pool of leaders who appreciate cultural differences and understand the implications personal and professional values have on the work environment.

Mentors

Mentors should be available, be accessible, be willing to share knowledge, provide constructive feedback, and set a good example for the mentee.

Mentees

Mentees should pair with a mentor through self-assessment of strengths, personalities, and developmental needs. Mentees should find time, take the lead, and develop a process to connect regularly with mentors to ensure that the relationship is organic and reciprocal.
Mentees should connect with mentors outside of their organization and work to build sponsorship relationships that provide advocacy in addition to guidance.

Best Practice 4
Burnout

What to know

Burnout is real. The more hours an engineer works, the more likely he or she is to consider leaving the profession.

According to the 2016 SE3 survey, for each additional hour worked per week over 40, the odds of an employee considering leaving the profession were 4% higher.

Consistent weekly workloads in excess of 40 hours can lead to greater absenteeism, dissatisfaction with compensation and work-life balance, and can reduce productivity.

According to the 2016 SE3 survey, satisfaction with pay and benefits decreased as the number of hours worked each week increased.

People who are compensated for overtime are more satisfied with certain aspects of their career.

According to the 2016 SE3 survey results, being compensated for overtime correlates with significantly higher satisfaction with pay/compensation and work-life balance as compared to respondents who are not compensated for overtime.

This article from HR Morning notes the possible negative effects of burnout:
How many of your employees are suffering from burnout?

What to do
Firm Management

Curb the culture of long hours. Monitor hours worked by all staff. Consistently long hours should not be expected, required, or encouraged by managers. Project managers should discuss with staff how overtime hours can be reduced. Encourage employees to request help if a task is foreseeably going to require excessive or consistent overtime.
Managers should focus on quality of work, not just quantity. Managers should build a team culture of recognition for results rather than for extra hours spent at the office.
Firm management should adopt policies that improve engagement during times when long hours must occur, such as overtime pay or comp time.
Management should encourage staff to use vacation time and to get out of the office during lunch hour.

Firm management and project managers should discuss and agree upon expectations with employees for being connected and checking emails outside of work hours.

All Levels

Managers and staff at all levels should limit unnecessary meetings and make invitations optional for those whose presence is not required.

Best Practice 5
Gender Pay Gap

What to know

There is a significant pay gap between women and men at almost every level of employment in the structural engineering profession.

Out of 1,401 men and 553 women who provided pay data in the 2016 SE3 survey, women reported making $27,500 per year less than men, on average.

The gender pay gap widens significantly starting at the senior engineer/project manager level.

The 2016 SE3 survey found that a $9,000 pay gap was present for senior engineers/project managers, a $12,000 pay gap was present for associates/shareholders, and a $52,000 pay gap was present for principals/owners.

Pay satisfaction is perceived differently by gender.

According to the 2016 SE3 survey results, pay/compensation was ranked third by women and the top reason by men when asked for reasons to consider leaving the structural engineering profession. For those who left the profession, women rated pay/compensation sixth, while men ranked it first amongst the factors leading to their exit.

Complying with local labor laws (i.e. equal pay for equal work) does not capture potential disparities in rate of advancement. Correlating income against a measure of experience, as opposed to position level, may reveal issues related to how quickly men and women advance, or inequities in the performance review process.

What to do
Firm Management

Firm management should conduct annual company-wide pay audits to evaluate differences in pay that may be due to implicit biases based on gender.
Firm management should find ways to reduce gender bias while determining promotions and raises during the final review process, such as determining raises solely by review points earned.
Firm management should consider standardizing salaries by establishing a set salary range based on position, competency, and location which is adjusted based on performance.
Firm management should maintain transparency in employee salary ranges and encourage employees to raise questions or concerns on the compensation offered to them.
Firm management should implement flexibility practices to help ensure that those employees who are taking care of children (often women) are not financially penalized for taking on that responsibility, provided that their productivity is maintained.

Refer to Best Practice 6 and Best Practice 7

Firm management should not request salary histories from candidates during the hiring process. This would ensure that the salary being offered is based on candidature and performance during the interview and not extrapolated from previous compensations.

Employee

Employees should do their research to be aware of appropriate salary range at a specific level.
Employees should focus on developing negotiation skills from training programs, articles and colleagues. When negotiating, reflect upon abilities, emphasize common goals, and maintain a positive attitude during the hiring/review process.

Best Practice 6
Flexibility Benefits

What to know

Desired flexibility benefits (such as working remotely, flexible hours, reduced hours, and maternity/paternity leave) are often not offered by employers.

According to the 2016 SE3 survey results, the biggest discrepancies in benefits that were offered versus those that were desired were weekly schedule flexibility and parental leave with full benefits.

Flexibility benefits that are offered by companies are often not used by employees.

A “flexibility stigma” exists which may cause employees who use flexibility benefits to advance at a slower rate, receive smaller or fewer raises, and be given less meaningful projects.

Some respondents to the 2016 SE3 survey expressed criticism of their peers who choose to use flexibility benefits. Criticisms included perceived reduction of productivity, decreased motivation, decreased accountability to clients and significant inconvenience to other staff.

What to do
Firm Management

Firm management should solicit input from employees regarding which flexibility benefits are desired, and then offer them (e.g.working remotely, flexible hours, and/or reduced hours).

Study showing that increased flexibility benefits alleviates employee stress about balancing family with work and improves employee happiness, health, loyalty, and productivity.

Management should assure staff that using flexibility benefits will not negatively affect their career trajectory or project assignments.
Create materials detailing the company’s flexible working policies so employees have something to refer to in discussions with supervisors and colleagues.
Update performance metrics to explicitly detail the impact (or lack thereof) of utilizing the various flexibility benefits.

Best Practice 7
Employees with Children

What to know

There is a negative stigma against employees with children. Engineers with children advance at a slower rate than engineers without children.

The 2016 SE3 survey found that people with children often experience stigmas and career setbacks.

Employees who have children are some of the most satisfied with their career, so it is beneficial to the overall satisfaction of the workforce for an employer to retain these employees.

Having children was one of the factors most highly correlated with overall job satisfaction in the 2016 SE3 study.

It is critical that policies are mindful of being fair and equitable to employees both with and without children/dependents.

What to do

Firms should create an office culture that eliminates stigmas associated with those employees who have children or dependents. This culture starts from the top down and can be as simple as the attitude that upper management has towards staff that utilize flexibility benefits such as reduced hours, working from home, and flexible working hours.
In acknowledging that there is often a stigma associated with having children, firms should be mindful of providing equitable project distribution and advancement opportunities to all staff.
If state laws require a certain length of parental leave, firms should consider policies that may be longer than those mandated by these laws.
In order to be effective at reducing stigmas, company policies must be fair and equitable to employees both with and without children so that there is never a real or perceived preferential treatment among employees.

Best Practice 8
Internal Engagement Survey

What to do

Execute a comprehensive internal employee engagement survey to understand what matters the most to your employees, and to identify key employee engagement priorities
Solicit feedback from your employees on a regular basis to gain a better understanding of how they are doing or feeling at any given point in time
You may considering including questions associated with the following metrics: employee satisfaction, career advancement opportunities, work-life balance, areas of improvement, feedback on performance, recognition, alignment of daily tasks and responsibilities with career goals, work culture and environment, core values of leadership and management team.

Best Practice 9
Hire and Retain a Diverse Workplace

What to know

Diversity is inclusive of race, gender, age, sexual orientation, experience, etc.
A more diverse workplace can foster creativity, innovation, and a better understanding of a wider range of clients.
Identifying and assessing workplace diversity issues are key to developing and implementing effective diversity plans.

5 Reasons Why Workplace Diversity Is Good For Business

What to do

Management to acknowledge and communicate benefits of diversity to all employees.

Management to eliminate biased language from job postings and to encourage diverse candidates to apply for positions.

Firms to periodically monitor workplace and new hire diversity ratios.
Implement training to acknowledge and reduce the effects of unconscious bias.

Create and sustain a healthy workplace culture.

SE3 Best Practices

Best Practice 1A
Business Management Training

Related articles/sites:

Best Practice 1B
Performance Review Process

Related articles/sites:

Best Practice 2
Align Daily Tasks with Career Goals

Related articles/sites:

Best Practice 3
Mentorship

Related articles/sites:

Best Practice 4
Burnout

Related articles/sites:

Best Practice 5
Gender Pay Gap

Related articles/sites:

Best Practice 6
Flexibility Benefits

Related articles/sites:

Best Practice 7
Employees with Children

Related articles/sites:

Best Practice 8
Internal Engagement Survey

Best Practice 9
Hire and Retain a Diverse Workplace

Related articles/sites:

SE3 Best Practices

Best Practice 1ABusiness Management Training

Related articles/sites:

Best Practice 1B Performance Review Process

Related articles/sites:

Best Practice 2Align Daily Tasks with Career Goals

Related articles/sites:

Best Practice 3 Mentorship

Related articles/sites:

Best Practice 4Burnout

Related articles/sites:

Best Practice 5Gender Pay Gap

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Best Practice 6Flexibility Benefits

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Best Practice 7Employees with Children

Related articles/sites:

Best Practice 8Internal Engagement Survey

Best Practice 9Hire and Retain a Diverse Workplace

Related articles/sites:

Best Practice 1A
Business Management Training

Best Practice 1B
Performance Review Process

Best Practice 2
Align Daily Tasks with Career Goals

Best Practice 3
Mentorship

Best Practice 4
Burnout

Best Practice 5
Gender Pay Gap

Best Practice 6
Flexibility Benefits

Best Practice 7
Employees with Children

Best Practice 8
Internal Engagement Survey

Best Practice 9
Hire and Retain a Diverse Workplace