PSMJ Resources, Inc. is now accepting entries for the AEC Employer of Choice® Award, the industry’s first recognition of firms that are winning employee recruitment and retention battles by achieving superior levels of worker engagement.
“When it comes to talent, it’s a seller’s market right now,” says PSMJ principal Greg Hart. “Architecture and engineering firms have more work than they have people to do it, and firms actively improving how employees connect with colleagues, leaders, projects, and clients are seeing lower turnover and better applicants.”
Unlike most meaningless “best firms to work for” awards, AEC Employer of Choice® selection criteria is based on the results of a 70-factor survey of a firm’s employees, with a high minimum participation ratio to ensure truly representative and accurate data for analysis. Employee responses are kept anonymous to improve candor, but participating firm leaders do receive a custom report for understanding where to close engagement gaps and how to benchmark levels of morale against similar AEC firms.
“For too long, AEC firm principals and leaders have had to rely on anecdotes, gut-feelings, and complaints from the squeakiest wheel to get a sense of the workplace zeitgeist,” says PSMJ Founder Frank Stasiowski, FAIA. “That’s a terrible way to fix problems or make important decisions. With the AEC Employer of Choice 70-factor process, we’ll finally have some data-driven answers about why employees leave, why some underperform, and why it’s so hard for some firms to fill open positions.”
Firms wishing to be considered for the 2019 AEC Employer of Choice® Award simply apply at PSMJ’s website before the June 14, 2019 deadline and, if they meet criteria, receive a link to the online engagement survey. Employees then have until June 28 to submit survey responses directly to PSMJ. Winning firms will be announced at PSMJ’s THRIVE 2019 conference to be held October 2-4 in New Orleans.
Win or lose, all participating firms will receive a confidential Executive Summary Report on the highlights and lowlights of their employee engagement status. Winners also benefit from an “AEC Employer of Choice Winner” virtual medallion for display on their own career site as well as third-party recruiting sites, and public recognition through PSMJ’s extensive digital, print, and social media dissemination channels.
Why should you carve out time from your busy schedule in October to be a part of THRIVE 2019 ? Simply put, no other event inspires, celebrates, and energizes successful firm leaders in the business of architecture, engineering, and construction like this two-day experience. Through inspiring keynotes, action-oriented breakout sessions, and plenty of networking time, you leave with a renewed sense of energy and excitement for the opportunities that lie ahead. When we say that this event has the power to ignite your AEC firm’s growth potential, we mean it. That is why we built THRIVE 2019 around PSMJ’s popular Business Success Model to ensure that we cover virtually every facet of AEC firm management.
