July 2014

COMMUNITIES: PRIVATE PRACTICE
Private Practice PEs Share Their Perspectives

The majority of members in NSPE’s Professional Engineers in Private Practice believe that the image of the engineer is positive and report that their firms support professional engineering licensure in a variety of ways, according to a new survey.

More than 760 PEPP members participated in the 2014 PEPP Interest Group survey conducted in April, sharing their observations and opinions on topics such as career satisfaction, leadership opportunities, and the image of the profession.

Survey participant Sheila Williams, P.E., believes that most people highly value the role that engineers play in society. Yet, the engineering community can do more to get the message out on exactly how engineers protect the public’s health and safety. “PEs need to be more adept at letting the public know that engineers designed this item or that item, especially in the civil engineering world,” says the project engineer from Choctaw, Mississippi. “There is still a large part of the public that doesn’t understand that it takes an engineer to design every item they come into contact in their daily lives such as roads and bridges.”

Leadership Opportunities
The majority of survey participants said that they have ample opportunities to rise up the leadership ranks within their firms—23% strongly agreed and 37% agreed. More than 70% also said that their firms provide in-house professional development. However, when asked if their firms provide formal executive leadership training and/or a mentoring and career coaching, only 37% said that their firm had a formal leadership training or mentoring program.

Williams works for a small firm where leadership training and mentoring is provided informally. “It has been my experience that to move up into the leadership level, you have to take the initiative to pick an existing executive leader as a mentor to obtain the training to advance in the firm,” she says.

PEPP members who work for firms with formal leadership and mentorship programs have received a career boost from participating in these programs. Joe Walter’s firm Professional Service Industries Inc. provides a leadership training program for its employees. The firm, which has locations across the nation, provides a project manager certification program that offers courses on topics such as client maintenance, business development, accounting, and human resources. “It’s a pretty well rounded program that gets you to the point where you can become a department manager in a relatively short time,” says Walters, who works in the firm’s Lansing, Michigan, office.

The vast majority of participants (96%) stated that their firm supports PE licensure. How do these firms support licensure? Firms show their support in the following ways according to PEPP members:

• Pays/reimburses for exam fees and study courses—69%
• Provides paid time off for exam reviews and taking the exam—47%
• Incentives/bonuses for obtaining a PE license—43%
• Pays/reimburses for continuing education courses—80%
• Pays/reimburses for NSPE/state society/local chapter memberships—80%

PEPP Executive Board Chair Eric West’s firm Parkhill, Smith & Cooper covers a percentage of some of the costs for society membership in addition to providing a formal leadership training program. He has seen how it has made a huge difference for professional engineers to advance in the firm. “Nearly five years ago, my firm implemented a leadership academy that has a group of our employees every year based on application submissions,” says West, who works in Midland, Texas. “It came about as part of our strategic planning that we needed more of that leadership training to occur and it’s really working well.”

Firm Performance and Employment Opportunities
Some private practice firms have experienced an upward trend with business profits within the last year. Nearly 43% of participants said that profits at their firms increased while 35% said that profits stayed the same and 22% stated their firms experienced a decrease in profits. Only 30% of participants reported that their firms have expanded into new business markets this year. Nearly 30% of participant said that their firm has opened a new office or acquired another company within the past 12 months, while 71% said no.

How are employment opportunities at private practice firms shaping up for this year? When asked if their firms will be increasing hiring of PEs and/or EITs, 34% of participants said their firms will be hiring, 30% said no, and 35% aren’t sure. Nearly 35% said that their firms will be hiring recent grads while 31% said no and 34% aren’t sure.

When asked if their company is experiencing or will experience engineer shortages in the next five years due to retirements, 6% of participants strongly agreed and 27% agreed while 36% neither agreed nor disagreed, 18% disagreed, and 5% strongly disagreed.

Ethics
Nearly 75% of PEPP members strongly agreed that ethical behavior is encouraged in their firms, while 23% agreed. Yet, when asked if their firm had a program for reporting ethical misconduct, only 49% participants stated that their firm had a program while 51% answered no.

Williams’ firm doesn’t have a formal program for reporting ethical misconduct due to its size. She doesn’t believe that this has a negative effect on the culture of her firm. “Our firm makes a special effort to hire good, ethical employees, but has the proper procedures in place to handle any problems that might arise,” she says.

Walter’s firm maintains a program for reporting ethics issues in addition to monthly meetings at each office to discuss issues around safety, quality, and ethics. “It’s at the forefront of what we do. Our mission statement says that we want to provide high quality service and do it ethically,” he says. “We don’t cut corners and we make sure that what we are doing is aboveboard all of the time.”

Who responded to the survey?

98% Licensed PEs

57% Age 56+

5% Age 26-35

8% Female

52% Civil Engineering Discipline

12% Electrical Discipline

12% Mechanical Discipline

66% Employed-Full Time

20% Self-employed

58% Firm owner or principal/partner

Your firm provides a competitive salary and generous benefits.

Strongly agree 29.5%
Agree 42.3%
Neither Agree nor Disagree 22.4%
Disagree 4.6%
Strongly Disagree 1.1%

My firm provides in-house professional development.

Yes 70.2%
No 29.8%

My firm provides ample opportunities to rise up the leadership ranks.

Strongly agree 23.5%
Agree 36.9%
Neither Agree nor Disagree 31%
Disagree 6.7%
Strongly Disagree 2.1%

My firm will be increasing its hiring of PEs and/or EITs this year.

Yes 34.3%
No 30.7%
Not sure 35%

My company is experiencing or will experience engineer shortages in the next 5 years due to retirements.

Strongly agree 6.4%
Agree 27.1%
Neither Agree nor Disagree 36.3%
Disagree 17.8%
Strongly Disagree 5.3%