September/October 2017

Communities: Private Practice
Lifting Them Up

An AEC firm’s initiatives to retain female engineers and boost work-life balance is paying off.

Kimley-Horn, a planning, engineering, and design consulting firm, is serving as a model of how AEC firms can improve work environments and career development opportunities for female engineers. The firm, headquartered in Raleigh, North Carolina, was recently recognized on Fortune’s 100 Best Companies to Work For 2017 for its company-wide programs and benefits.

Eight years ago, Kimley-Horn leadership focused on increasing efforts to develop and retain its growing female talent base in addition to fostering a better environment for diversity and young professionals. “We wanted to make sure that we were paying attention and doing all that we could because there were more women coming into engineering and we have more women clients,” says Julie Beauvais, vice president and director of communications.

Kimley-Horn initially established a Women’s Network to offer networking opportunities and strategies for career success. To assist in creating a more welcoming culture for women and underrepresented minorities, the firm also built modules into its training program to address diversity, communication differences, and cultural sensitivities.

When firm leaders later examined the retention gap between men and women, Beauvais says, they realized that more women were leaving the firm at the mid-career point. To help close the gap, the Lasting Impact for Tomorrow (LIFT) initiative was created to increase support for female professionals through career development as well as assist them in achieving a better work-life balance through improved and additional benefits. There were improvements to maternal and parental leave policies; implementation of flexible schedules; a program for back-up childcare; and improved career development programs.

“We know people are starting families and are under pressure to do it all,” says Beauvais. “It’s only been a few years, but we are seeing results. We’ve seen the number of women who are managing sizable practices within our firm increase dramatically since we rolled out this program.”

Although the benefits and programs were initially added to improve retention of women, firm leaders have taken notice that all employees can better achieve a true work-life balance.

When NSPE member Lisa Stone, P.E., started her career at Kimley-Horn, only one of her mentors was a female engineer. Over the course of 20 years, she has seen positive change with the Women’s Network and now with the LIFT initiative. She has been able to network with more women at company shareholder meetings and participates in both formal and casual talks about career paths and goals. After-work activities and a book club in which texts like Sheryl Sandberg’s Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead raise critical discussions are the norm. “The programs have been really effective because they foster engagement with people in other offices across the country,” says the project manager based in the West Palm Beach, Florida, office.

The focus on work-life balance, says Stone, is essential to employees who are going through different phases in their lives, but still want to stay dedicated to the profession. “We are sometimes perfectionists and don’t want to say ‘no’ to things, but sometimes you’ve just got to do that,” she says. “A flexible schedule takes the stress off because I know that I can take care of what I need to at home and when I’m here, I’m focused 100% because I have a team that is depending on me.”

When Jennifer LaFoy, P.E., began her tenure as a water resources project manager in Kimley-Horn’s Irving, Texas, office, she was a new mother. The support of flexible schedules is allowing her to juggle being a mom and a working professional in addition to her participation in NSPE and Texas Society of Professional Engineers’ activities. “The company also offers flexibility with maternity leave so you can come back to work when you’re ready,” says the president of TSPE’s Dallas Chapter. “The benefits are also supportive of fathers, which is helpful because they need flexibility too.” Her husband, Brian LaFoy, P.E., also works out of the Irving office.

Employees also benefit from Kimley-Horn’s unique mentoring strategy, which places emphasis on informal mentoring through a “lunch coupons” program. When an employee is hired, he or she can use up to six coupons a year for five years to take a more senior level colleague to lunch. “You can call up the CEO and say, ‘I want to take you out to lunch,’” says Beauvais. “This allows them to seek support and advice from the people they think will help them the most in their careers.”

The program, says LaFoy, has helped her to maximize her connections and resources. “I’ve been able to meet with colleagues who work on projects closely related to my field in other offices as well as other moms to talk about maintaining a good work-life balance.”