Engineering Inc. - November/December 2007 - (Page 20) Challenges Of an Aging Workforce By Stacy Collett C 20 ENGINEERING INC. NovEmbER / DECEmbER 2007 A pending wave of retirements, coupled with a shortage of engineering grads, is changing the industry landscape indi Polychronis doesn’t need graphs or charts to convince her that today’s engineering workforce is trending older. The senior vice president and director of human resources at design firm David Evans and Associates, Inc., only has to look around the company’s offices for confirmation. At one office, many of the employees are retired government engineers, “and many of them work part time,” she explains. While some firms regard the trend with concern, even alarm, Polychronis looks on the bright side. “They’re enjoying what they do enough to keep doing it. Plus, it allows for great knowledge transfer” among the firm’s 1,000 employees in eight states, she says. decline of engineering graduates is forcing firms to scramble for qualified staff. Throw in a growing number of recent retirees who want to return to work part time or on their own terms, and you have a generational mix never before seen in the industry. For many engineering firms, there’s no smooth line connecting the number of new employees to veterans nearing retirement. The bumps and gaps represent an uneven workforce where baby boomers are set to retire, the ranks of professionals with 10 years of experience are dwindling and a STOCK4B-RF/GeTTy ImaGeS
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