Rewards that Resonate: Today’s AEC Firm Total Rewards Strategies-Total Rewards that Resonate Today’s AEC Firm Total Rewards Strategies Slides

Total Rewards that Resonate Today’s AEC Firm Total Rewards Strategies Slides

Pdf Summary

This confidential presentation by The Environmental Financial Consulting Group (EFCG) addresses enhancing employee experience and total rewards strategies within the architecture, engineering, and consulting (AEC) industry for 2025.<br /><br />Key points include:<br /><br />1. Talent Challenges: Talent remains the top growth constraint for AEC firms. Turnover rates are near historic highs, with voluntary turnover at 9%—higher than most of the 2010-2020 period. New hire rates are also at elevated levels (~17%), highlighting ongoing hiring activity.<br /><br />2. Impact of Turnover: Turnover is costly, estimated between $50K-$150K per employee, affecting productivity, billable time, quality, morale, trust, loyalty, and reputation. Positive employee experience reduces turnover risk.<br /><br />3. Total Rewards Importance: Dissatisfaction with total rewards causes 40% of employee departures, while 45% stay because of benefits. Total rewards encompass salary, bonuses (short-term and long-term), retirement benefits, PTO, wellness, and ancillary benefits. Firms spend about 13% of net revenue on fringe benefits and 5.6% on PTO costs.<br /><br />4. EFCG Talent Lifecycle Framework: Total rewards and culture are central to employee experience, supported by talent management, career pathing, transition planning, acquisition, and onboarding. Culture includes shared values, DEI efforts, mentoring, and hybrid work policies.<br /><br />5. Trends in Benefits: Firms increasingly offer inclusive, expanded parental leave policies, PTO bank programs, and wellness benefits as standard. Notably, 67% of employees would accept a pay cut for better mental wellness support.<br /><br />6. Compensation Trends: Compensation is rising due to inflation and competition for talent, with a focus on increasing bonuses. Short-term bonuses average 4.5% of net revenue, and firms are promoting long-term incentives.<br /><br />7. EFCG Expertise: EFCG provides extensive industry benchmarking, surveys, consulting, and data analytics to help firms optimize talent and compensation strategies.<br /><br />Recommendations include prioritizing total rewards and culture, benchmarking compensation and benefits, expanding ancillary benefits, conducting employee engagement surveys, and staying abreast of legal and industry trends through conferences.<br /><br />Contact information for Julie Hasiba, Managing Partner, Talent & Compensation, and upcoming EFCG conferences are provided for further engagement.

Keywords

Employee Experience

Total Rewards

AEC Industry

Talent Challenges

Turnover Costs

Compensation Trends

Benefits Expansion

EFCG Talent Lifecycle Framework

Employee Engagement

Workplace Culture