How Companies Can Support Continuing Education While Retaining Engineering Talent
According to a survey conducted by the Harris Poll, lack of career development opportunities is the second most common reason employees chose to leave their workplace.
If your company is looking to reduce turnover rates and retain your engineering talent, one of the best investments you can make is helping your employees upskill through continuing education. Upskilling helps address the expanding skills gap, ensuring your engineers’ develop the necessary new skills that will ultimately ensure organizational success.
Benefits of upskilling
Committing to your employees’ continuing education is an investment, but this investment can more than pay for itself over time, creating more satisfied employees as well as a healthier workplace.
1. Helps employees—and the organization overall—stay current and competitive
The rise of digital technologies is quickly creating new demands and challenges throughout the engineering field. It’s estimated that at least half of today’s engineers will need to learn new skills to keep up.
And it’s not just hard skills like designing for additive manufacturing with metals (though that’s a great skill to invest in). Upskilling through continuing education can also help your employees develop valuable soft skills such as:
- Working as a cross-functional team member
- Project management
- Communication and writing
- Leadership
2. Reduces turnover
Supporting your employees with career development opportunities is one of the best ways to keep them satisfied with their position. And while helping your current employees upskill can be a significant investment, it also tends to be cheaper than constantly recruiting, hiring, and training new engineers. Why?
- Minimizing employee turnover preserves your company’s knowledge base.
- Training new employees up to the same level of knowledge can take years.
- Employees who feel supported are more likely to stay—and progress—within your company.
3. Increases employee satisfaction and engagement
Engineers who feel that their current employers are supportive of their future career development tend to be more productive and focused in their roles within the company.
That can not only increase the quality of work they produce but can also make it easier to attract new employees through referrals.
Happy employees are more likely to recommend their place of work to friends and professional contacts, and these referrals can be a valuable source of qualified new employees.
Surveys have shown that 82% of employers feel they receive a better return on investment when they hire through employee referrals rather than through other means.
4. Maintains licensure
Ongoing education may also be required in order for your engineers to maintain their licensure. If your company employs professional engineers (PEs) who have passed the Principles and Practice of Engineering Exam, it’s likely that these employees are required by your state board to earn regular Professional Development Hour (PDH) credits in order to maintain their license.
Helping your employees cover the cost of PDH courses (or allowing them paid time off in order to complete them) is a great way to show your engineers that you value their experience and professional development.
It may be tempting to limit this training to only the bare essentials needed for a position, but keep in mind that a more well-rounded engineer is more likely to serve your company well in the future. An employee who can develop critical soft skills such as communication and project management can easily become one of your company’s future leaders.
Opportunities for Continuing Education
If your company is looking to provide employees with more robust learning and development opportunities, ASME has a number of resources to help your engineers learn and master new skills.
In-Person Courses
Instructor-led courses offer the benefits of expert guidance and a more structured learning experience. However, these courses can sometimes present logistical barriers to entry for busy engineers, especially if they’re being provided in person.
In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, a growing number of training courses have now moved fully online, which provides engineers options for how to pursue their continuing education.
Virtual Classrooms
Guided Study Courses
Other learning options for your engineers
Self Study Courses
These learning opportunities allow engineers to learn new skills and concepts at their own pace in a way that fits with the unique demands of their schedules.
Corporate Training
Are you ready to take your engineering career to the next level?
And just as importantly: what skills do you need to get there?
Over the years, we've realized that the way that people actually learn is in peer-to-peer discussion, conversations with mentors and coaches, and through real-world application. That's why we've created a new practical resource, The Engineer’s Guide to Getting Ahead, Choosing PDH Courses, to help engineers navigate the next steps in their career path.
An investment in your engineers’ continuing education is also an investment in the success of your company. Learn how companies can show their support for upskilling by downloading this helpful free guide today.
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