A closer look reveals hiring and retention pressures demanding smarter, people-focused strategies.
Hiring in the AEC industry has become a lot like speed dating – everyone’s hoping for the one. Sure, there are success stories, but there are also a lot more people walking away with more questions than answers. Finding and keeping talent in the AEC industry has never been more challenging. Firms are competing for a shrinking pool of candidates, and, even when they bring someone on board, turnover pressures remain high.
The stakes are clear. People are the engine that drives growth, profitability, and long-term success.
Zweig Group’s 2025 Recruitment & Retention Report shines a light on how firms are navigating this reality – telling us where the AEC industry is headed by highlighting what’s working and what’s not. For leaders who want to make smarter, data-informed decisions about talent, this report is more than research. It’s a roadmap to success.
I want to take a closer look at just one small piece of the full report: the chapter focusing on “People and Practices.” I want to zoom in on the workforce challenges AEC firms are facing every day – things like bad hires, turnover trends, training, benefits, and transparency. The complete report spans the entire spectrum of recruitment and retention, but this section offers a powerful snapshot of how firms are managing the human side of the business, and why those insights matter for the future of your firm.
One theme that stands out with a closer analysis is just how difficult it has become to make the right hire. Nearly four in five AEC firms reported making bad hires in the past three years. These are hires that didn’t last, didn’t perform, or simply just weren’t the right fit. The reasons range from candidates overstating their technical skills, to poor cultural alignment, to firms rushing the process to cover urgent project needs.
However, the problem isn’t just about missteps in the hiring process. In equal parts it’s about the scarcity of qualified candidates. Civil engineers, architects, and interior designers are amongst the most challenging to find, making competition fierce. Smaller firms are struggling to match the salaries and benefits offered by larger competitors, while others face mismatched timing between when talent is needed and when candidates are available. Simply finding candidates is in itself a hurdle, forcing firms to use proactive outreach to source qualified people.
Hiring in the AEC industry has undergone a monumental shift. It has moved from being a routine business activity to a strategic challenge that demands foresight, creativity, and a commitment to better screening and onboarding. Firms that fail to adapt put themselves at risk of repeating the costly cycle of bad hires over and over again.
Still more, bringing in talent is just half of the battle – keeping them is proving to be just as much of a challenge. Our data shows that the median overall turnover rate is around 13%, but that number varies dramatically depending on the firm type and their financial performance. Environmental consulting firms are experiencing the steepest challenge with a median turnover of 19%. More glaringly, firms operating at a loss see that number skyrocketing above 40%.
It’s not just the volume of turnover that should be considered a challenge. The type matters just as much. Voluntary departures outpace involuntary ones by a wide margin, which suggests that many employees are leaving for what they see as better opportunities elsewhere. For smaller firms, even a single departure can have an outsized impact, disrupting project teams and straining client relationships.
Turnover is more than a staffing headache, though. It’s a profitability issue. High churn increases recruiting costs, stretches existing staff thin, and can ultimately hamper a firm’s ability to grow. The lesson is straightforward. Firms that invest in retention strategies through culture, benefits, or leadership development are better positioned to maintain stability and momentum.
While salary and benefits are effective in getting people through the door, they aren’t always what makes them stay. Data shows that most firms are leaning into community and culture to strengthen employee engagement. Nearly 90 percent of AEC firms donate to charities and encourage staff to participate in volunteer activities from Habitat for Humanity builds to river cleanups. However, these initiatives are more than goodwill gestures. They create opportunities for employees to connect with each other and with the broader mission of the firm.
Recognition, on the other hand, is a mixed bag. While 60% of firms formally acknowledge employees’ involvement in philanthropy through internal communications, only a small percentage tie that recognition to tangible rewards like bonuses or gifts. This gap highlights a growing opportunity. Employees increasingly expect their work lives to connect with purpose, and firms that make that connection visible and meaningful gain an edge in retention.
Taken together, these trends paint the picture of an industry at a turning point. Hiring is harder, turnover is higher, and employees are expecting more than ever before. Training, engagement, flexibility, and transparency aren’t just nice to have. They’re competitive differentiators in a labor market defined by scarcity.
The reality is that recruiting and retention challenges ripple across every part of a business. High turnover strains profitability, weak hiring undermines culture, and weak engagement erodes client service. In this landscape, firms that invest intentionally in people strategies position themselves for stronger growth, resilience, and long-term success.
The talent equation is shifting. Leaders can’t afford to navigate by guesswork. The insights from Zweig Group’s 2025 Recruitment & Retention Report offer a data-driven roadmap to help firms benchmark their practices, identify blind spots, and make smarter decisions about their most critical resource – their people.
Whether it’s understanding where hiring bottlenecks happen, how turnover compares to peers, or which benefits are moving the needle. This report equips firms with actionable intelligence. Don’t let talent challenges be a barrier to your firm’s growth.
Access the 2025 Recruitment & Retention Report today and give your firm the insight it needs to attract, engage, and retain the people who make success possible.
Kyle Ahern is manager of Data and Analytics at Zweig Group. Contact him at kahern@zweiggroup.com.
