AEC firms risk falling behind when workforce policies stay the same while employee expectations keep moving.
Five years can be a long time in workforce strategy. When comparing data from the 2020 and 2025 editions of Zweig Group's Policies, Procedures + Benefits Report, the share of participating AEC firms with a recruiting or HR budget was 21 percentage points higher in the 2025 edition. The median HR spending benchmark per employee was also more than 40% higher.
That shift suggests firms are putting more structure, money, and attention behind the way they attract, support, and retain employees. And when the market moves that quickly, policies that once worked can rapidly become outdated.
There’s rarely a clear moment when a benefit stops being competitive or a recruiting practice stops working. The handbook still looks complete. The benefits package still seems reasonable. Candidates continue to apply, and most employees stay. Nothing appears obviously broken, but that’s what makes outdated policies so expensive.
The effects often show up indirectly: Positions take longer to fill, employees leave for reasons leadership struggles to explain, and candidates choose firms whose policies better reflect what they’re looking for.
Employee expectations around benefits have changed
The traditional benefits package hasn’t disappeared, but what employees expect from it has broadened.
Health insurance, retirement plans, and paid time off still matter, but employees today are also paying attention to mental health, family responsibilities, flexibility, and overall well-being. Benefits that once helped a firm stand out can gradually become part of the baseline.
Employee assistance programs are one example. Across the 2020 and 2025 report editions, the share of participating firms offering an EAP increased by 16 percentage points. These programs can connect employees with confidential support for stress, family concerns, financial challenges, workplace conflicts, and mental health needs. What may once have been viewed as an optional benefit has become a much more common part of the AEC employment package.
Leave policies also show why firms need more than a simple yes-or-no comparison. Two firms may both offer parental leave while providing very different amounts of paid time, unpaid time, eligibility requirements, and access to other benefits. The policy name matters less than what employees can actually use, and that depends on whether the benefit is affordable, clearly communicated, and easy to access.
HR is playing a bigger role in development and retention
Benefits aren’t the only area that has changed. Firms are also giving HR a broader role in employee development. Between the 2020 and 2025 report editions, the share of firms making HR responsible for training increased by 27 percentage points, while responsibility for career development rose by 16 percentage points.
That suggests more firms are treating development as a coordinated workforce strategy rather than leaving it entirely to informal conversations between employees and managers. Employees want to understand how they’ll build skills, receive mentoring, advance into new roles, and prepare for leadership.
A firm may offer tuition reimbursement or approve an occasional conference and still fall behind competitors with more structured development programs. Without current benchmarks, leaders may not realize how far the market has moved.
Internal comparisons can hide growing workforce gaps
Many firms judge their workforce practices against their own history. Leaders point out that salaries have increased, benefits have expanded, or policies are more generous than they were several years ago. And that progress does matter – but it doesn’t answer the most important question: How does the firm compare with the market today?
A policy doesn’t have to get worse to become less competitive. The market only has to improve around it.
That’s especially risky when a firm’s policies have evolved gradually and informally. One employee negotiates an exception, another receives a different answer from a manager, and a third discovers that a written policy no longer reflects how the firm actually operates. Over time, those inconsistencies can weaken trust and make employees less confident that decisions about pay, leave, advancement, and flexibility are being made fairly.
The answer isn’t to chase every trend or add every benefit a competitor offers. Firms need workforce practices that fit their people, finances, and business strategy. But those decisions should be based on current industry data, not assumptions carried forward from a different labor market.
Current benchmarking matters more than ever
The 2025 data offers a useful look at how AEC workforce practices have changed, but it’s already aging. That’s why Zweig Group has combined the former Policies, Procedures + Benefits and Recruitment + Retention surveys into the new 2026 Workforce Policies + Practices Survey.
Benefits, compensation, recruiting, retention, and employee development all shape the employee experience. Bringing them together into one streamlined survey and one comprehensive report gives leaders a clearer view of their workforce strategy and helps reveal gaps that internal comparisons may miss.
Policies don’t have to be visibly broken to create problems. They only have to remain unchanged while the market moves around them. Current benchmarking helps firms replace assumptions with evidence and make more intentional decisions about what should change next.
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Kyle Ahern is manager of Data and Analytics at Zweig Group. Contact him at kahern@zweiggroup.com. |