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The New Chapter: Retaining Engineers in the Workplace

The burgeoning job market means our communities will need to recruit talent for years to come. Many companies view this as a challenge and have expressed concern that not enough students are graduating with engineering degrees. However, colleges and universities are seeing breakthroughs in their pervasive low retention rates as they create diverse environments where students can flourish. Installing similar programs within the engineering industry itself will prove vital to industry growth.

Engineering is one of the most difficult undergraduate degrees to pursue, but the difficulty heightens as workplace culture sometimes becomes a barrier for students. According to the American Society for Engineering Education, undergraduates pursuing education in engineering disciplines are at high risk for dropout, with an average rate of 40 to 50%¹. Causes for this dropout have been linked to poor social environments, the inability to keep up with workload, and students who doubt their engineering skill set. For minority groups and women, the Harvard Business Review² states that there seems to be “greater isolation from supportive networks,” due to a “hegemonic masculine culture.” This had led to roughly 40% of women leaving their degree behind.

In addition, many students, especially when they are just starting their undergraduate degrees, begin to doubt their intelligence, and feel they will be unable to perform the work of an engineer despite their rigorous coursework. They feel like they don’t belong in a career where they aren’t comfortable. If students can feel a sense of belonging, they will thrive, so if this isn’t established during college, many students will leave school feeling unsatisfied or unfulfilled by their career choice.

As students enter college, they leave behind their known and comfortable environment and enter quite a challenging environment. Negative surroundings can leave many students feeling like outcasts or that their degree program leaders don’t want them, so they end up changing majors or dropping out of school. One experimental study³ has shown that students do not have to feel uncomfortable within their environment; they can start identifying themselves within engineering. This is done by “doing,” “interacting,” and “sensemaking.”

• “Doing” asks a student to start developing the skills and technical knowledge needed to excel within their career. They are asked to work intentionally and become present in activities that engage with the engineering design process. Students start to feel more comfortable with discovery and building problem-solving capabilities.
• When “interacting” is present, students are asked to network with individuals within the engineering profession and engage with their work. When students interact with professionals in their field, they quickly get a sense of what a future role will entail. This also helps students understand the value of their work. A professional can be an engineer in the field, or it can be one of the students’ professors—individuals they see daily and who will guide them toward feeling passionate about their future careers. Most professors see the talents their students possess and mentor them into successful careers.
• “Sensemaking” is a way for students to combine their personal identity with their professional engineering identity. Most students enter engineering and quickly become overwhelmed by the depth of technical knowledge they lack, which leads to feelings that their personal and professional identities can never be conjoined. But when students become part of something other than education within their campus communities, they quickly learn that engineering isn’t just technical expertise but a way to work with and lead others. Joining a student organization provides opportunities to realize the importance of a diverse working environment and it creates more inclusivity within colleges. Students develop their soft skills often not learned in an engineering course.

Education that incorporates the “doing,” “interacting,” and “sensemaking” are vital to building the next generation of engineering leaders.

The field of engineering needs greater diversity, but with employee morale and retention rates dropping each day, it feels like this diverse culture is on the decline. Innovative R&D has led to exponential growth in the electronics industry, but as companies implement new roles, they aren’t able to keep up with employee demand. This is where integrating “sensemaking” into work cultures may lead to tremendous growth in retention rates. When incorporating “sensemaking,” it is important to create an inclusive environment for employees. Promoting inclusivity in a work environment helps employees feel valued and encourages them to start identifying with their role and their company.

How do you implement it? Here are three ideas:

1. It can be as simple as setting up new employees with a mentor in the company, similar to a student interacting with a professor. This allows co-workers to build professional and trusting relationships by setting up an environment where new hires feel comfortable and see their potential to grow personally and professionally.
2. Employee resource groups help establish “sensemaking” within the workplace. Resource groups create an environment where individuals of different backgrounds come together for one common goal. It promotes an inclusive environment where employees can flourish, and it helps identify and encourage future leaders in the company.
3. Mentors and supervisors should encourage employees to employ lifelong learning. Many new employees may feel inexperienced and nervous about taking on challenging work. Leaders can encourage employees to see challenges as learning opportunities, encouraging them to network and begin to identify their roles in teams. This inevitably leads individuals to feel they have a greater purpose for their career within the company.

To keep up with demand for employees in the ever-changing environment of the electronics industry, educators and employers must work to create inclusivity in their respective environments. The field of engineering needs professionalism, interaction, and determination. To encourage this, schools must instill and develop passion as early as possible. Schools and businesses must welcome diversity and belonging. Without passion, many students will lack the drive they need to fully engage in engineering careers, leaving all of us scratching our heads about what to do next.

References

1. “What Prevents Many EE Students from ‘Making It’ to Professional Careers?” by Tyler Charboneau, All About Circuits, April 8, 2020.
2. “Why Do So Many Women Who Study Engineering Leave the Field?” by Susan S. Silbey, Harvard Business Review, Aug. 23, 2016.
3. “Creating Inclusive Environments in First-Year Engineering Classes to Support Student Retention and Learning,” by Rebecca Atadero, et al, 2015 ASEE Annual Conference and Exposition Proceedings, ASEE Conferences, April 10, 2022.

This column originally appeared in the October 2022 issue of PCB007 Magazine.