Turnover Tipping Point 1: Slowdown

When the backlog is looking light, your employees may begin seeking higher ground. This tenet is true in any economy. Why does this happen? Reason number one is that a trickling pipeline threatens a person’s needed sense of security.  Invariably, it causes him to ask himself, “Where is my future work coming from?” In quest of an answer, he will look inside and outside his own organization.This anxiety is amplified by the conditioning a consultant undergoes as he is indoctrinated into the business. If a billable employee becomes incapable of reaching his target utilization rates, he knows he is not meeting expectations. That lousy feeling eats away at his morale.

Down time means more time for hand wringing. Consultants will look through that big career picture window and worry that a lull in the business cycle means their careers have stalled. Maybe this is true, or maybe it just feels that way.

What does this all mean in the current employment market? I can assure you that there are not a lot of unemployed civil engineers walking the streets today (with the exception, perhaps, of new grads or those entrenched in a few market segments tangled up in the bubble).

However, there are many individuals willing to look at new opportunities. Why? The simple answer is “insurance.“ There are some terrific people in our market finding themselves in situations for which they have no recent benchmarks: light backlogs, delays of contract execution due to funding difficulties, peers losing their jobs, etc. These individuals are more receptive than ever to investigating opportunities. However, this doesn’t mean, once the dialogue culminates, that they truly want to go anywhere.

What is your firm doing to make sure they won’t?

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Explore the other three events which make it likely a consultant will be willing to change jobs here.