How to reach and retain young engineers

According to the National Science Foundation's Center for Science and Engineering, tech fields are taking over the workforce.

In 1950, a little less than 200,000 American workers made a living from science or engineering-related occupations. By 2009, the last date of confirmed numbers (released in 2012), that field had grown to 5.4 million---nearly six percent a year.

The power industry has certainly been part of that growth as the creation and distribution of energy gets more complicated and technical, from smart grid to synchrophasors to data analytics.

In the past, we discussed the stats and numbers of the power workforce. More recently, we examined how technology will help you offset aging workforce transitional issues with field workers. But, that leaves us one major workforce issue we haven't discussed: how to reach and retain engineers.

Those numbers from the National Science Foundation say it all. The growth rate of engineers necessary to keep the power flowing will keep going up. And, that same technology (such as ruggedized tablets and field force management software and two-way data communication) that helps offset worker shortages in the field means you need to add people on the tech-head side of the equation: namely, IT and engineers.

At a recent invitation-only CEO/CIO conference, one attendee shared with me her woes in trying to keep younger engineers at her utility. While the utility she worked for didn't really have a problem filling openings when older engineers retired or when projects expanded, she found that the younger generation of engineers didn't stay in the job past a year or two. And, each new engineer she hired meant they started all over again with training and HR costs.

She asked me for some suggestions on the subject, and I asked Vita P. Como, senior director of professional development at the Cullen College of Engineering's Career Center in Houston. Cullen graduates a lot of engineers. Most of them go to work in the oil and gas industry. And, those engineers in the oil and gas industry often stay for at least five years---and many stay with companies for 10 or more. So, what can power utilities learn from that?

Here are Como's top three lessons:

1.) Help young engineers manage their careers. As Como noted, students of all varieties are taught to take charge of their own careers these days. But, a utility shouldn't see this as a detriment or a hurdle. Instead, it's an opportunity to build a relationship. Companies who retain engineers, for example, often help them build out their portfolio and prepare them to apply for and get their P.E. (That helps you keep people for at least the first five years.) You can even start with an intern stage, getting them in the door early and helping them see how working in the power industry can be exciting, can take them places.

2.) Be social. It's the same thing that makes Twitter so popular with millenials: They like to communicate. So, you need to communicate with them, and get them to communicate with each other. Como suggested "creating cohorts" with younger groups. She noted that many oil and gas companies bring young engineers in together, move the same group together through their first year and have that group play together, too: volunteer work, happy hours, brown bag lunches on topics of interest---all organized and run by the company to help the engineers build an internal social network. After all, if they like their coworkers, that's a real incentive to stick around.

3.) Mentor. Mentoring can benefit young engineers and companies alike at many stages. Engineers one or two years ahead can help new hires understand the company, become comfortable and assist with navigating a culture the new hire isn't used to. (But, the younger mentor isn't intimidating, as they're of the same age group and on the same level.) Engineers a career ahead can help a new hire understand the history of the company and the subject and allow for a bridge of experience to move down the company chain. (Plus, older mentors and younger hires may develop an almost familial relationship, which, again, can convince the young hire that this company is a place to stick with.)

But, Como realizes these lessons aren't as easy as they sound, and it can take some shifts in cultural thinking and communication skills to get it all to run smoothly, along with investments of time and money in programs. Plus, it takes some flexibility on the part of management to bridge varying forms of culture, preferences and communication desires among different age groups.

So to start, she boils it down to one thing: Talk. If there are issues, talk. If there are positives, talk. If there's nothing going on, still talk.

"Most of the time, the reason young people leave is poor communication," she said. "They are used to immediate access to information."

So, the top lesson is: Talk to them.

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