Training in the A/E Industry:

Gaining the Competitive

Advantage
A White Paper Courtesy of ZweigWhite
Compliments of Bentley Systems, Incorporated

July 2005

www.zweigwhite.com

Training in the A/E Industry: Gaining the Competitive Advantage

Executive Summary
There are three main benefits of a well-trained workforce for architecture and engineering firms:
a better work environment, increased productivity, and a higher-quality work product. All of
these benefits can have a bottom-line effect on both project and firm profitability, which means
that its vital for organizations in the A/E industry to gain a competitive advantage when it
comes to training their staffs. Based on years of collecting benchmark data on A/E firm training
practices, ZweigWhite has found that the most progressive organizations have clearly separated
themselves from the rest of the industry in terms of budgets and time devoted to training. In
order for A/E firms to determine whether they are among the most progressive and best-trained
organizations, its necessary to first have a meaningful measure of industry norms.
The Bentley Institute Star Program provides a measure for comparison among colleagues across
the industry through its recognition of the learning achievements of Bentley users. Under the
Star Program, Bentley users earn one star for every 16 hours spent in Bentley Institute professional training and have the opportunity to earn up to five stars based on their accumulated
Bentley Institute training time. Those users who earn three stars demonstrate professional training achievement that is commensurate with industry norms, and users with four stars will know
that they are exceeding industry standards and are among the most progressive in terms of training in the A/E industry. Participants who achieve any star level will communicate their value to
their organization, but those with five stars will clearly demonstrate the competitive advantage
that they bring to their firms in terms of work environment, productivity, and quality.

The Benefits of a Well-Trained Workforce

A well-conceived, well-executed professional training program is a valuable, desirable component of business strategy among successful architecture and engineering organizations. For A/E
professionals, continuous participation in training programs is vital to career development and
providing increasing value to both employers and clients.
There are three primary benefits of having a well-trained workforce: a better work environment,
increased productivity, and higher quality of work.
Better work environment. Professional training programs can boost morale among staff members, increase retention rates, and lower recruitment costs. This increased job satisfaction helps
firms retain quality employees and lower turnover rates. The top 50 firms on CE News 2004
Best Firms to Work For Survey (most of which invested heavily in training) experienced
turnover rates lower than the industry average of 15%. In addition, increased job satisfaction
among well-trained employees will help sell a recruit on the decision to switch jobs, especially if
the firm has a reputation for being progressive in its approach to training and is known in the
community as a great place to work.
Increased productivity. A focused professional training program gives employees the tools to
gain greater competence in their individual jobs. With improved efficiency through training,
employees should increase their productivity and utilization rates. As ZweigWhites white paper
on Confronting the Training Dilemma in the A/E Industry shows, the right $2,000 investment in
training for just one drafter whose billing rate is $50 can yield a 160% return on investment in
billable productivity if the drafters utilization rate increases from 75% to 80%.
Higher quality. Employees properly trained to deliver their technical expertise will turn out a
better work product than their lesser-trained counterparts. The right training program can help
employees avoid errors that lead to change orders and increased costs. According to

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Training in the A/E Industry: Gaining the Competitive Advantage

ZweigWhites 2004 Project Management Survey of A/E/P & Environmental Consulting Firms,
more than one-quarter (27%) of industry firms have had an errors and omissions judgment
against them in the past five years, with the average amount of the judgment being nearly
$100,000. Well-trained employees can help firms avoid these errors and omissions through
improved work quality. Higher-quality service will also keep clients happy and projects coming
in the door. It ensures repeat business and builds a firms positive reputation, which is critical in
winning new business.

Training in the A/E Industry: Whats Normal?

While most A/E organizations will agree that training is a good thing, not all firms follow
through and allocate the resources necessary to make training a priority. For years, ZweigWhite
has conducted research into the training practices of architecture and engineering firms, collecting data on two key measures of A/E industry professional training programs:

Annual hours of training per A/E professional

A/E firm-wide training budgets as a percentage of net service revenue (NSR)

Both A/E professionals and A/E firm leaders can use this data to benchmark how they compare
to industry standards. The data that ZweigWhite has collected takes a very strategic view and
includes training of all types, including technical training, project management training, and
training for computer applications.
Annual hours of training per A/E professional. According to ZweigWhites 2005 Policies,
Procedures & Benefits Survey of A/E/P & Environmental Consulting Firms, approximately 50% of
A/E professionals receive at least 20 hours of training each year. There is some variation among
firm types and disciplines, so firms and professionals should benchmark themselves against similar disciplines. As Figure 1 shows, professionals in environmental consulting firms typically
receive the most training in the industry, while professionals in full-service engineering or E/A
firms typically receive the least training. Professionals exceeding the number of hours reported in
Figure 1 will have training at a level above the industry standards.
Figure 1: Median Annual Hours of Training Per Employee by Firm Type
30

25

24
20

20

20

20
18
15
15

10

0
Environmental
consulting

Single-discipline
engineering

Multidiscipline
engineering

A/E (primarily
architecture)

Architecture or
interiors

Full-service
engineering or
E/A

Source: 2005 Policies, Procedures & Benefits Survey of A/E/P & Environmental Consulting Firms (ZweigWhite)

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Training in the A/E Industry: Gaining the Competitive Advantage

Firm-wide training budget as a percentage of net service revenue. Since 2002, ZweigWhite has
collected data on firm-wide training budgets in its Policies, Procedures & Benefits Survey. To provide a more meaningful metric that could be applied by firms of all sizes and account for inflation, rather than reporting on the actual dollar amounts budgeted for training, the survey provides the data as a percentage of NSR.
Since 2002, approximately 50% of firms that set a firm-wide training budget allocate at least
0.6% of NSR for training. Again, there is variation in training budgets across firms of different
disciplines, so its important for firm leaders to benchmark their firms to their peers. Figure 2
shows the breakdown by firm type. For the most part, the order of the firm types is similar to
that in Figure 1.
Figure 2: Median Annual Training Budget as a Percentage of NSR by Firm Type
1.0%
0.9%

0.9%
0.8%

0.8%

0.7%
0.7%

0.6%

0.6%

0.6%
0.5%

0.4%
0.4%
0.3%
0.2%
0.1%
0.0%
Environmental
consulting

Single-discipline
engineering

Full-service
engineering or
E/A

Multidiscipline
engineering

A/E (primarily
architecture)

Architecture or
interiors

Source: 2005 Policies, Procedures & Benefits Survey of A/E/P & Environmental Consulting Firms (ZweigWhite)

Breaking from the Pack: What A/E Firms Need to Do to

Gain the Competitive Advantage
Its helpful to know whats typical when benchmarking training in the A/E industry. But few
firms and professionals aim to just be typical. To truly gain a competitive advantage, firms need
to do much better than normal.
When plotting out the data points in terms of training hours and training budgets, similar
curves are formed that show a clear separation between the firms that are dedicating the most
resources to training and the rest of the sample.
As Figure 3 shows, firms that provide 30 hours or more of training per employee each year
exceed the norms for the industry and are among the more progressive firms in the industry in
regards to training. Firms that provide 40 or more hours of training each year really separate
themselves from the pack and are gaining the competitive edge in terms of work environment,
increased productivity, and improved quality that comes from having a well-trained workforce.

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Training in the A/E Industry: Gaining the Competitive Advantage

Figure 3: Annual Hours of Training for A/E Professionals

Below Average

Normal

Progressive

Competitive Advantage

0%

Percentage of design firms

10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
0

10

20

30
Hours per employee

40

50

60

Source: 2005 Policies, Procedures & Benefits Survey of A/E/P & Environmental Consulting Firms (ZweigWhite)

Figure 4 shows there is a similar trend in training budgets. Firms that budget more than 1.0%
of net service revenue to firm-wide training will be among the progressive firms in the industry,
but its the firms that budget closer to 1.5% and more that will gain the competitive advantage.
Figure 4: Firm-Wide Training Budget As a Percentage of Net Service Revenue
0%

Below Average

Normal

Progressive

Competitive Advantage

10%

Percentage of design firms

20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
0.0%

0.5%

1.0%

1.5%

2.0%

2.5%

Percentage of NSR

Source: 2005 Policies, Procedures & Benefits Survey of A/E/P & Environmental Consulting Firms (ZweigWhite)

While these graphs show what firms should be doing with their training programs now to gain a
competitive advantage, its likely that organizations will need to do even more in the future to
maintain their position in the industry. Advances in the Internet and changes in hardware and
software technology are causing rapid changes in industry practices and project workflow, which
will further increase training needs inside A/E firms.

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Training in the A/E Industry: Gaining the Competitive Advantage

The Bentley Institute Star Program

Bentley Systems, Incorporated has introduced the Bentley Institute Star Program to recognize
the learning achievements of Bentley users and provide a measure for comparison among colleagues across the AEC industry. Under the Star Program, Bentley users earn one star for every
16 hours spent in Bentley Institute professional training and have the opportunity to earn up to
five stars based on their accumulated Bentley Institute training time. Users with multiple stars to
their credit will be eligible for exclusive opportunities and rewards provided by Bentley. For
details on the Bentley Star Program, visit www.bentley.com/starprogram.
ZweigWhites research into the training trends among A/E firms aligns closely with the achievement levels of the Star Program. That becomes clear when taking the hours of training for A/E
professionals and overlaying the achievement levels in the Star Program. Figure 5 shows where
each of the five star levels equate to the industry standards of A/E firm training hours. Since the
Star Program is based on a two-year cycle, the annual rates reported in Figure 3 were extrapolated over the two-year range used to measure ratings.
Figure 5: The Bentley Institute Star Program
Below Average

Normal

Progressive

Competitive Advantage

0%

Percentage of design firms

10%
5 Stars

20%
30%

4 Stars

40%
3 Stars

50%
60%
2 Stars

70%
80%
1 Star

90%
100%
0

20

40

60

80

100

120

Hours per employee

Under the five-star system, those users with one or two stars still need to take additional hours
of training to achieve industry norms. Those users with three stars demonstrate professional
training achievement that is commensurate with industry norms. Users with four stars will
know that they are exceeding industry standards and are among the most progressive in terms of
training in the A/E industry. Those with five stars will clearly demonstrate the competitive
advantage that they bring to their firms in terms of work environment, productivity, and quality, increasing the likelihood theyll be assigned to great projects that advance their career.
The Star Program will help organizations track the proficiency of their employees and achieve
the bottom-line benefits that come from going beyond what is normal in terms of industry
training. Management will find that the Bentley Institute Star Program is an indispensable tool
to foster employee retention, lower recruitment costs, increase productivity, improve work quality, reduce change orders, and increase client satisfaction and repeat business. All of this will help
firms gain and maintain a competitive advantage.

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Training in the A/E Industry: Gaining the Competitive Advantage

Conclusion
As project-driven businesses, architecture and engineering firms are in the business of selling the
knowledge and expertise of their staff. That makes it vital for organizations to make sure their
employees are well-trained. In order to know if they are staying competitive, A/E firms need to
monitor and measure their training activities and compare them to industry standards.
The Bentley Institute Star Program will provide leaders of architecture and engineering firms
with the tool they need to compare the training of their staffs to industry standards. In addition,
A/E professionals will be able to monitor their levels of training, providing a useful measure of
their career development and where they stand among the best-trained in the industry.
Based on the five-star system, users with three stars will demonstrate a level of training equivalent with industry norms, while users with one and two stars will know that they need to take
additional training to meet industry standards. Star Program participants with four stars will
show that they are among the most progressive in the industry in terms of training, while users
with five stars will clearly demonstrate the competitive advantage that comes to a well-trained
organization: a better work environment, increased productivity, and a higher quality of work.

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Incorporated and the Bentley Institute.
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