Beyond Awards: How Data and Research are Elevating AEC Firms
“I think the employee experience—and we've seen over the last five years how important the employee experience has been with how tight the labor market has been and how everybody is competing for the same people… To ensure good retention, you must survey your employees to see what they think of your firm.”
- Kyle Ahern
About our Guests:
Keith Sequeira serves as Senior Director of Analytics and Technology at Zweig Group, where he leads research, analytics, and technological innovation, driving new approaches in data collection and delivery for the AEC sector. Kyle Ahern, Manager of Awards and Analytics, has spent over ten years at Zweig Group, with deep expertise running the Best Firms To Work For (BFTWF) program and integrating employee survey data into actionable insights for the industry. Supporting the conversation is co-host Luke Carothers, a guiding voice in exploring the data-driven evolution of AEC firm management.
Episode Summary:
This episode dives into the evolving landscape of research, data, and industry benchmarking within the architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) space. Host Randy Wilburn teams up with co-host Luke Carothers to interview Keith Sequeira and Kyle Ahern, uncovering how Zweig Group’s research initiatives—especially the Best Firms To Work For (BFTWF) program—are reshaping the value of employee sentiment and firm benchmarking. Keith and Kyle discuss how design firms’ needs have shifted from simply seeking award recognition to actively using detailed survey data to drive strategy, foster better workplaces, and compete more effectively for talent.
The conversation highlights the innovations in delivering real-time, actionable analytics through platforms like Zweig Insights. The team details the new research calendar and tiered participation incentive program, aimed at driving engagement and ensuring the most up-to-date data for all Zweig Group reports. From the transition away from static reports to the implementation of dynamic benchmarking tools, this episode offers practical wisdom for firm leaders looking to leverage industry data for recruitment, retention, and firm growth.
Key Takeaways:
- Actionable Benchmarking: Firms increasingly participate in BFTWF for the employee data and benchmarking tools, not just for the award, using insights for internal strategy and improvement.
- Technology-Driven Insights: Zweig Insights platform provides interactive, real-time benchmarking and analysis, moving beyond traditional static PDF reports.
- Participation Incentives & Timely Data: A new research calendar and tiered discount structure incentivize timely survey participation, ensuring fresher, more accurate reports for all firms.
- Employee Experience Drives Success: Surveying for employee sentiment is vital for recruitment, retention, and competitive advantage—and firms must communicate the survey's purpose and act on the findings.
- Continuous Recognition and Industry Celebration: Zweig’s award programs, culminating at Elevate AEC, play a critical role in celebrating firm achievements and motivating ongoing improvement within the industry.
All this and more in this episode of the Zweig Letter podcast.
Links referenced in this episode:
Get your FREE Subscription to the Zweig Letter Newsletter.
Call-to-Action & Next Steps: Stay ahead in the AEC industry by actively participating in Zweig Group’s surveys and award programs. Visit zweiggroup.com to access the latest research calendar, download reports, or reach out to Keith and Kyle for guidance.
Stay tuned for more enlightening content from the Zweig Letter podcast, and make sure to subscribe for regular updates!
Other episodes you'll enjoy:
From Specs to Stories with Cherise Lakeside
Bridging Design and Construction with Dan Crist
AI Transforming AEC with KP Reddy
Connect with Zweig Group:
Transcript
Welcome to the Zweig letter podcast. Putting
Speaker:architectural engineering, planning, and environmental
Speaker:consulting advice and guidance in your ear. Zweig
Speaker:group's team of experts have spent more than three decades
Speaker:elevating the industry by helping AEP and
Speaker:environmental consulting firms thrive. And these
Speaker:podcasts deliver invaluable management,
Speaker:industry, client, marketing, and
Speaker:HR advice directly to you free of
Speaker:charge. The Zweig letter podcasts,
Speaker:elevating the design industry one episode at a
Speaker:time. Welcome to
Speaker:the Zweig letter podcast, your go to source for
Speaker:insights and inspiration from the best minds in the
Speaker:AEC industry. I'm your host, Randy Wilburn. And
Speaker:today, we're talking about research and data with
Speaker:two of the AEC industry's top experts
Speaker:and friends of mine. Each year, Zweig Group collects and
Speaker:manages millions of data points from different areas of the AEC
Speaker:industry, creating reports that help firms navigate an
Speaker:ever changing landscape. With us today are two of
Speaker:the team members who helped make it all possible,
Speaker:Kyle Ahearn and Keith Sequera. We're excited to
Speaker:hear about their work and how they are elevating the
Speaker:research game. Joining me in this conversation is my
Speaker:colleague and new cohost, compadre, my
Speaker:Robin to the Batman that I am, I guess. I don't know. I don't I
Speaker:don't know where I'm going. Anyway, Luke Carothers. Go on, Drew.
Speaker:Yeah. And together, we're going to dive into changing
Speaker:research needs, employee sentiment data, and
Speaker:research participation, and so much more. So whether you're a
Speaker:long time user of Zweig Group Research products
Speaker:or you're new to their offerings, this is the
Speaker:episode for you. So let's jump right in. Alright.
Speaker:Kyle, Keith, how are you guys doing today? Doing well. Thank you,
Speaker:Randy. Doing well. Doing well. Thanks, Randy. Absolutely,
Speaker:man. I'm so honored to have you both on this podcast, and it's
Speaker:just it's really you know, we I've had you both on at
Speaker:different times by yourselves. And so now this is the first time that
Speaker:we're all kind of on here together, which I I'm really excited about.
Speaker:And, you know, this is a conversation that sometimes
Speaker:doesn't get, I guess, the weight or the exposure
Speaker:that it deserves. And and speaking of and what I'm speaking of specifically
Speaker:is just, you know, the data and the information in the
Speaker:design industry and how it's collected, how it's
Speaker:assembled, how it's looked at and parsed, and then how
Speaker:it is presented to the world. Right? But more importantly, how it's
Speaker:presented to our colleagues in the design industry space
Speaker:and why the information matters in the first place. And so
Speaker:I definitely want to, we're gonna have a a good conversation about
Speaker:this today. Keith, for the audience, for those that don't know you, I would
Speaker:love for you just to just share a little bit about your background and your
Speaker:specific role at Zwai Group. Thanks, Randy. And as
Speaker:much as I I like being in the in the spotlight, this is always
Speaker:awkward to get started with these You got this, man.
Speaker:But I am now the senior director of analytics
Speaker:and technology at Zweig Group. That's my new role since
Speaker:December of twenty twenty four. It's been quite the ride really
Speaker:since 2022, which is when I started with Zwagroup. And
Speaker:Randy, I was just looking up when we last had this conversation was November of
Speaker:twenty twenty three. I think I was still getting my feet under me trying to
Speaker:figure out what we're doing. It was on the heels of the Zweig
Speaker:insights transition, maybe. Yeah. It's It's
Speaker:been a year. No. My feet are not under me yet.
Speaker:But my role mixture of roles now. Yeah.
Speaker:The focus really is to lead the research and analytics
Speaker:department. Kyle obviously has he's he's new to the group as well. He's
Speaker:been part of the research group as the awards and employee experience
Speaker:manager for years. Look, Kyle's been with the Zweig Group for ten years now.
Speaker:But, he's new to the larger analytics
Speaker:team and we have Sue Dang and
Speaker:and, Gerard Wigmer who are also on this team. Our
Speaker:focus really is to collect, analyze
Speaker:and report on the data from the
Speaker:industry. Right? We have about 10 to 15 different
Speaker:publications. We try to publish one every month. We
Speaker:have this wide insights platform, which has a couple
Speaker:products in there. Yeah. It's a broad
Speaker:range of the type of data, I guess, that we provide back, in
Speaker:our benchmark reports to the industry. My new
Speaker:role also includes managing the technology stack at at Zweig
Speaker:Group. The focus really is to lead innovation
Speaker:through technology at at Zweig Group. And that's we're trying to think of ways to
Speaker:use AI. We're trying to think of ways to use automation and, you know,
Speaker:streamline and improve. That's that's the goal. Yeah. I well, I
Speaker:appreciate it. I mean, you you did an amazing job helping us move our
Speaker:tech stack over to the Microsoft universe, if you
Speaker:will. And, there were little little hiccups here or there, but
Speaker:every time I looked up, you had an answer for everything. So I
Speaker:appreciate that as I know the rest of these guys do. So even
Speaker:though I'm not fully engaged all the time with everything Zweig Group, but,
Speaker:certainly, I know this this next gentleman gets is coming to the stage and sharing
Speaker:a little bit about himself is, and I remember him when. But, Kyle,
Speaker:certainly, I can't believe it's been ten years, but you've been on this podcast a
Speaker:couple of times, and I wanna welcome you back again. Just for the
Speaker:audience's edification, just introduce yourself because most
Speaker:firms that we deal with at Zwai Group know you or have
Speaker:received an email from you or a phone call. I mean, you are the
Speaker:eponymous individual at Zwai Group because everybody gets
Speaker:to interact with you. But for those that don't know you, for those that have
Speaker:been in a cave for the last couple of years, just introduce yourself again,
Speaker:Kyle. Yeah. Thanks, Randy. I I appreciate it. And, yeah,
Speaker:ten years already. Right? No. And and it's
Speaker:been good. I've been able to work in a lot of different
Speaker:areas within the the Zweig group environment and all that we
Speaker:do. You know, Randy, you were a a mentor of mine
Speaker:really when I first started and how we worked together in executive
Speaker:search and all that you taught me there. And then I moved over to the
Speaker:awards area and ran that and still run
Speaker:that program to this day, and and so been doing that for about the
Speaker:last nine years. And then, just
Speaker:through that, there's been a kind of a natural evolution of
Speaker:bringing the data that we get through the awards program
Speaker:and integrating it more and more into our
Speaker:wider research base, our our
Speaker:our stack of research that we have in trying to you know,
Speaker:especially the the vast amounts of employee survey data. You know, last year,
Speaker:we had over 20,000 responses to the best firms to work for
Speaker:employee survey. So it's it's getting that data integrated to the
Speaker:rest of the data that we have. And that's just kind of been a
Speaker:natural progression for me over the last, you know, year or
Speaker:so of working closer with our research team
Speaker:and then moving officially into a a manager of
Speaker:awards and analytics in October of last year
Speaker:and just getting more and more ingrained in all of the research that we
Speaker:do beyond just the how we integrate the awards data, but all
Speaker:the research that we do. So Keith has been a a huge help for me
Speaker:there, as well as Sue and Gerardo, who are both rock
Speaker:stars on our team as well. So my role now is
Speaker:taking a you know, helping with the big picture view of of everything's
Speaker:white group research related, but still still holding down the fort on
Speaker:the awards. And, you know, hopefully, everybody who's who's
Speaker:interacting with me on the through the awards program will be able
Speaker:to, start to get a little bit of an understanding of what we're doing on
Speaker:on the research side as a whole here as well. Yeah.
Speaker:And then I wanna add to that, Randy. We say everybody
Speaker:has heard or seen an email from Kyle. But for the folks that
Speaker:haven't, especially the ones that are at Elevate AEC, Kyle runs a
Speaker:lot behind the scenes at at Elevate. Let's not forget. So
Speaker:if you have not interacted with him, you have seen
Speaker:his products for sure. Yeah. He he he is
Speaker:both behind the scenes and on the stage. He does
Speaker:everything for Elevate AEC. Well, I tell him, you know,
Speaker:it's why he's got a really nice tuxedo, and and it gets a lot of
Speaker:use. So and and I love I just love hearing that and just seeing
Speaker:the evolution specifically for Kyle, but we can fanboy over
Speaker:him later. I want to I wanna ask you both, and I'll
Speaker:start with you, Keith, because I think this is the reason why we wanted to
Speaker:have this conversation in the first place. The needs and wants of
Speaker:design firms have surely changed when it comes to
Speaker:research. I'm just curious to know what are you hearing
Speaker:from firms? What are they asking for in terms of
Speaker:research? And even in your three years here at Zweig Group, I'm sure
Speaker:you've seen a change in those requests. Just through the awards,
Speaker:I mean, this is from a best firms to work for perspective. I think,
Speaker:really, when I first started with the awards program, it was
Speaker:that. It was an award, and, you know, that was great
Speaker:week one. We're best firms to work for. We're a hot firm. We're we're marketing
Speaker:excellence award winner. Whereas now and this shift
Speaker:has really taken place over about the last five years or so because
Speaker:we are presenting this data back to them. It's it's more than just
Speaker:an award for especially for best firms to work for anymore. They
Speaker:get the the employee sentiment data presented back to them
Speaker:alongside the industry averages and benchmarking
Speaker:data through Zwag Insights. They have that presented back to them,
Speaker:and and they can start to formulate, you know, internal team
Speaker:strategy off that data. And now I hear more from people
Speaker:saying, we are in this for the data. The
Speaker:award is kind of the carry on top, and that's an evolution in
Speaker:what firms are looking for in that area, you know, that
Speaker:specific area. You know? And and as it pertains to data
Speaker:in a wider sense, you know, I think the almost the
Speaker:instant feedback, we've built these benchmarking tools, Keith, and and I'd love for
Speaker:you to touch on those a little bit more because these benchmarking tools that allow
Speaker:firms to input their data and then see it, you know,
Speaker:right up next against those benchmarking data rather than,
Speaker:you know, the traditional PDF where you're looking at the data. And
Speaker:maybe maybe you've got some of your own data pulled up on another screen. Having
Speaker:it all right there together is an evolution I've seen.
Speaker:Yeah. And I I would that's where I was going. That that's where I was
Speaker:thinking about, you know, the PDFs are tradition of how we delivered all of
Speaker:our reports and PDFs. Obviously, you can search, but
Speaker:there's much efficient ways to view that data. There's much efficient ways to slice and
Speaker:dice through it. There are tools out there specifically that, you know, that help you
Speaker:do that if you had access to the raw data. What we're trying to do
Speaker:is trying to make that easier, and that's through tools like Zuag Insights. Right? We
Speaker:have all these Excel tools that we have always delivered as an add on or
Speaker:as part of your package when you purchase a report from us, but
Speaker:those Excel tools are static. What Zwag Insight gives you is direct
Speaker:access. It's connected to our database, connected to our our data warehouse.
Speaker:You you will progressively get fresher data.
Speaker:Right? And we currently only have best ones to work for and and comp data
Speaker:platform in that within Zwag Insights, and comp data platform is moving to
Speaker:a a regular cadence to provide you with more real time
Speaker:compensation data. But that's where I see that's the transition that I see. And I
Speaker:think as an industry, we are a little late to this game. A lot of
Speaker:like most other industries have already done this. You know, we moved away from physical
Speaker:PDFs and paper printed reports,
Speaker:but we still do some of that at Zweig Group too. There's still a few
Speaker:people that want those printed reports. Yeah. This industry has always
Speaker:been slow on the uptick when it comes to, new technology,
Speaker:but they're getting there slowly but surely. So You know, I don't think that's the
Speaker:industry's fault, though. I think as we develop
Speaker:tools, we need to develop tools that have the answers. Right? Not tools where
Speaker:people have to dig for the answers. And I think that's the key differentiator here.
Speaker:Where we're going to or trying to provide that within, like, actionable
Speaker:insight from our data. Let's not beat around the bush. Why you
Speaker:have to go through 50 different chapters to find what you need? AI is making
Speaker:it much easier for us to search for results. So why don't our tools support
Speaker:that as well? And I think Zawag Insights is where we can do that. Yeah.
Speaker:Absolutely. I mean and, you know, again, I think of the evolution
Speaker:of best firms to work for the whole platform. Right? And, you know,
Speaker:it functions as both an award and, like you said,
Speaker:Kyle, earlier, one of the largest collections of employee sentiment
Speaker:data in the AEC industry space. And I think also one
Speaker:of the things that reasons why the best firms to work
Speaker:for platform is so important is because when you think
Speaker:of the information that it provides to a firm
Speaker:to create the best environment possible for
Speaker:recruitment, retention, for growth, I mean,
Speaker:all of those things play a factor, and I'm and I'm sure I'm missing some
Speaker:categories, but there's so much that goes into
Speaker:making a best firm in terms of what these firms do themselves.
Speaker:That's why the data is so valuable, and that's why, you know, we're
Speaker:constantly encouraging firms to participate in this program.
Speaker:And whether they are at the top of the heap or somewhere in the middle
Speaker:or even at the bottom, you only get what you inspect. If
Speaker:you don't take the time to benchmark your your performance
Speaker:and your your organization to other peer firms out
Speaker:there, you're gonna miss out on opportunities for you
Speaker:to shore up areas of shortcomings, to figure
Speaker:out how you can put yourselves out there in a better light
Speaker:and really be able to compete with the rest of the firms out there that
Speaker:are using Zweig's data on a regular basis to just make
Speaker:themselves better. Yeah. I think when we talk about just the evolution
Speaker:of Zweig Group research and data, in general, it makes
Speaker:sense that we this innovation would come through best firms to work
Speaker:for. Right? All this data, all the the millions and millions of points,
Speaker:they all add up to a snapshot of how we operate as an industry.
Speaker:And if people are using that as a way to navigate forward, then
Speaker:it makes sense that we take that snapshot from the best firms to work
Speaker:for. Yeah. I mean and certainly and I appreciate you adding
Speaker:to that because, really, I did I did have a question there. I promise you
Speaker:guys. How has best firms to work for
Speaker:developed over the years? I mean, we talk about the technology that's now
Speaker:there, but what else in your own words have made
Speaker:best firms to work for so important and something that people should pay
Speaker:attention to? Yeah. I think the employee
Speaker:experience and we've seen over the last five years
Speaker:how important the employee experience has been with how tight the
Speaker:labor market has been and how everybody is competing
Speaker:for the same people. You know? You you're competing for people
Speaker:straight out of college and universities, but then you're also
Speaker:competing with firms who are trying to poach your
Speaker:employees. And so a way to help
Speaker:ensure, you know, good retention is to assess
Speaker:what your employees are thinking about your firm, and you've gotta do
Speaker:that through surveys. And and people, you know, they worry about, well, survey
Speaker:fatigue. Are we over surveying our our employees? Well, I mean,
Speaker:the nice thing about best firms to work for, it's it's once a year. And
Speaker:it's an extensive survey, but it's also very important. I think
Speaker:firm leaders need to relay why
Speaker:they're doing it, not to win the award, but to get an
Speaker:understanding from their employees on how you're feeling about what we're doing at
Speaker:this firm. Are are we doing things that are working and that you like? Or
Speaker:where are we falling short in your eyes? And and the best runners to workforce
Speaker:survey covers culture and compensation benefits,
Speaker:recruitment retention, performance management, and professional
Speaker:development, wide range of topics. And so it
Speaker:gives this high level view, and then Zwiegen
Speaker:sites brings that high level view. The more you click
Speaker:through Zwiegen sites, the the further you can focus that high level
Speaker:view. You can get an understanding of how employees feel about the
Speaker:firm's management and what the firm's managers are doing and
Speaker:about the compensation and and where they may be falling short or what
Speaker:people like. But then that data needs to be turned
Speaker:into actionable insights. You you don't wanna be survey you know,
Speaker:asking people to take this survey year after year and not provide
Speaker:any plan of action for the data that comes back. So Or
Speaker:improvements. Yeah. Right. Right. So it's really important that
Speaker:firms then, you know, take the data, assess where they
Speaker:are, and come up with action items or, you know, an
Speaker:updated strategic plan or refresh to address
Speaker:some of the areas that need to be addressed within the data that
Speaker:comes out of the best firms to work for employees survey. I've
Speaker:one thing that I would thought about adding to that, Kyle, was the text responses.
Speaker:I mean, that's huge because Right. It's not just data points
Speaker:that you're viewing your ad. You're actually viewing what somebody typed about how
Speaker:they felt in that moment, about how they're feeling at their firm. They're writing out
Speaker:what exactly this could be this actionable insight. Right? That's just it. It
Speaker:gives you exactly and you can pinpoint it. You can aggregate it. I know
Speaker:firms do that already to get that data from us and then have somebody aggregate,
Speaker:kind of figure out what the general sentiment is. And Kyle, I know I'm
Speaker:leading into what we're getting ready to talk about, but, That's right. I won't throw
Speaker:it out yet. No. I I was just yeah. That's
Speaker:something that, our team has been working diligently on
Speaker:for really the last several months is, coming up with a
Speaker:way to bring some of that commentary sentiment
Speaker:analysis into Zwag Insights and and be able to provide those
Speaker:summaries. So I'll just say stay tuned for some special
Speaker:announcements coming out. Hopefully, once best firms to work for
Speaker:results are are ready to be published. I love that. You know, as I
Speaker:was listening to both of you talk about this and just, you know,
Speaker:the the way that firms have to go about getting these
Speaker:surveys filled out and, you know, there is a certain amount of
Speaker:survey fatigue that I think anybody could have. What are some of the
Speaker:most unique ways that you have seen firms encourage
Speaker:participation in these? Because this might be a place where firm
Speaker:leaders who are probably thinking in the back of their minds, like, alright. You
Speaker:know, Keith, Kyle, this is all great, but my people already
Speaker:stretched to the gills in terms of work and everything else, and now you want
Speaker:me to give them a fill in the blank number of questions and a
Speaker:survey. What are some of the unique ways that you have seen firms
Speaker:overcome those obstacles to get these filled out? Because we
Speaker:know the greater participation, the greater the feedback,
Speaker:and the greater the feedback, the greater the reporting
Speaker:results. Yeah. I think first and foremost, it it just comes
Speaker:down to the messaging, and it has to be clear
Speaker:that we're doing this, hopefully, for your
Speaker:benefit. You know? We're doing this to
Speaker:make our firm a better place to work. You know? We would love to be
Speaker:considered a best firm to work for, but we wanna do this to better
Speaker:ourselves. We wanna understand what you like, what you don't like,
Speaker:where we can improve. And this is your opportunity to
Speaker:have your say in that. You know? This isn't just, you know, the
Speaker:top 10 managers getting together and coming up with a plan. This is your
Speaker:words with there's plenty of open commentary sections, but then, you
Speaker:know, being able to to show how much you you agree or how
Speaker:satisfied you are through quantitative data as well. And
Speaker:so getting that messaging that, hey. This is your opportunity to
Speaker:have your say in potentially the future of our
Speaker:internal strategy. So that's one way. Another way you know?
Speaker:And we we definitely do not encourage people
Speaker:to say, hey. You know, we want you to give us positive responses. We
Speaker:encourage to say, you know, hey. If we get to 90%
Speaker:participation, we're gonna do x y you know, we're gonna have a a
Speaker:happy hour, a company sponsored happy hour. But that's
Speaker:you know, we we wanna base that on participation,
Speaker:not necessarily results. And so that's creative
Speaker:ways firms have have encouraged participation as well in the
Speaker:past. Yeah. I mean, I think, obviously, there's a million different carrots that you
Speaker:can dangle out there in front of people, but you want people to
Speaker:actually want to do the survey. Right. And and to see the value,
Speaker:not just kinda be performative or just be, you know,
Speaker:filling out you know, just you utilizing time to do it because then you're
Speaker:not getting the quality data that you you really want. And
Speaker:that's that's where the follow-up really comes into play too, Randy,
Speaker:is is if employees feel like they're just doing this
Speaker:survey every year, but they don't see anything come out of it,
Speaker:then they really are gonna be you know, if if someone's done it for four
Speaker:years and they've never really seen
Speaker:any results come out of it, then they're not gonna be very encouraged to,
Speaker:one, give quality responses or even respond at all. So
Speaker:Mhmm. You know, having a plan to follow-up, like, okay. This
Speaker:we appreciate your input through this employee
Speaker:survey. You know, we've got a team that's gonna take this data,
Speaker:assess it, and put together a plan, and then we will present that back
Speaker:to you. And we have firms that will go on, you know, what
Speaker:they call talent hall tours. If they've got multiple offices, they'll go
Speaker:visit each office. You know, Maybe the HR managers are gonna go
Speaker:around to each office and and go over the results and the corresponding
Speaker:plan to those results. So Mhmm. The follow-up really is
Speaker:very important as well, especially for firms that
Speaker:participate year after year. Yeah. And and, Randy, to to your
Speaker:question, I think incentivizing might
Speaker:just be the wrong method or thought process there. I think
Speaker:it's culture. Right? Leadership has to have this culture of where
Speaker:they truly care about their folks at their firm. And if they do
Speaker:that, then asking your firm to take another survey or take
Speaker:a survey every year about, hey. We're doing well. Let's figure
Speaker:out how we can do better. Right? That should be easy. That's
Speaker:my take on it, and I think I mean, Zwai Group is a perfect example.
Speaker:When we get a survey to take for internal sentiment, I think
Speaker:everybody's game or at least everybody's open to give that feedback.
Speaker:Right? And I think that comes from the top down. Our leadership makes it to
Speaker:where we can. And I think that's the key part there. Yeah. Yeah. That
Speaker:that's a I'm glad you made that clarification too because, I mean, yeah, when you
Speaker:think of incentivize, you're thinking, oh, well, you know, you gotta give
Speaker:something to get something. And you're right. I mean, culture
Speaker:is an important aspect of it. And if I really care about the
Speaker:place that I work in the environment that I'm in, I wanna promote it, and
Speaker:I wanna tell the world about it. And one way that you tell the world
Speaker:about it is by participating in these surveys.
Speaker:Yeah. And I think that's where the we talk about incentive.
Speaker:I think that's the the uniqueness of best firms to work for is
Speaker:there's that incentive of being on the list and then
Speaker:remaining on the list. So if you're on it one year and you're
Speaker:on it the next year, that means you responded to your employees, essentially. They still
Speaker:think they're you're doing a good job. So I think it's a very good
Speaker:incentive because if you make the list, you won't remain on the list if you're
Speaker:not making the changes. Yeah. That's a fair point. I think I I hadn't thought
Speaker:about it that way, Luke, because that is the incentive. Right? It's the
Speaker:incentive for the firm to do better. Yeah. Do better by your employees, and your
Speaker:employees will return that favor in your sir in your survey responses.
Speaker:Yeah. No. I love that. So listen. I do wanna talk about this because one
Speaker:of the coolest new features to the Zwai Group website
Speaker:is the research calendar. Can you guys talk a little bit about
Speaker:how you develop this calendar and really what it means for firms
Speaker:who want to participate in Zweig group research
Speaker:moving forward. Right? And then also, I know that you have kinda
Speaker:in mixed into that whole new calendar approach an updated
Speaker:discount program for participation. This is always
Speaker:nice to have something to grease the wheels, right, to get folks to get We
Speaker:were talking about incentives. We were talking about it? Yeah. This is a different kind
Speaker:of incentive, though. So yes. Yeah. It's not for not for your employees.
Speaker:So in the past, and I say in the past, up until December,
Speaker:Zweig Group would offer 50% off discounts for
Speaker:participation in our surveys. Right? The surveys were open for participation
Speaker:all year round. Data collection was a it was
Speaker:less timely. Reports could have been delayed. I feel like the data
Speaker:wasn't as accurate as what I'm about to say with the new process.
Speaker:And really, it didn't create this sense of urgency for
Speaker:participation in our surveys. Right? So we brainstormed this idea
Speaker:for a couple years now. And finally, in January,
Speaker:we have released our new discounted tiered
Speaker:discount strategy. What the new process is,
Speaker:we have a participation window for every survey. And
Speaker:within that participation window, if you participate within that participation
Speaker:window, you are eligible for 75% off on
Speaker:that report that we published from that survey. There's also a
Speaker:25% off window at the end if you don't participate within the first
Speaker:three weeks. But typically, this participation window is
Speaker:two months to one and a half months before the
Speaker:publication date of the the report. I know that's all over
Speaker:the place. We we have images on our website that make it very clear. This
Speaker:is why we didn't release it. We keep speaking about it. We released it with
Speaker:with the with the calendar. The calendar makes
Speaker:it very clear. It's month by month. It tells you what the participation
Speaker:time frame is, when the report will be released, when the
Speaker:75% discount eligibility ends, when the
Speaker:25% discount eligibility ends. And really the
Speaker:benefit here is, aside from the 75% discount,
Speaker:the reports are going to be more up to date. Their participation
Speaker:early allows us to have more bandwidth
Speaker:and time to work through, you know, all the details I
Speaker:go into publishing these reports. Accuracy is gonna be better, and
Speaker:it's it's just gonna be more timely. Kyle, did I miss anything on that?
Speaker:No. No. I think I just I added you like you said,
Speaker:accuracy in that, you know, the results of
Speaker:of a survey that took place a month ago are gonna be
Speaker:more accurate to when we're publishing it rather than, you know, someone took
Speaker:the survey ten months ago. You know, that in that time, you
Speaker:know, things could potentially shift quite a bit. So having that
Speaker:participation window open a lot closer to
Speaker:the release of the report is a way to for for us to
Speaker:ensure that we're giving the industry the best data that we can.
Speaker:And, you know, having that that 75% off is is just an
Speaker:extra driver in that that we want to give back to
Speaker:those who do participate because, you know, we we we wanna
Speaker:acknowledge that taking the time to participate in an industry
Speaker:survey is is a big ask. And so we wanna appreciate
Speaker:the people that do that for us. And so I'm just I've got it actually
Speaker:pulled up right here in front of me and also wanna give a special shout
Speaker:out to Caitlin Dover Sherrick on our team. Sorry.
Speaker:Caitlin Sherrick. She recently got married, so I wanna get that right,
Speaker:who created this flipping book for us, and it's a great
Speaker:resource. It it lays out, you know, those participation windows
Speaker:when we anticipate releasing reports, and it
Speaker:gives a good idea of what that research calendar looks
Speaker:like. So definitely would encourage people to go check that out on our
Speaker:website. Yeah. And add to that. It also adds, you
Speaker:know, number of questions, level of effort, how long will it take to complete the
Speaker:survey so you can all be prepared to go do it. You can preview the
Speaker:survey there. When when the report's ready, you can even download it from that. Just
Speaker:go find find it, search for it on our website. If we don't add it
Speaker:to this, podcast, search for it, save it. You're going to need
Speaker:it. It's very useful. Yeah. Well and I love that
Speaker:point that, you know, that it's sometimes it's a little things that matter. Right, Keith?
Speaker:Because I don't know about you, but ever since, like, even in news articles when
Speaker:they put, like, this article takes three minutes to read, this article takes seven
Speaker:minutes to read, I can then be like, oh, do I have the time to
Speaker:read this? Can I do that? Those those little things make a big difference,
Speaker:but I do wanna let I list out for those that are listening or if
Speaker:you're watching this video, if you're not familiar with all of the
Speaker:Zweig reports, we've got salary and compensation, valuation,
Speaker:principals, partners, and owners, fee and billing, financial
Speaker:performance, recruitment and retention, which has always been my baby, the
Speaker:one that I've I think one year actually was the author of recruitment and retention
Speaker:or maybe two I don't know. I've lost track, but that to me,
Speaker:given the very nature of this industry and the
Speaker:challenges that this industry faces finding and keeping
Speaker:great talent, I would imagine that every firm
Speaker:would want to participate in the recruitment and retention
Speaker:survey because that report provides so much
Speaker:updated information, and it changes every year.
Speaker:So, you know, I I would encourage anybody listening to this. If you
Speaker:have never participated, if you're looking to say, well, where should I
Speaker:start? Obviously, best firms to work for is is the first place that I would
Speaker:start. But the neck the next one right after that would be recruitment and retention.
Speaker:And then other things that are important to you as a principal
Speaker:owner, if you're thinking about ownership transition and what that looks like,
Speaker:you know, there's information for everybody there. And I'd
Speaker:so going down the list after recruitment and retention is policies, procedures, and
Speaker:benefits, business operations, a guide for success.
Speaker:There are a number of amazing reports that the insights
Speaker:group puts out that I think you really want to
Speaker:participate in and take advantage of. And, again, you know, like they say,
Speaker:knowledge equals power. Right? So just having that knowledge and
Speaker:information and sharing it with other people can be really
Speaker:valuable and can come back and give you an a tremendous
Speaker:return on your investment of time to participate in those
Speaker:reports. Yeah. And just to give a little insight on those
Speaker:reports and and what happens with our team and corresponds with
Speaker:this research calendar. So we just
Speaker:released the principal partners and owners survey
Speaker:on Friday. That was about the exact
Speaker:time that we closed participation in the
Speaker:fee and billing survey, which will be released hopefully
Speaker:later this month or early May and
Speaker:then opened up our 75% off participation
Speaker:window in policies, procedures, and benefits. So a
Speaker:constant stream of releasing a product, closing the
Speaker:survey for the next product, and opening the survey for the
Speaker:following product. So and there's never a dull moment. That's for
Speaker:sure. And though Randy said, first, you focus on best friends you work for and
Speaker:second on recruitment and retention, if you're new to us, first you focus
Speaker:on policies, procedures, and benefits because that opened up today. No. No.
Speaker:No. This is gonna be, where this podcast is gonna be shared, but
Speaker:just go look at the can calendar. The calendar hasn't been listed out. Yeah. And
Speaker:I wanna iterate for reiterate for everybody listening to this, you know, we try
Speaker:to make these podcasts as evergreen as possible.
Speaker:This calendar comes around every year. Right? So, you know, every year there's Christmas, every
Speaker:year there's a policy, procedures, and benefits survey. So
Speaker:there's an opportunity to participate. If you don't get it this go around, you can
Speaker:do it next year. So and that's why I think is the calendar
Speaker:itself is so valuable because then you can dial in and pick and
Speaker:choose the things that you wanna participate in. And then that way, you
Speaker:know when it's coming up, when it opens, when it closes,
Speaker:and just to make sure that you get the folks in in your
Speaker:organization involved and so that they're aware and they can do what
Speaker:needs to be done. That's right. Yeah. That's great. So so listen. I
Speaker:know if you're watching this video, some of our viewers probably
Speaker:recognize these two guys from the Elevate AEC gala, which we
Speaker:talked about earlier. But both of you guys have had a major hand in
Speaker:getting firms recognized on stage through the Zuai Group
Speaker:Awards. And then, like, for both of you, I'm just curious. Preparing for that moment
Speaker:on stage kinda starts right now. Right? And so what is
Speaker:the process like going from tons and tons of
Speaker:award entries to recognizing the
Speaker:best of the best on the stage? And and for those that aren't aware, we're
Speaker:actually recording this in the month of April, but we've still got
Speaker:several months to go before the actual Elevate event, which is gonna be an
Speaker:amazing event. And this year, it happens to be in San Antonio, Texas.
Speaker:I can't wait. But, the bottom line is what for you guys, as
Speaker:you are slowly transitioning to that award season,
Speaker:what is that like for you both? I'll let I'll let Kyle speak to this,
Speaker:but I will say it already started in December. Quite literally, it
Speaker:probably started in September when we when we ended last elevate
Speaker:AEC. Right? But, yeah, Kyle, this is this is you. I saw the look
Speaker:in his eyes. I I wish it was slowly transitioning.
Speaker:I really do. No. Like like Keith said, I mean, we
Speaker:we celebrate the firms and give them the amazing
Speaker:recognition they deserve at the conference and at the
Speaker:awards gala. It's something that we need to do a better
Speaker:job of in the industry of of celebrating ourselves and all that we
Speaker:accomplished, and we definitely celebrate our
Speaker:award winners at at the gala. So would would love to you know, if your
Speaker:firm is a is a Zuai group award winner or or you received a Zuai
Speaker:group award, definitely get to the gala and celebrate with us. But but
Speaker:then, you know, typically, by that point, we've already got
Speaker:registrations open for the next year. While
Speaker:people have, you know, words on their mind, we we've got them open for the
Speaker:next year. We're fine tuning, you know, our different
Speaker:surveys during that time, different processes. And then it, you know,
Speaker:opens up, and and a lot of participation starts going on after the
Speaker:first of the year. And then about this time so we just
Speaker:closed our rising stars in the AEC
Speaker:industry award this past Friday as well. So a lot of
Speaker:deadlines on Friday. It was a busy day. So we just
Speaker:closed that award, and and we're getting our panel of team
Speaker:our panelists ready to go to read what might
Speaker:end up being a record number of rising star nominations. I have to go
Speaker:back and get the exact numbers of previous years because they're gonna have their
Speaker:work cut out for them this year. So, you know, we we go
Speaker:from collection you know, rising stars collection, it
Speaker:it'll be reading every single one of those nominations and and
Speaker:picking as as hard as it's gonna be, but picking our our list of
Speaker:rising stars for the year. You know, best firms to work for will
Speaker:close that in a little over a month from today. Today is
Speaker:April 1. The registration closes May 2. And
Speaker:then it just gets to collecting all of the data,
Speaker:organizing it all together, building out our
Speaker:rating functionality, and then getting the results plugged
Speaker:in and getting our winners established, getting
Speaker:the data published back to Zweig insights.
Speaker:Keith and Sue and Garda are a big part of that. And then, you know,
Speaker:informing all of our winners and and then this, you know, same process, we we've
Speaker:got about a two week difference between best firms to work for
Speaker:deadline, hot firm deadline, and and marketing excellence deadline
Speaker:to allow our team a little bit of a buffer to get all those results
Speaker:tabulated, announce the winner. So we we try to make
Speaker:sure every single one of our winners receives a a phone call
Speaker:congratulation as well as a big email. They get
Speaker:all this marketing material, press release, the logos
Speaker:they can use to do their own marketing. You know? And then we're
Speaker:sending all of our winners packets in the mail for
Speaker:extra collateral and, you know, inviting them to the
Speaker:Elevate AEC conference, and then we jump into prep to
Speaker:celebrate everybody down there at the conference. So, yeah, right
Speaker:now, we are we're getting towards the end, I
Speaker:would say, of the registration period. Still a
Speaker:month ago, still plenty of time, but getting closer to the,
Speaker:transition of alright. It's time to start figuring out who these winners are and
Speaker:and letting them know. Yeah. Well and I think, you know, I think it
Speaker:goes without saying, and I've heard Mark, and I've heard Chad, and so many others
Speaker:talk about the importance of celebrating our industry. And that's
Speaker:another reason why the work that you guys do is so important because
Speaker:too often, we kinda get into our our little caves and
Speaker:just put our heads down and do our work. And then, you know, we need
Speaker:to sometimes look up from the desk, look up from the computer screen or
Speaker:from our phone and acknowledge what's going on around us. And I think
Speaker:that, you know, participating in these awards is one way to do
Speaker:that, and I certainly am excited. We just recently Luke and I just
Speaker:recently interviewed several of the rising star previous awardees,
Speaker:and they just talked about how much of a difference that award made for
Speaker:them just in terms of how they feel about themselves, not just
Speaker:as human beings, but as design professionals. And I think it
Speaker:shouldn't be lost on you guys that what you're doing, the work that that
Speaker:Zweig is doing in this space is really important, and it does
Speaker:have some profound implications and impacts to
Speaker:the next generation of design professionals that are coming up through the ranks.
Speaker:So my only encouragement is to continue to do what you're
Speaker:doing. I know it's a lot of work. Rest when you can,
Speaker:but, you know, the rest of the time, just, you know, get in there and
Speaker:grind it out, man, because, you know, the industry is really counting on you
Speaker:guys. And, again, I want to encourage everybody listening to this,
Speaker:whether you're watching the video or listening to this, is to, you know, at some
Speaker:point in time, just go visit zweiggroup.com and go
Speaker:bookmark, you know, some of the different opportunities and options that you have. And even
Speaker:if you go to the main website and you click on the menu
Speaker:section on the in the right hand corner, it'll take you down to all the
Speaker:different options. The second option is insights, and that's where you can go to get
Speaker:a lot of different information and participate in a lot of these programs. The
Speaker:fourth option is awards, and that's where you can go to learn more about the
Speaker:best firm to work for and all the other awards that we've talked about on
Speaker:this particular podcast. And there's so much that we could elaborate on,
Speaker:and this isn't an infomercial for Zweig Group because we do the podcast. Right?
Speaker:Because that's just it. So we have to talk about the things that we're doing
Speaker:on a regular basis. But as I've said many times and and just as
Speaker:what you guys alluded to, this knowledge and information is very
Speaker:important. You have to share it. You have to put it out there, and it
Speaker:bears repeating because sometimes we need reminders. We need
Speaker:to hear things multiple times before it actually takes hold. Right? You
Speaker:know, back in the day, they said, you know, you you have to repeat something
Speaker:seven times in a sales process for it to cement itself in the minds
Speaker:of the potential person that you are trying to sell to. Now they're saying from
Speaker:a marketing perspective, it's like 13 plus times. You have to make that
Speaker:many more impressions on people just because of technology, because of
Speaker:what these phones are doing to us. And I'm holding up for those who are
Speaker:listening to the podcast, I'm just holding up my iPhone, but, you know, it's a
Speaker:blessing and a curse. Right? Because it sometimes takes us out of the element of
Speaker:focus. And I think what you guys are doing is
Speaker:simply incredible. You've got an amazing team, and, Keith,
Speaker:we're gonna get some of those young people that I got to hang out with
Speaker:down in Tampa at the last Elevate conference on this podcast because
Speaker:they are super bright, super intelligent. I mean, you guys
Speaker:have an amazing team. And, I mean, just a collection of you two alone, just
Speaker:Keith and Kyle, the k and the k, I think that makes it even
Speaker:more special. So, Luke, do you have anything you wanna add before we close out?
Speaker:No. I was just gonna also, just encourage people to reach
Speaker:out to Keith and Kyle with questions. These are two
Speaker:of the most responsive people that I've had the pleasure with of working
Speaker:with, and I've referred Kyle at
Speaker:least a thousand emails, in the six years that
Speaker:we've worked together. No exaggeration. Not no. Not even
Speaker:close because we're kind of the midpoint between awards together. Yeah.
Speaker:Yeah. And Kyle and Keith are both incredibly responsive.
Speaker:And most importantly, they want to talk to you. Keith and I have
Speaker:had the conversation many times where we want people to ask us questions
Speaker:about what we do, and we put ourselves forward in that position.
Speaker:So I would encourage people to just reach out to these two. I mean,
Speaker:they're incredibly responsive and incredibly insightful. Yeah.
Speaker:Absolutely. Well, with that said, Keith, what's your email address? We'll
Speaker:give it to people. All the information that we mentioned that every one of
Speaker:us has mentioned on this episode will also be in the show notes. But for
Speaker:anybody that just wants to get it down quickly, Keith, what's your email address for
Speaker:people to reach out to you? K sequueira. So
Speaker:ksequeira@zweigroup.com.
Speaker:And if you hit research@zweigroup.com, Kyle and I have to see that. That goes
Speaker:directly to our mailboxes. That's right. And and Kyle, yours
Speaker:is? K a hern. So
Speaker:kahern@zweigroup.com.
Speaker:Perfect. Well, that that works out great. Gentlemen, we appreciate you
Speaker:guys letting us steal you away from a busy day and
Speaker:just chatting with us a little bit about the work that you're doing. Again, it
Speaker:it is important work, and both Luke and I and the rest of the zwei
Speaker:team applaud and continue to encourage you to do this great
Speaker:work because the industry is depending on you guys.
Speaker:And so no pressure, but No pressure. Get out there and
Speaker:make it happen. We appreciate you guys both so very much. Thank you. Thank you,
Speaker:Randy. Well, thank you for the opportunity. Randy. Absolutely. Well, there you have
Speaker:it, folks. Another episode of the Zweig Letter
Speaker:podcast. We hope you enjoyed it here with my compatriot,
Speaker:Luke Carruthers and Kyle Ahearn and Keith Sequera.
Speaker:We hope you enjoyed this episode of the Zweig letter podcast
Speaker:and that you've been encouraged to get out there and, either
Speaker:apply and for one of the upcoming awards for the Elevate
Speaker:conference or you wanna participate in a survey. It's all there for
Speaker:the taking. So I really wanna encourage you to get involved and get
Speaker:that calendar on your calendar so you know what's coming next,
Speaker:and that way you can participate in it. So but that's all I have for
Speaker:you. Remember, this Y Glitter podcast can be found on every major
Speaker:podcasting platform, including YouTube. We've always got something
Speaker:for you there. And as always, you can find us on the Zweig
Speaker:group website, which is just zweiggroup.com.
Speaker:You can find show notes. You can find all of our back catalog of
Speaker:podcast. We've been podcasting since 2016, so we're kinda like the
Speaker:OGs in the design industry when it comes to podcasting, more than
Speaker:250 plus episodes. So there's something there
Speaker:for everyone, and I would encourage you to check it out when you get a
Speaker:chance. I'm your host, Randy Wilburn, and we'll see you back here
Speaker:very soon for another new episode of the
Speaker:Zweig Letter podcast. Peace. Thanks
Speaker:for tuning in to the Zweig Letter Podcast. We
Speaker:hope that you can be part of elevating the industry and that you can
Speaker:apply our advice and information to your daily
Speaker:professional life. For a free digital subscription to the
Speaker:Zweig letter, please visit the zweigletter.com
Speaker:slash subscribe to gain more wisdom and inspiration in
Speaker:addition to information about leadership, finance,
Speaker:HR, and marketing your firm. Subscribe
Speaker:today.
