Back in January, I wrote about the shortage of engineers within the semiconductor industry. In that article, I focused on what the industry could do to attract its much-needed engineering talent. In this one, I want to discuss the other half of the equation. What goes into retaining them?
While getting engineers through the door is great, keeping them is what really makes a difference. Research from Gallup shows that 50% of all U.S. employees are open to leaving their organizations, and McKinsey reported the U.S. may lack more than 100,000 engineers by 2030 “if the semiconductor industry does not become more attractive.”
So, how can companies make the industry one that engineers want to work in? After digging for relevant research and conducting around 10 separate interviews with engineers, employers, and educators for both articles from across the semiconductor industry, the responses I received were pretty consistent. Engineers need to feel like their work is purposeful, secure, and offers a clear pathway for advancement.
The Disconnect Between Hiring and Retention
Pallavi Praful, a Ph.D. student studying advanced semiconductor packaging at Arizona State University, started her career as an electronic engineer, briefly worked as a test engineer, then later began her Ph.D. program.
“I’m fully committed to (the semiconductor industry) because I think it’s the primary driver for all technologies, ” she said. Pallavi shared that she’s drawn to the industry because of its promise to make a positive, life-changing impact on society.
However, it’s not uncommon for students to get into their first engineering job and realize they’d rather work in a different area. This was the case for Daniel Mortimer, a former semiconductor quality engineer who transitioned into process engineering during his time in the industry. When students graduate with their engineering degrees, he shared that many of them don’t have a clear idea of what to do with them.
“If companies advertised the career paths that people can follow where there’s a lot of demand for engineers, that kind of promotion can go a long way,” said Mortimer.
After three years of working in the semiconductor industry, and then being laid off from his process engineering role in 2020, Mortimer took a position as a manufacturing engineer for Cytiva, a healthcare technology company. After more than four years there, he can see the impact of making engineers feel like they have a stable and fulfilling career, citing clear pathways to advancement as a key way to achieve this.
“I know Cytiva is trying to make the advancement pathways more obvious,” he said. “A lot of companies would benefit from incentivizing people to stay.”
As of 2022, a lack of career advancement was the top factor driving employee attrition.
Writer Kara Baskin wrote about this for MIT in 2023. In her article, aptly titled “To Keep Employees, Focus on Career Advancement,” Baskin emphasized the benefits of promoting from within, coaching employees on how they can fill skills gaps, and providing opportunities to learn, practice, and grow.
When I asked Cannon Nielsen, a field service engineer at EV Group, what advice he’d give to employers trying to retain their engineering talent, he reinforced the need for both career transparency and advancement.
“My advice is to find a way to announce the potential development opportunities for each career path,” he said. “There’s so little marketing on field service work.”
Nielsen first learned about field service engineering after attending SEMICON West. He explained that engineering graduates are trying to break into the industry, but they don’t always know how. With such an immediate need for skilled engineers, it’s critical to bridge this awareness gap as soon as possible.
Fortunately, great work is being done to address this. For instance, the SEMI Foundation is establishing partnerships with K-12 schools, universities, government agencies, and more, to help people understand the abundance of opportunities within the field. The International Microelectronics Assembly and Packaging Society (IMAPS), is also helping to increase awareness through its local chapter events.
According to Praful, organizations like these are helpful for students looking to break into the industry. She mentioned how there is little industry career awareness, even for university students.
“Attending conferences, being part of local chapters, and networking could be the best way to get into the field and see what it’s all about,” she said.
Staffing Challenges Can Lead to Poor Retention
The semiconductor engineering workforce shortage is somewhat of a chicken and egg problem. With too few engineers on staff, existing engineers are at risk of being overwhelmed, which could lead to them pursuing other career opportunities.
Harald Eppinger, General Manager at Koh Young, highlighted this in part one.
“Because of the shortage, employers will put three different jobs in one role and try to find a perfect match,” he said. “This will lead to burnout and depression.”
Mortimer experienced this first-hand. With two quality engineers and three process engineers on staff at his previous company, each person was doing multiple jobs. This in part, led to an emphasis on independent learning, as opposed to a formalized training or mentorship program. He learned most of his process engineering job by watching operators on the manufacturing floor.
“Managers were supportive of me receiving training, but I think more detailed training would’ve made a difference,” he shared. “I had no idea if I was doing a good job or not.”
The Advantage of Robust Internal Training Programs
It probably comes as no surprise to learn that investing in employee training and development can be great for retention. Companies that offer formalized training report a 56% improvement in retention, compared to just 21% of companies with ad hoc education efforts.
Nielsen’s employer, EV Group, is a semiconductor wafer processing company that provides formalized training to its engineers. As part of his training, EV Group sent Nielsen to Austria to learn the ins and outs of the machines he works on. In total, he spent seven weeks there across two separate trips.
Upon his return to the U.S., he shadowed his managers for six months, who assigned him “homework” and tested him on the tools and documentation processes. Nielsen underscored how patient his mentors were, explaining the concepts “over and over” until he fully understood them.
Nielsen has now been with the company for almost two years and was promoted for the first time earlier this year.
“The people and support make it all worthwhile,” he said.
Dave Kirsch, VP and General Manager of EV Group North America, also highlighted the importance of growing with employees as much as possible. He noted that as people grow, it’s normal for their goals and objectives to start to change.
“It can be really difficult and costly to try to replace somebody with a really great attitude and work ethic,” he shared.
Final Thoughts
It’s not a groundbreaking revelation, but companies that invest in developing their engineering talent have a considerable advantage over those that don’t. After researching this topic, the only thing that surprised me was how little of a motivating factor money seemed to be. I thought salary would have come up more frequently, but across all of my interviews, it hardly came up at all.
The bottom line is that engineers are in high demand across the high-tech space, and unless semiconductor companies invest in employee growth and foster a positive work place, they may find themselves stuck in the workforce shortage loop. Overall, I think it’ll be interesting to see how this plays out in the future. Will industry employers prioritize their talent, or will they continue to scramble until automation takes over?
