Last week, we celebrated three work anniversaries at MillerClapperton.
15 years.
16 years.
30 years.
How cool is that?!?!
It also made me stop and appreciate something that’s probably easy for us to take for granted. More than 60% of our workforce has been with MillerClapperton for five years or longer.
That’s pretty remarkable.
Especially because when I’m looking through resumes today, it sometimes feels like 18 to 24 months has become a long time to stay anywhere. We regularly see applicants who have had several jobs in just a few years. Occasionally, we’ll see someone who has only been in their current role for four or five months and is already looking for the next one.
My natural reaction is to wonder: What’s going on?
So I went looking at the numbers.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the median U.S. employee had been with their current employer for 3.9 years in 2024. That’s down from 4.1 years in 2022 and is the lowest level since 2002.
For workers ages 25 to 34, the median was only 2.7 years.
Construction actually fared a little better. The median tenure for wage and salary workers in our industry was 4.2 years in 2024.
Maybe what we’re seeing isn’t just anecdotal.
But I also don’t think employers get to put all of this on employees.
If someone leaves after 18 months, it’s easy to say, “People just aren’t loyal anymore.”
The harder question is whether we’ve built a company worth being loyal to.
Are people learning? Do they see opportunity ahead of them? Do they trust their leaders? Do they feel like they’re part of something? Are we giving our best people reasons to believe they’ll be better off five years from now if they stay?
I don’t know that the days of 15, 20, and 30-year employees are behind us. I certainly hope they aren’t.
Maybe we just can’t assume they’ll happen.
Seeing those three anniversaries last week reminded me how special long tenure really is, and how much responsibility comes with creating a place where good people want to stay.
I’m curious what others in construction are seeing.
Is 18 to 24 months becoming normal? Or are you still seeing people build long careers with one company?
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References:
- BLS Employee Tenure in 2024, full release: https://www.bls.gov/news.release/tenure.nr0.htm
- BLS Table 5, Median years of tenure by industry: https://www.bls.gov/news.release/tenure.t05.htm
- BLS Employee Tenure homepage: https://www.bls.gov/news.release/tenure.toc.htm