Rocket Dreams: Why Boeing Engineers Are Leaving for the Stars!
As rank-and-file talent leaves the faltering aircraft manufacturer, the typical Boeing engineer’s tenure is becoming shorter.
With a second round of layoffs this month, Boeing is reducing its workforce by 10% overall, bringing the number of union-represented engineers departing to 400.
The morale hit comes as engineers, who are no longer bound by the “velvet handcuffs” of long-term rewards, are drawing a comparison between Boeing’s problems and the attraction of space companies who have ambitious aims.
According to data from the Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace, the union that represents 12,000 Boeing engineers, the average tenure of a Boeing engineer has decreased from 16.4 years to 12.6 years during the last ten years. Nearly all age groups saw a reduction in tenure, with workers in their 20s and 30s and those in their late 40s to 65 years old averaging fewer years.
According to analysts, recruiters, and union officials, this “brain drain” poses a risk of slowing down present operations and maybe making it more difficult for Boeing to introduce its next aircraft.
Matt Kempf, SPEEA’s senior director for retirement and compensation, stated, “All of this experience is gone.” Because “aerospace engineers are not manufactured, they are grown,” that is concerning.
With industry-leading compensation, benefits, and work-life balance, Boeing claimed to “remain in a strong position to compete for and retain elite aerospace engineering talent.”
“The voluntary attrition rate for Boeing Engineering has been declining since 2022 and has been in the low single digits for a few of years.”
One reason for engineers’ declining longevity at Boeing is competition with the space industry for talent.
According to Stan Shull, CEO of the advising firm Alliance Velocity, the company is a good place for Blue Origin and SpaceX to hire because of the recent rise in the space industry in Washington state. According to him, roughly 15% of Blue Origin’s employees in Puget Sound have worked for Boeing before.
In recent years, Boeing has had difficulties. In 2019, the plane was grounded globally because to two tragic crashes, and this year it experienced two major incidents: first, a door panel flew off a jet during a commercial flight, and second, NASA selected rival SpaceX to bring two astronauts back to Earth.
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In October, CEO Kelly Ortberg announced that Boeing would lay off 17,000 personnel, or 10% of its staff, as the corporation attempts to rebuild its balance sheet after the disasters of the previous five years.
Additionally, Boeing has delayed the announcement of a new aircraft, depriving engineers of an ambitious project that would spark their imaginations. The 787, the final “clean sheet” aircraft, was introduced 20 years ago.
“We need to construct a new aeroplane at the correct time in the future, but we have a lot of work to do before then,” Ortberg stated in October. Rival SpaceX, on the other hand, stated that it is looking at interplanetary flight.
According to Ron Epstein, an analyst at Bank of America, “engineers are straightforward.” They will not leave if you put them in a room with pizza, donuts, Coca-Cola, and a cool problem. So, would you rather go to Mars or repair some outdated aircraft that are experiencing production issues?
The CEO of AdAstra, a recruiting company specializing on engineering talent with headquarters in Washington, is Seyka Mejeur. Experience with safety-critical systems is necessary for engineers to transition from aviation to space, yet not all engineers wish to do so. Some people prefer Boeing’s work-life balance over the extended hours required at more recent corporations.
Nevertheless, Mejeur stated that she has been observing the departure from Boeing and other legacy defense contractors for the past five years, and that this year’s trend has increased due to Boeing’s issues.
“The danger is one of the main objections that candidates have to start-ups,” she stated. Historically, they have felt more secure working with a legacy organization. Since that element is now neutral, these legacy organizations are more willing to consider riskier start-ups after these significant layoffs.
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Boeing can no longer stop employees from leaving by offering benefits like healthcare and a pension, which were strong lures that kept workers there for decades. The pension for employees employed after 2013 and retiree healthcare for those hired after 2006 were terminated by the corporation.
About 1,700 engineers retired in 2022, according to SPEEA, compared to the typical range of 240 to 360. Many engineers had to retire that year or have their pension lump sum lowered by up to $350,000 due to a change in federal law and rising interest rates.
According to union officials, the departures undermine Boeing’s “tribal wisdom,” which is a colloquial term for employees’ decades-long understanding of how to design and construct aircraft. Because they may now have to spend an hour researching the answer to their query instead of asking a more seasoned colleague, the surviving engineers are less productive.
According to Rich Plunkett, director of strategic development at SPEEA, it has also caused issues with workflow for Boeing staff members designated to serve as inspectors for the US Federal Aviation Administration via a scheme called Organization Designation Authorization.
When FAA Administrator Mike Whitaker visited Boeing earlier this month, ODA members informed him that Boeing employees occasionally lacked the necessary experience to properly present their work for ODA approval, according to Plunkett.
“Experienced workers are leaving and not being replaced and efforts to keep them are not successful or timely,” according to a February report authored by aviation experts from airlines, academics, unions, and Boeing itself.There is a comparable issue with the FAA and its related supervision of the ODA.
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According to Boeing, early-career engineers benefit greatly from the coaching provided by the ODA unit is engineers, who are among the company’s most seasoned engineers.
The FAA declared that it would keep up its “strong oversight” of the aircraft manufacturer.
According to Plunkett, work has also been impacted by Boeing’s recent layoffs. Engineers used to usually work their notice period. They are currently being paid for sixty days, but the corporation is pushing them to quit.
“People are calling us and asking, ‘Who is going to pick up my work?'” he added.
What will happen when Boeing starts developing and producing a new aircraft, however, is the main concern posed by engineers quitting the firm. “If you want to design new stuff some day, you have to activate that muscle,” Epstein said, drawing a comparison between the issue and muscle memory.
