NCE/Autodesk survey results The modern civil engineering professional works long hours and spends large amounts of time each day sitting in front of computer screens and on administrative rather than creative tasks.

And according to the results of the first ever NCE/Autodesk Civil Engineering Survey, a fifth of civil and structural engineers are no longer actually now involved in any design-related activity.

However, the survey, which attracted over 1900 responses from across the profession, also pointed out that some 85% of respondents were very happy in their current role with only 23% looking to change employer in the next 12 months.

This despite the fact that 30% said they had no clear career path, 14% reported having had no pay rise in the last 12 months and another 46% said they had had increases of less than 5% over the year.

The survey was completed during August and September this year and gives a unique insight into the attitudes and issues within the profession. As the first of a regular series of surveys, it should provide valuable benchmarks to help the industry to improve businesses to plan for the future careers and opportunities.

Huge backing is given by civil engineering professionals to both the construction of new nuclear power stations in the UK and the construction of the Severn tidal barrage. But there is less support for road user charging amongst the profession with just 45% believing this to be an effective means to tackle congestion.

Gordon Brown also takes a hammering with 75% of respondents saying he was not doing a good job overall. In particular the management of the economy, transport and of energy were singled out as poorly managed by government.
Labour's record on tackling climate change was also felt to be poor, however 16% said they thought it actually too late to do anything about this issue.

Perhaps reassuringly though, 76% of respondents said that they were actively doing something to reduce their carbon footprint, with measures taken including using the car less and driving slower, changing to energy efficient lighting, improving home insulation, working from home and recycling.
The survey was split into sections to find out about civil engineers' lives and to tackle and gauge your opinions on your work, your careers, your industry and the wider political world. The following pages take you through the results section by section.

And while some of the responses were perhaps predictable - that civil engineers still believe the profession is undervalued, for example - many others responses give genuine new insight into the collective mind of the profession.

For example, 45% of respondents agreed or strongly agreed that the industry was a better place to work than it was five years ago and 86% said that they would recommend civil engineering as a career.

However, only 29% agreed that the industry offered a good work life balance compared to 39% who agreed. Perhaps as a results 40% said that they would consider changing career with alternatives ranging from law, medicine and journalist to becoming a farmer, teacher or voluntary worker.

And while 48% said they thought the industry was more efficient that it was five years ago, a huge 76% agreed that more had to be invested in research and innovation. Yet only 19% rated innovation as the most important factor in the design process.

But although the survey highlighted that 19% of civil and structural engineers were no longer involved in design related activity, it was perhaps reassuring to see that technical issues still ranked as the most time consuming part of your work.

Section 1 - about you

The survey highlights that civil engineering professionals are hard working but in general very satisfied with their careers with 49% of respondents said that they worked more than 40 hours a week yet 85% confirming that they are happy in their role.

The industry remains hugely male dominated with just 11% of respondents being women. This figure remains pretty constant across the regions and across disciplines.

Commuting by car is by far the most common from of transport with 54% overall choosing this mode with train coming n second with 15% and walking third with 10%.

Clearly there are regional variations, with London seeing just 22% using the car to commute against 40% travelling by train and 10% by bike - three percentage points above the national average.

Overall 19% report spending over an hour travelling to work each day with 15% taking less than 10minutes to get to the office. Some 80% reported that they spent over 3 hours a day working at a computer screen.

Section 2 - about your work     

Management and administration is clearly taking up huge part of the modern civil engineering professional's working life, with 21% of respondents reporting that they spend no time on design each day.

When we strip out administrators, managers and retired engineers this figure falls to 13% but even in this group we still see a very large amount of time spent on administration with 31% reporting that they spend 10-25% of each day and 20% devoting 25-50% of time to this non-fee-earning function

Health and safety remains the top priority in work followed closely by cost control. Innovation and sustainability are well down the priority list.

However, when it comes to the most time consuming parts of the your day, some 37% reported that dealing with technical issues was still the number ne compared to 17% rating clients and 12% saying travel took up most time.

Perhaps this lack of concern over time spent travelling is the reason that only 37% of respondents have their emails sent to their phones, the majority preferring to leave the office in the office.

"This would only turn my only quite time into hassle time," said one, with another adding that it was "nice not to be able to be reached by email at times!!

Section 3 - about your career   

The headline picture emerging around civil engineering careers is that the overwhelming majority of you - 85% - are happy in your current roles and 86% would recommend civil engineering as a career.

The fact that in this current time of skill shortage and high workload only 16% of respondents have changed employer in the last 12 months and just 23% say that they are looking to change employer highlights that the industry must be doing something to keep you so loyal and content.

It is arguably not financial reward since 14% report not having had a pay rise in the last 12 months which 47% receiving 0-5% increases during this period.
Average salaries also remain tight with 86% of respondents under 30 years old earning less than £35,000 a year.

Nor perhaps is it the career structure since 30% say they have no clear career path mapped out for them.

So despite the positive soundings 40% admit they would consider changing career and 65% of those working in the UK say that working overseas was a definite consideration.

Top countries that respondents would like to work in are, in order of preference, the Middle East, South East Asia, Europe, Ireland and Australia.

Section 4 - about your industry   

Respondents appear to be quite positive about the industry recent changes in the industry which they say have made it more efficient than it was five years ago and overall a better place to work.

The feeling that engineering is undervalued by society remains with 59% of civil engineers.

However we now also see engineers identifying issues such as the need to take sustainability more seriously and the need to invest in innovation and research and development as a sign that the profession understands it has to keep modernising to need the needs of society.

On the specific issue of preparing for structural Eurocodes 50% agree that more needs to be done by the industry ahead of the 2010 adoption deadline with only 5% disagreeing.

Section 5 - your views on the world   

Civil engineers, perhaps line with the rest of the public, are clearly not happy with Prime Minister Gordon Brown with only 27% backing his recent performance.

Across the board, his performance on civil engineering focused issues is condemned, in particular the government's management of energy supply scored poorly with 79% rating it 1 or 2 out of 5.

Other issues such as the economy, climate change, road transport, rail transport, air transport, local public transport and flood management were also condemned squarely as being equally poorly managed by the government right now.

However, 81% agreed with government policy to press ahead with new nuclear power and 70% backed the Severn barrage construction.

There is a clear enthusiasm within the industry to tackle climate change with 84% still committed to solving the problem and 76% reporting having already taken steps to reduce their own carbon footprint.