Training, employee development activities, and retention

The purpose of this study was to determine whether Los Angeles County Department of Public Works civil engineers valued training and development activities and whether the availability of these activities helped to retain them. A secondary purpose was to determine whether civil engineers played an active role in managing their careers. A third purpose was examining whether supervisors supported employees in their professional development.; It was hypothesized that the availability of training and development activities and supervisor support helped to retain engineers. The second hypothesis proposed that civil engineers who received supervisor support participated in more developmental activities. The third hypothesis proposed that civil engineers who managed their career valued professional development activities.; The data collected for the study indicated that training and development activities did not help to retain civil engineers; however, supervisor support did. The data also indicated that civil engineers valued specific types of professional development activities.