Covid-19的破坏和后果 - 从远离，孤立的员工和无触摸的业务发展到失去收入和挥之不去的市场不确定性 - 在建筑部门渴望其流行前的存在中。

Precautions and vaccines are accelerating the return to some degree for firms, owners and other AEC participants, but there’s a growing sense that workplace adaptations forced by the coronavirus are innovations long needed and here to stay. “A lot of it was there but not adopted,” Danielle Dy Buncio, CEO of virtual design consultant VIATechnik told attendees of ENR's Top Young Professionals conference in February.

她说：“ ​​Covid是电灯开关，一夜之间，游戏已经改变，我们需要新的方法来玩游戏。

最近的业务调查表明，新兴的转型，但对未来变化的不确定性和辩论。在三月对所有业务部门中2,000名自我认同工人的审慎调查中，只有13％的人表示会选择全日制工作，而三分之一的人对需要这种存在的雇主不起作用。受访者说，有34％的求职者希望远程工作，而42％的雇主文化将重点放在“ C”或更低的情况下。但是，三分之二的受访者也将面对面的互动视为职业发展的关键。

在税务顾问马库姆（Marcum）的4月份调查中，包括251个中间市场首席执行官（包括建筑中的首席执行官），有82％的人希望允许部分偏远的劳动力大流行。但是在上个月的首席执行官调查中，管理公司毕马威（KPMG。

格雷格Schoppman,负责人dustry management consultant FMI Corp., says the pandemic forced AEC companies to rethink policies, practices and procedures that have been the norm for years, and many benefited from that reflective exercise. While profits rose last year for many firms as costs dropped, “people had to really think about how to make money and how to be very deliberate about the execution,” he says.

竞争优势

Design and construction firms, owners and others now are weighing options in accommodating staff and business needs.

“We will not have a firm-wide mandatory return to the office,” says Mark Edwards, CEO of Texas designer Halff Associates. “The percentage who return will vary depending on job description, individual independence and office and team requirements.” But the firm won’t cut its office space. “We are maintaining or increasing it so every employee has their own space to preserve our culture. This will be a competitive advantage in the future. What’s good for our people is good for business, that’s the bottom line.”

“Offices are where collaboration happens and are vital to our culture,” says architect Gensler co-CEO Andy Cohen, who notes internal research showing a 37% drop in collaboration “when we’re not together.” Greg Kelly, CEO of designer STV, echoes that, stressing that “we are always best when we can be together.” He says the firm anticipates returning to its offices after Labor Day. “We are still working on a plan as to how best to make this happen,” Kelly says.

“All staff learns from the shoulder-to-shoulder with leaders and colleagues and immersion into the processes, policies, culture and collaborative work environment,” says Gerald Salontai, CEO of engineer Hull & Associates. “The quicker this happens, the more they can be effective and bring value.” About 25% of Hull staff prefers to work remotely, with office trips for “occasional” team, project, client or company meetings. “This will cause changes in our real estate portfolios, office space and workspace layout,” he says. Quality control is at higher risk from a remote workforce, he contends. “Not having teams in close proximity can lead to things falling through the cracks on a given project,” Salontai says.

Laura Ramey, chief people officer at TRC Cos., says the firm “was an early adopter of the [work-from-home] model and had a digital foundation in place before the pandemic,” allowing TRC to quickly transition office-based staff “without large lapses in productivity or employee access.”

Employee polls indicate most want to continue with a hybrid work from home and office setup post-pandemic, “and these numbers have remained consistent over the past 12 months,” she says.

CFO Gaurav Kappor在4月22日在顾问AEC顾问赞助的论坛上表示，AECOM的劳动力表达了类似的观点。他说，在过去八个月中，对其50,000多名全球劳动力的两项调查表明，有78％的人更喜欢“灵活的弹性工作安排”。他还说，计划“减少”空间，在未来四年内，有65％的公司租赁将到期，并指出空间的工程空间计划：“我们确保团队拥有正确的技术和WFH套件。”

Priya Kapila, FMI compensation practice leader, said in a recent article, “It’s no surprise that many engineering and construction executives are asking, ‘How do we continue to monitor productivity, measure performance and reward employees who used to be in the office but aren’t anymore?’” Long-term solutions “are largely unknown, particularly given the uncertainty as to whether wide-ranging remote work will continue,” she says. One concern Kapila notes is that, in some cases, employees are missing important team engagement and communication developments, “so remote work is actually playing to their weakness.” FMI has more research underway among contractor CEOs, she says.

"There are challenges in development of staff now, especially those in their 30s who seek career advancement and ... underlie a lot of capability and billability are not feeling 'invested in' ... nearly as fully, if at all, as when in the office," says Ted Lower, CEO of industry management firm LVNV and an HR practice consultant to AEC advisory company EFCG.

According to Lower, firms intend to have "essentially all offices open for partial/rotating occupancy by 50% of employees by summer, with most having 25% to 35% occupancy by June." Many firms with offices in smaller, non urban locations "are well past that already," he says.

第四季度COVID wave looming dependent on vaccine strength and variants, "having the hybrid environment carried 2Q, 3Q and into the 4Q is viewed as the best course of action, as it is possible that year-end could involve significant office closure mandates," Lower contends.

Hybrid work arrangements are seen for up to 40% of design firm Stantec staff, so the firm turned to virtual reality cameras and the internet to do field reviews remotely. It’s not foolproof, with the company relying on the contractor to not intentionally skip over items, says Steve Fleck, chief project officer. From rebar to earthwork inspections, “there is nothing you can’t do that way,” he says. “You get to see every nook and cranny.”

Fleck acknowledges that “getting people to remobilize in the office is actually a much more difficult exercise.”

付费，职业风险？

一些研究认为，削减薪水是远程员工的迫在眉睫的选择，并有历史证据“表明远程办公带来了负面的含义，并且认为远程员工并不努力工作，”卡皮拉说。她说，大流行在家中繁荣的工作“有助于劝阻这种思维定势。”

Harvard Business Review researchers, in a March article, cite one survey that about 44% of employees would be willing to cut pay by 10% “to work remotely forever.” But they urge employers to adopt ”a leader-supported declaration of organizational expectations related to remote work.”

Gilbane Building Co.的总裁兼首席执行官Michael McKelvy表示，该公司去年了解到，修改了过去员工工作的过去的观念“可能不是做得不好。”他说，该公司“仍然希望人们在办公室里，但是我们对这种差异的理解比以前要大得多。”

Even so, there is growing statistical and anecdotal evidence that remote work poses risks for women’s careers. Management consultant McKinsey last summer found in all sectors that women represented 39% of global employment but 54% of job losses. The consultant said its studies dating to 2015 had never recorded more women opting out of the workforce than men, until last year.

英国针对4月份发布的所有250名或更多雇主的最新年度薪资差距调查显示，某些建筑部门公司对妇女的大流行效应。据行业专家称，Covid Ferloughs和增加的儿童保育职责可能会“将一些职业恢复到几年中”。去年，安德拉·基德（Andra Kidd）被任命为赫尔（Hull）首席运营官，指出该公司的努力与其他公司不同，以提高时间的灵活性和心理健康支持，以“在可能的情况下建立工作与生活平衡，这将在可能的情况下继续超越大流行。”

Face-to-face collaboration remains critical, but virtual options won’t disappear, says Scott Sass, national leader of DPR’s special services group, noting an uptick in workforce engagement. “Employees now feel really connected to the pulse of the company and to our strategies,” he says.

该链接扩展到大学校园，在过去的一年中，远程学习通常是规范，并缩小连接器。华盛顿州立大学的CM教授戴维·甘德森（David Gunderson）说：“学生比亲自见面比亲自见面。”“我不确定这是一个便利因素，还是是否有一些恐吓。”他说，他“基本上是在正式的时间里放弃。我们现在俩现在都可以见面。”使用虚拟平台来接待行业专家，还增加了学校的学习选择，过去距离西雅图五小时的车程受到阻碍。

Zoom will remain a go-to platform, but a recent American Council of Engineering Cos. (ACEC) member survey said nearly 63% of respondents have found or seek alternatives for remote interaction. “Architects and designers are visual thinkers, and working entirely in the digital space has expanded our arsenal of, and fluency with, digital collaboration tools,” says Gensler co-CEO Diane Hoskins.

From the pandemic’s early days, DPR Construction leaned on its technology and innovation team for ways to keep jobs moving ahead successfully, specifically focusing on safety, productivity and collaboration. “We came up with more than 200 solutions—the most we’ve ever done in our history,” says Kaushal Diwan, DPR’s national leader of corporate innovation. While many were quick fixes to virus-related issues, he expects to see some continue. The company piloted the use of augmented reality headsets, connecting inspectors with project teams in the field when lockdowns restricted travel.

“I think that you’re going to see us continue to use wearable technology to help people be cognizant of where they are in relation to each other,” says Gilbane’s McKelvy. The Nevada Dept. of Transportation ramped up technology in its public-facing events. With open meetings barred, NDOT used web-based streaming services for virtual meetings, creating a higher standard for gathering public input and generating community support, says spokesman Tony Illia. “The pandemic has forced us to evaluate and reconsider best practices.” The agency also has developed a long-term telecommute policy for most of its administrative and management staff.

Major Pivot

AEC sector participants and observers also see key COVID-19 changes in business development. An ACEC survey in March said nine out of 10 respondents would allow travel for client meetings in the next six months, but only 50% will OK it for events, which must not exceed 20 attendees. Jennifer Newman, principal of Elevate Marketing Advisors, an industry consultant, notes two client design firms that “had to do a major pivot in 2020, implementing a digital strategy and new websites and brands to fit the new virtual environment.”

虽然削减旅行和其他业务发展和员工的支持使一些公司的利润吸引了一些公司，但“与此同时，公司已经争先恐后地（经常花费了算没有资金），以确保他们的员工能够远程工作，”帕克（Parker）也是现任营销专业服务协会主席。他说：“对决策者的可访问性比我职业生涯中所记得的要好”，并且AEC公司使用“去年的任何可用时间”来重新检查业务发展策略。

Halff’s Edwards cites the firm’s use of “creative ways to stay in front of clients, such as providing virtual learning opportunities on topics that will allow them to become more efficient.” To compensate in a firm “built on a foundation of face-to-face,” Stantec effectively drew on banked goodwill, says Fleck. But the firm also understands it will need to start making live “deposits” to maintain those relationships, he says.

Design Giant WSP Global的首席执行官Alexander L'Heureux认为大流行“全球悲剧，但……也是一个改变和改进的机会”。“这不再是我们需要设计的敏捷工作场所，而是一个非常不同的敏捷工作环境。我们需要决定为什么我们希望工人回来以及我们希望他们做什么。”高管说。