“Nimble” is frequently used to describe how AEC human resources leaders responded to the cascade of challenges in the past year. On top of supporting field crews to help keep jobsites safe and productive amid Covid-19 outbreaks, HR teams scrambled to craft strategies for maintaining connections across a suddenly dispersed office workforce, sustain recruiting efforts with only limited access to prospective candidates and conduct sometimes difficult discussions of social justice issues raised by the Black Lives Matter movement.

Though existing crisis plans gave some firms a head start on shaping responses to some of those challenges, guidance for others was virtually non-existent.
“There was no playbook for a global pandemic,” recalls Nicole Calamaio, chief HR officer for Tempe, Ariz.-based Sundt Construction Co. “We were making decisions quickly in areas where we didn’t have a lot of expertise.”

超过18个月后，人力资源团队可以谨慎自豪地为他们的公司从新常态的一次迭代到下一个迭代而感到自豪。但是现在，他们发现自己面临着同样棘手的任务，这不仅是为了维持这些努力，而且还要使组织保持一致，以使他们的组织保持一致。

例如，人力资源专业人员同意，过去一年的员工期望发生了重大改变，尤其是在工作地点。尽管有些人欢迎有机会通过解除大流行限制重返9比5的例程，但其他人则试图保留更灵活的时间表和安全工作的优势。他们还欢迎雇主的加强沟通努力，以使分散的工人在大流行时保持联系。

“Employees expect more flexibility and more transparency,” says Julie Kellman, vice president of HR for Pepper Construction Group, Chicago. “We’ve raised the bar on ourselves to share more information, and we will have to continue doing it.”

长期保持一个虚拟劳动力may be easier said than done, however. As companies look for ways to implement hybrid models that combine home and office work hours, striking an optimal balance may well prove to be a bigger challenge than sending everyone home at the outset of the pandemic.

Accommodating requests for greater flexibility is one thing, explains Rob Barclay, chief HR officer for Richmond, Va., A/E firm Draper Aden. “But you also want to maintain your culture and have the right level of collaboration, communication and social interaction in the office,” he adds. “That’s particularly important for employees new to the industry, who are still building their professional skill sets.”

Nor are all managers fully equipped to manage a virtual workforce. Setting expectations, goals and monitoring performance “is going to be an ongoing effort,” Barclay adds.

ATCS, a Herndon, Va.-based consulting engineering firm, is among the organizations that have significantly revamped their approach to remote work. What had been a formal process for considering such requests has largely been replaced with more streamlined employee-manager discussions on performance expectations and accessibility.

“We’re a completely different organization now,” says ATCS human resources vice president Sherri Huntley.

尽管有些公司希望灵活，但它们可能会受到与客户和合作伙伴的合同和运营关系的限制。“我们的客户对我们的项目团队有一定的期望，”旧金山承包商兼建筑经理Swinerton副总裁兼首席人才官Lauren Nunnally解释说。“改变现场的团队影响力可能会带来我们需要敏感的挑战。”

不过,行业人力资源顾问史密斯朱莉那警告说t insisting on a full return to pre-pandemic office routines could ultimately prove detrimental.
史密斯警告说：“保持太僵硬会影响保留率和吸引人们的能力。”史密斯警告说，由于严格限制在家工作，因此拒绝工作的轶事证据。

Original image courtesy of Getty Images

Stress Signals

大流行的办公室和工作场所常规的篡夺也使员工的心理和情感健康成为了人们的关注，这一问题是行业人力资源专业人员同意并不总是受到应有的关注，但再也无法忽略。

“The pandemic really opened up a discussion that had been taboo, and swept under the rug,” Calamaio says. “It’s much easier to talk about it now.”
Nunnally agrees, saying that in addition to looking at further mental health resources and benefits for both office and jobsite employees, “it’s important to train all of our managers and leaders on how to effectively lead in this space—how to check-in with employees, what to pay attention to and how to offer and show support.”

也难,但同样重要的是,是德eper conversations on diversity and inclusion sparked last summer as Black Lives Matter marches took place across the country. Many HR leaders report having refined their existing minority recruitment and mentoring plans to make measures more intentional, from designating executives to championing diversity, to conducting focus groups to discuss where existing efforts have both succeeded and fallen short.

“The events of last summer were an amazing jolt to all of us,” says Kellman. She adds that Pepper Construction quickly formalized its long-standing approach to diversity into a five-pillar framework that the company can use “to lean into all diversity and inclusion efforts—employees, trades, subcontractors and customers.”

Such discussions and actions will also be necessary to meet the changing expectations of prospective employees as the competition for skilled talent continues to intensify. “People expect an organization to be focused on inclusion and diversity,” Huntley says. “They’re asking questions about what we’re doing, so we need to be sure our hiring managers can answer them.”

At the same time, a firm’s commitment to diversity also demands a commitment to respect all viewpoints. Nunnally recalls being somewhat surprised to see some polarization within Swinerton’s employee base regarding subjects perceived as political on some level.

“This really forced us to think very carefully about what rules, policies and programs we wanted to put in place and, more importantly, how we wanted to message them,” she says. “Trying to figure out how to communicate in a way that resonated with all employees while creating safe and inclusive work environments was challenging.”

Listening and Learning

Listening to employees’ changing needs and concerns may well be the key to the successful evolution of AEC human resources. Many firms already are making more frequent use of surveys and other information-gathering techniques to gauge the sentiment of staff members. Some post-pandemic challenges already are taking shape, from gradually loosening state and local laws on marijuana possession and use to accommodating leave requests for religious observances that up to now have not appeared on traditional company holiday calendars.

“Employee engagement is a must, and that includes listening and responding to what they say,” Smith says. Given the demand for talent and people’s newfound ability to work seamlessly from almost anywhere, she says, “they can more easily look elsewhere than before.” While such communication will be critical, “we have to remember that we’ll still have a multigenerational workforce, with different ways of accessing information,” cautions Sally Tate, vice president of people strategies for Richmond, Va. -based Hourigan, a contractor. “The future will be one of constant adaptation.”

尽管可能存在不确定性，但SUNDT的Calamaio说，愿意做任何必要的事情来善待员工，并满足他们的需求，这将为人力资源部门提供必要的敏捷性，以继续他们的持续发展。她说：“情况比以往任何时候都更快，但最终仍然取决于关心。”