Yet Another Article About the "Future of Work"

I like to read articles and keep up with current events and business trends. I love a good Ted Talk as much as the next person. Love to read the latest business biography and listen to business and industry podcasts when time allows. With that background, one of the things that I can say with absolute certainty is that in June 2021, almost everyone is trying to figure out what the future of work looks like. Do a google search on "the future of work" and you'll be amazed at how common that term has become. It's understandable. People all across the business spectrum are trying to find the next competitive advantage in recruiting, business development, and production efficiency.

The elders among us in the AEC industry can tell you all about change in the way we work. Heck, we've seen the demise of the drafting machine and Leroy lettering sets and the rise of CAD drafting and BIM and GIS, the demise of the transit and now the advent of GPS surveying, the demise of typewriters, and the rise of word processor and publishing software on personal computers, the rise and fall of fax machines, the advent of the internet and email, and believe it or not, the demise of rotary phones and the rise of VOIP and smartphones.  We even lived through the era of bag phones and most recently, the popularity of the "open office floorplan", which by the way didn't work out too well in 2020.

Change in the way we do business is a fact of life, and the year 2021 doesn't have the market cornered on business change.

But I'm here to remind you that there is nothing new under the sun. At KSA, we are focused on some unchangeable facts about the AEC business. In order to succeed, we believe that it's imperative to focus on the fundamentals in three central areas: providing a client experience that is remarkable (in a good way), providing a great place to work enhanced by opportunities for career growth for our employees, and producing a profit that provides for business sustainability. If you think about it, fail in any of those three areas, and your business will be losing ground fast. Yes, change is inevitable, but some things like the absolute need to serve clients with excellence will never change.

But for the sake of this discussion, I'll play along. What immediate change do we see in the future of work in the AEC industry? My friends, employees have seen behind the curtain over the last 18 months. Arbitrary and bureaucratic policies and business practices are being viewed with greater skepticism than ever. In short, we believe that employees, in a labor market that greatly favors them, are desiring much greater flexibility in 1.) the way that they work, 2.) when they work, and 3.) where they work. 

Those tired old dogmatic "butts in the seat" rules are the bane of most employee's existence at this point. 

"Why should I have to charge PTO for a doctor's appointment today when I worked at home last night after the kids were put to bed for 3 hours knocking out the first draft of a report for one of our firm's best clients?" "Why do I have to wear a sportscoat to the office when I have no outside appointments and know I won't see a client today?" The kind of stiff corporate thinking that answers those questions with, "because it's our company policy" is going to go the way of the dinosaur - certain extinction.

With that said, we believe that our business is fundamentally about people, which necessarily includes relationships and communication. Professionals in our industry will have a very hard time doing everything that they need to do while working from home. In fact, it just can't be done 100% of the time. Face-to-face interaction and communication and boots on the ground are going to be required at some level from those that wish to lead projects. We believe that those who try to avoid in-person interaction will lose ground in terms of career development. There is a definite limit to what can be accomplished by video meetings, email, messaging, and file transfer. 

Moving forward, we must continue to focus on doing our work in a way that benefits our clients and our team. We believe that flexible work policies can actually enhance those benefits if we keep our focus on our clients and teammates. So the impact of any flexible workplan on clients and fellow team members is a key driver of KSA's flexible work policy.

At KSA, we build people who build the future. That's not just a trite slogan that we throw around and post on the walls. We believe that it is a fundamental requirement of business in these times. We want to become a firm that is widely known for the training and development of our employees today to meet the current and future challenges of our clients.

We've also revisited our corporate values through the lens of the year 2020, including:

• collaborative teamwork
• commitment to excellence
• mutual respect
• consistent integrity
• future-focused

We believe that these values served us well over the past year, and are more important than ever moving forward in 2021. Today, we are even more committed to moving our workplace into closer alignment with those values.

We have great reason to be optimistic about the future of the AEC industry. Our industry provides purpose for a great number of business owners and employees, meeting critical needs in our nation's infrastructure, and making a huge difference in the quality of life in communities where we live and work. That is exactly the kind of purpose that young engineering, architecture, planning, and surveying graduates are looking for today. And exactly the kind of purpose that keeps old farts like me coming to work each day.

Mitchell L. Fortner, P.E. (Mitch) is the President and CEO of KSA, a multidisciplinary engineering and architecture consulting firm serving clients from ten offices throughout Texas, Oklahoma, and Louisiana. He may be reached at [email protected]. For career opportunities at KSA, please apply online at www.ksaeng.com.