It was only a month ago I was discussing how optimistic everyone was feeling about workloads for 2020. The logjam of Brexit was finally being released and Architects with 3-5 years post part 3 and Revit were in particularly high demand. The speed of events over the last couple of weeks, however, has been absolutely terrifying and the reality has suddenly set in that business is in for an almighty fight for survival. The challenge of getting remote working set up in a remarkably short space of time was achieved by most practices relatively successfully and in the future, I expect this will be one of the surprising benefits to come out of this disaster. Maintaining a company culture, productivity and staff morale whilst everyone is working remotely will certainly be another hurdle for management but for those who really look after their staff, this could be a defining moment which bonds a team together. It is also a fantastic opportunity to spend time training which might often be side-lined during busier periods.
The great fear, however, we are hearing from a number of our clients is if sites are shut down. At that point workload will rapidly diminish and practices will be left with some stark decisions. I can only hope firms take up the Government's Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme but without knowing how long this situation may last, some studios will be forced to make the incredibly difficult decision to make redundancies.
We are left to hope that people take the social distancing measures seriously and the tide can be turned in 12 weeks. Whilst this is still a possibility, we still have firms recruiting, interviewing via video calls and making offers. If you do find yourself out of work, do give us a call on +44 (0)20 8004 0369 and we will do our utmost to help.
If you are an employer, recruitment is probably the last thing on your mind at the moment but in the long term, the industry will recover and the Budget set aside large amounts of money for construction. We are starting to receive several high-quality CVs which only a month ago would have been snapped up. If you want to be prepared for when Coronavirus has been contained and life starts returning to normal, do let us know and we can help you to start engaging with potential employees.
If you are also in the fortunate situation of still being busy and could do with additional contract support, we have some particularly strong candidates who are immediately available and able to work from home. We are set up for video interviews so whether this is just a short term fix or a permanent opportunity, do give us a call on +44 (0)20 8004 0369.