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O P I N I O N
Keeping up in the new normal
I n early 2020, we quickly transitioned from the longest NYSE bull market in history to what the International Monetary Fund describes as, “the worst since the Great Depression in the 1930s.” With these huge economic changes, engineering firms and leaders are required to evolve their team management and culture dynamics forever. Whether it be remote flexibility considerations, how firms make strategic growth decisions, or hiring tactics in general, engineering workplace culture is changed forever.
Jake Voorhees
Even though we may be crawling out of the pandemic as the CDC lifts mask mandates across the nation, the engineering manager’s “Running Your Team 101” playbook is just now being re-written during the new normal. Because of this, we are seeing an unprecedented shift in engineering firm culture. As we enter the shift, there are several questions on your mind right now if you work for an engineering firm. The flagship question is often, “Will my remote work and COVID-19 flexibility remain the same forever?” If we dial back to early-pandemic, tech companies responded to the crisis immediately. Many announced they would allow their employees to work from home permanently. This adaptive list includes brands like Google, Microsoft, Twitter,
Square, Facebook, Dropbox, Shopify, and many more. Are you surprised by this though? However, emulating Silicon Valley thinking is generally impossible for the engineering sector. Then in July of 2020, Siemens, “a technology company focused on industry, infrastructure, mobility, and healthcare” which employs thousands of engineers, made a big announcement. They decided to allow 140,000 employees (of 385,000 total staff) to work wherever they want for two or three days a week. If a company the size of Siemens can do this, one that employs tens of thousands of engineers, there is no reason why some of the largest U.S. based AEC firms cannot be adaptive as well.
See JAKE VOORHEES, page 4
THE ZWEIG LETTER JUNE 21, 2021, ISSUE 1397
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