What Does The Future Of Work Look Like For The Architecture Profession?

What Does The Future Of Work Look Like For The Architecture Profession?
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[00:00:00] Hello everyone, halfway through the week. Here we go. I'm loving it. Today I've got something I want to talk about. I've got to get it off my chest. What better way to do it one on one with a proud sandwich? I don't know. It might be a Sainsbury's meal deal. I've had that before. Anyways. Onwards and upwards.

20 seconds. 20 seconds.

Hello, everyone. Hope you're having a good Wednesday. Halfway through the week, we're getting there. You know what it's like. Two more days, then we're there for the weekend. While we're on that [00:01:00] subject, you're probably at work right now because I'm live streaming at one o'clock. And I was thinking, basically a question came my way this week, which was asking, what do I think the future of work is like for architectural professionals at the moment and I had to stop and think because there's a lot going on at the moment.

And for anyone that's not aware, while I do the architecture social, build that community, all that stuff, I do also work in recruitment and part of recruitment is speaking day in, day out with people who are job seeking, but also architectural employers as well. And I think more than ever in 2022. Now that we've come out of the pandemic, it's a really interesting time.

We've passed that, the height of it. I know that the COVID is still around, however, we've passed that point from working a hundred percent in the office now to this new world, this flexible working, [00:02:00] there's a few different things that's come in, but also we've got a cost of living crisis at the moment.

So salary is talked about more than ever, as well as the hours that are worked. It's also way more expensive to study architecture. So it makes sense that graduates are coming out now and some of them are quite disappointed with the salaries after studying three to five years, whatever it may be.

So I thought we would have a one on one conversation about the current situation at the moment. I haven't got a guest per se, so you're stuck with me. which is a blessing or a burden. If you switch off, I would understand. However, if you want to stick around, you can also ask any questions as well.

So on LinkedIn, if you want, you can add a statement, you can submit a comment, whatever it is, and we'll bring it on the screen. So to begin with, I thought I would get up. We got to [00:03:00] break this down. So I thought I would get a graph. Isn't that what us architectural professionals do, right? We learn in university to put things in pen and paper.

So I wanted to break down this concept of where I see things going at the moment and the pushes and pulls that I experienced all the time that employers are constantly trying to work on as well as what job seekers are looking for. So if you will indulge me one second, while I bring this up, there you go.

Took a little while, sorry, it's just me at the moment, but I've plotted what I think and what I hear all the time are what people are looking for at the moment, whether you're a job seeker or an employer. And basically when we talk about work, especially in 2022, what does that mean? We've got to expand upon the work.

Is it the actual job when we say work? Is it the actual work that you do on the project? Is it the work environment? Is it nine to [00:04:00] five? Is that, basically when you wake up in the morning and you go to work? And then you come home in the evening, is that what you constitute as work? And then there's the logistics of it, right?

Where is work? What hours are you in that work? What kind of arrangement do you have with work? So I've broken it down into four basic areas which are quite important. And have a think when I'm talking about these about your current job. So if you're in architectural practice right now, have a think about which ones.

Do you think are most important to you or maybe the ones that influence your well being the most as well? So I've broken it down to the four main areas that I discuss in recruitment with someone when they're looking for a job or when I get it a role from an architectural practice and we're fleshing out the job description and stuff.

So there's four particular parts to it. In what I [00:05:00] define as work, it's number one is the actual role itself. For example, what does that involve? We can also add maybe the title here, because I missed it out. What is the title of the job? Yeah? What is the salary of the job? This is so important, and more and more important.

This year, more than ever, we're talking about salaries. Are salaries put on jobs? When you go into an interview, should you discuss salaries? These are the kind of questions I get all the time. And yes, salary is very important. The sectors of the role, the RIBA stages, let me zoom into for you here. The software that's used in the role and the hours needed to do the role.

That's a bit of a tongue twister there, especially for my Welsh accent. So the hours, what are the actual hours that are needed? Is this a long project? Is it, what kind of hours are there? And then the other bit that companies especially tend to focus in the jobs is the [00:06:00] actual logistics of it. Where is the location?

What are the core hours? What are the benefits? What is the computer setup? And what is the office physical environment? Now these two tend to be, I think, especially before 2020, what architecture practitioners, when they post in jobs, would talk about. What do we need and what can we give you in terms of the logistic setup, right?

But now it's 2022 and you could argue that salary, for example, affects everything. And I would actually agree with that. To some extent, but what I see people talking about more and definitely is more important than ever is as well their company culture, so salary, of course, is important to survive and all that stuff, but we all know architecture is not their biggest paid job.

If you do want to make more money. After being an architect, there are alternative careers and there's also working in developers, or maybe you run your own architecture practice and then you are earning [00:07:00] quite a lot of money. But chances are, if you're in architecture, it's not just about the money because you want to build buildings that help people's lives, all this stuff, building hospitals totally makes complete sense.

Bearing that in mind, then where you work is going to be really important for you, right? Company culture is extremely important and I constantly hear things popping up, such as what is the office environment, what is the social calendar, are people sitting at their desk all year, or do they go on holiday, or do they go for a team meetings, is there like monthly barbecues in the summer, who knows it is important, especially if you're working there all the time.

The other thing that pops up is teammates, what's it like on the team? What's the environment? What's my line manager like? Very important questions because actually there's the company culture, but the team culture can equally affect your quality of work. I don't know about you. I've worked with some amazing bosses, but I've also [00:08:00] worked with some one or two people that have been a little bit difficult and they can bring down the mood of the team.

But equally as well, you can learn a lot from these people sometimes, who knows, right? But then there's also things in the company culture, like community engagement and EDI, how inclusive is the environment? Are they, what kind of people are they hiring? Are they all from different backgrounds, different setups?

So on and so forth. And the last bit that I want you to think about, especially in your job or when you're looking for jobs is personal development, right? We talked about the role which is you, okay, and the company logistics it might change over time but there's that kind of bit in between and it goes hand in hand with the role and the company culture and that is personal development.

How much is the company investing in you? It might be nothing, right? It might be that you rock up, maybe you're a contractor, right? You're going to get a little personal development on that if you're there on a fixed term contract or whatever. [00:09:00] But if you're a permanent employee and you've joined as a Part 1 or a Part 2, Then actually personal development is going to be important when you're thinking about the long term career, the future of your work and environment and your future of architectural practice, right?

So what are they doing? Is there training there? Is there part free support? Is there mentoring? You tell me if I'm missing any things out here, but also I thought appraisals are pretty important as well, because a large part of personal development is tapping in every now and then on your career for a little checkup, especially after a project's done, I think it's important as well, because sometimes employers get busy and they genuinely forget, but really, if I was you and I was working, I would be having a meeting at least with my employer once a year to go over what I've done.

What I can improve and also talk about salaries. That's the other thing, the important bit about appraisals. And even though some companies say you shouldn't talk about salaries in your appraisals, but let me tell you, I [00:10:00] always did. And sometimes I got a pay rise out of it. And when I didn't, I got the target of what to do next.

Okay. So I can't get a pay rise now, but if I do X, Y, Z, but the next time we meet can we look at this again? Usually the company will say yes. And if no, then well, that's not great for personal development, so you can bear it in mind in your job search. So that's what I thought we would discuss today, and I'm happy to go into it in a little bit more detail, maybe for the next 10, 10 or so minutes, expanding upon that.

While I'm here though, the future of work. What does it mean to you? If you're tuning into this live stream now, tell me what you think about salaries. If you're not, and you're watching this on repeat. Drop me a comment, drop me a note. What's important to you in terms of the future of work? Okay also, by and about the time when I'm talking about this online, I see a lot of the salaries at the moment.

It's a big [00:11:00] conversation piece. Salaries affects everything. And that's why I put it in the middle and the reality is, what else is important to you? I reckon though salary, why salary is really important. The more, the other thing that I see, which is equally important is probably flexible work in arrangements.

Okay. What's it like where you're working? Can you work at home? Remote working is so important. And what I want you to think about is if you can't move on the salary so much, What about your work and environment? So in your office at the moment, are you working five days a week in the office? I actually interviewed someone, an architectural recruitment consultant.

Mind you. But it was interesting because in this office they were working five days a week in the office, and I was thinking, isn't that a bit behind at the moment? It's 2022, right? Why are we working full time in the office? And that then led me to think maybe the company [00:12:00] culture of this company, maybe the director doesn't trust the people that work five days a week.

There might be a legitimate reason, however, in architectural recruitment, where the job is mainly on the phones and emails, it made me question what the company culture was like. And I think that's a good point that you can bring up in your interviews. You should be asking about flexible working alongside the salary.

I don't know why people don't talk about the salaries until the final point. It's a bit late by then, isn't it? If the salary is too low, you're probably not going to take the job. So I think it's always good to talk about those. as well during an interview in particular. I can see here that we've got Eileen from yesterday who's dropped a comment.

Thank you. It's good to see you again. You can join me next time, so it's not just me if you want, but yes, you're right. I have regular one on ones. These are so important. If you don't do them, then you're going to get [00:13:00] left behind. Your career will stagnate and that future of work it won't keep progressing because personal development, it does rely on checking in and there is an element of accountability from your employer, but also yourself.

To have those check ins. I would love to pose a question. You're listening to this. Maybe you're in the live stream right now. What is important to you in the future of your work career in architecture? Have a think about it, okay? I'll tell you what was really important to me, was having flexibility.

Now I work remotely, but I think I probably want to go back into an office one or two days a week. But before the pandemic, I used to work full time. I used to be in the office myself, and I don't know if I want to do that anymore. The future of work has changed for me, but flexibility is probably more important than ever.

Having said that, you might be thinking the [00:14:00] future of my work, money is quite important. So I've got a kid, I've got whatever, I've got commitments and that makes complete sense. And then you have to think as well, maybe what kind of sectors would, should I work on, which will influence my salary? And I'll give you a quick hint.

If you work in data centers, probably not the most glamorous projects in the world, but you'll get paid more money than someone working on social housing. And that's just fact, it's just, there's different things to go about in architecture, but you might say to me, Steve, I don't want a future of working on data centers because it doesn't interest me.

And I would agree with that, and I would, and I think that makes total sense, but you have to realize that the salary will be affected by that as well. The other thing is, what about the future of working in a glamorous architecture practice, okay? Which is killing it! They've got loads of awards, you, maybe you were studying and you were thinking, I really want to work at that architecture practice, they're the ones for me, and then when you get [00:15:00] there, it's great, and you're doing all that design.

But the hours, it's not nine to five, right? You've got a competition submission. It's make or break, do or die. This project's going to be on your CV forever. And it's great experience, but they ain't going to stop until seven, eight, nine, 10 o'clock at night, especially close to the submission. And you've got to think, can I do this in the long term?

Chances are as well, we have a competition submission, maybe they're doing it remote, but a lot of these kind of companies will ask you to come in person. So you're going to think, do I really want to do that? And perhaps maybe at the start of your career, you think, yeah, why not? Totally. I'll do the long hours and soak up the experience and I'll love it.

And good for you. However, maybe further in your career, now that things have changed in your future do you have a family or something like that? You can't really do those long hours anymore and therefore, perhaps an architectural practice, which isn't [00:16:00] doing those kind of high end competitions, long hours maybe that's a better fit for you.

Now, things change and things have changed this year. Have a think. What the future of work means to you in architecture. I put up the thumbnail for this, which I thought might be a bit controversial, make people think it's like the long hours in the office, or maybe the perception of working at home, you'll be doing the washing machine, doing all this stuff in the background.

Is that what employers think? I generally think that architecture practices, a lot of the forward thinking ones and the good ones, probably the kind of company that you want to work at the moment, they're relaxed with you working probably two to three days at home. I think having at least one day at home for me would be quite important.

You might want to come into the office five days a week and perhaps that's your prerogative as well. That flexibility is key in the conversation. I can see [00:17:00] that I've got I got a comment coming from Salomon Ashrafs, which says, I think that having the opportunity to a voice our opinions by creating a union and going on strike to show any concerns we have is potentially another opportunity.

Good option to improve any difficulties within the industry. That is very interesting because actually for the first time, at least that I'm aware of in the UK, this year, I had UVW Soar on the podcast and UVW Soar It is an architectural trade union, right? And they went on strike against an architectural practice.

It was very interesting to hear their list of demands. It's unheard of, right? But what effect does that have in the industry? I don't really hear anyone talking about it this month now. And I think it was about two months ago that it came up. So it's has that made an impact in the industry?

I think it might have. But it's dissipated. So I [00:18:00] agree with you. I think it's good that we're talking about this thing. Having said that we've all got to keep talking about it. Otherwise things dissipate and they lose momentum. So Salomon, thank you for sharing that. And I completely agree.

I think that it is good to have these kinds of conversations which haven't been around for a while. And I think that more than ever now in 20. 2022, especially like we had stuff for the Bartlett, remember all that, the long hours, the toxic culture in academia, as well as professional practice. And I think now we're starting to look at things where before they were just considered as is.

I think if you came to me in architectural recruitment before 2020, and you asked me to find you a job part time, I would tell you it's impossible. I wouldn't laugh at you or nothing like that. I would just tell you it's really impossible because I never get those kinds of briefs. [00:19:00] But more and more now people, maybe they're not looking for the part time jobs.

Although I do see it more than now. It's not impossible anymore. But what I see people talking about is flexible working. 2020. I'd ask, I have some people go I'm a parent now, Steve. Would it be possible for me to come in half an hour late, and I work half an hour more? And for some practices, that was a problem before 2020.

Can you believe it? Half an hour? For the sake of that, you're going to lose an amazing BIM Manager or whatever. But now I think that the smart architectural practices are thinking, you know what, if we have this level of flexibility, Then we're going to attract the best kind of people, the talented people, which will stay us for a while.

And if they're not thinking that here's a hint. Maybe you should be thinking that because you will get the best people. I guarantee it. And then you won't need to pay recruiters like me as an architecture practice, a lot of money. You'll be getting all the candidates yourself, be putting me out of a job.

So I [00:20:00] shouldn't say that really. Ah, I did. So no problem. Okay I'm going to leave it there. Let's have a quick summary. Short, sweet, to the point, talk about the future of work. What do I see the future of work in architecture changing? Not too sure yet. However, before, I think that the role, as I've illustrated here, We've talked about the most and company logistics, whereas I think more than ever now we're talking about all four of them, including personal development and company culture.

And I think in the middle, so let me move it here and I'll put it in white. Still got it still doing things on the fly. Here we go. I reckon that these factors touch everything. The salary, the flexible working arrangements. Very important. You can't have one so high that maybe there's a trade off, but it feels like to me that from what I'm hearing for [00:21:00] architecture job seekers at the moment, that they're trying to improve their salary, improve their flexible working.

Arrangements. Those are the top two. And then after it, it might be good looking for a different company culture. It might be for a more exciting role. Who knows? It might be for a place where they feel really valued. Oh, I've got one last comment here that I was going to do. Leonardo, you are just at the last minute, my friend, before I shut off.

Maybe that's a lesson to me to keep these live streams a bit so that people can talk. Anyways, Leonardo says, I worked at one of the most famous architecture practices in London. I won't mention the name. Oh dear. I know where this is going. Probably. I should read these things before I start. Anyways Leonardo continues.

I left after a week. Okay. Where I didn't sleep at home nor in the office for three days, a friend of mine got sick. Toxic culture in one of the best offices in the world. Thank you for sharing your [00:22:00] story. I really appreciate that. And cheers for not mentioning the name because while I love talking about it, it's good that I can keep doing this.

I wouldn't want to get in trouble with that practice or on LinkedIn. But this story, that you mentioned. It's quite common, isn't it? The perception of what is online, you look at the prestigious website and then you get there and you might think this is not for me and I think more than ever it's good not to judge a book by its cover.

I think I said that don't judge a book by its cover. Go to interviews, and interviews are just as much for you as they are for the company. If you think about it, when you go for an interview, you get to see the architectural practice. Years ago, when I worked at another recruitment agency, I had an interview for a candidate booked at 6 o'clock.

For an architecture practice. And this interview went on for an hour and a half, two hours, because this person was really into the interview. The interview was enjoying it and all that stuff. [00:23:00] And then the next day I spoke to the candidate and he said, I really liked the team leader, the project's interesting, but I'm not going to go for it.

And I was shocked. It's a famous name. I was like, really? Okay, tell me what, why do you think, why do you think you don't want to do it? And they said I finished the interview and it was what, like seven, eight o'clock and half the office was still in. And that was why that person turned down that role.

So if you're an architecture practice, think about these stuff that people really take notice. And also if you're a job seeker, think about that. When you're going for to these companies and you're going to meet them. Think about it like it's an interview for you to, do you want to work there? And there's nothing like going to that architectural practice to view that app for yourself.

Can you see yourself working there in the future? And I know it's quite convenient to do Zoom interviews and we're in an online world. [00:24:00] However, I think if you can go to an architectural practice in person, maybe it's on the second Avenue or whatever, Actually, that's really revealing because you will get to see the company for yourself.

Do the Zoom, but ask to go there in person because you get a feel, you might get pumped up and excited because actually it feels like this is, it's a really nice physical environment. They've got switch computers and all this stuff on this really cool location and the people see them happy and then you get excited or you might go in and think, wow, that's really cool.

There was like an atmosphere in the air. I couldn't see myself working there in the future. And that will really help you out in your job search as well. So have a think about it. Maybe use this blueprint. I will save this mirror document. I will put it on the Architecture Social. But think about this when you're looking for a job.

Maybe I'll do a template where I'll delete all this stuff or whatever. And you think about it and [00:25:00] you weigh it up. How much of the role is important to you? What are the company logistics like and what's the company culture? Do they talk about personal development? And the more you populate these bubbles, that probably will give you like a heat graph or whatever you're going to call it.

I don't know what these things are called. The circle graph will paint that picture of the four facets for you, but don't get seduced by just the project. Don't get seduced by just the website. Think about it in the long term. Can you work there? Is the salary fair? Can it build up?

Are people going to invest in you? Do you have the software skills? Are they going to train you on what you don't know? Weigh all that up, and then You can think about it and decide whether or not you want to accept and if you're currently in a job at the moment and you're thinking, wow, I never thought about that, Stephen, never thought about looking at personal development and you, maybe [00:26:00] they don't cover that, but then that's something that you can bring up with your current job and you can see if that progresses and if it does amazing and then if not, Have a think about if you want to move somewhere else as well.

Cool. So I will put that on the Architecture Social. And if you haven't checked it out yet, here we go. Let's see if I got the link here. Here we go. I've got it. You can find this board. I will put it in the blog section and all that stuff. On TheArchitectureSocial. com I've been doing some cool stuff at the moment and actually I'm going to do a lot of work on the job board so it will have jobs that I'm working on recruitment but more and more architecture companies as well.

Wouldn't that be cool? And as well as that we do have the community forum and a few other things as well so I think this is one of the links. You can join the Architecture Socials here. I'll check if this works out there. But community. architecturesocial. com. Check it out because that's a free [00:27:00] open platform where you can talk about all architecture related stuff as well.

So thank you so much for tuning in. Next week. If you're around, I will be at London Build Expo, where they are actually giving me a little bit of a stage. I'm going to be going around with a microphone and causing havoc and recording soundbites and all this stuff. And as well as that, London Build Expo will actually be giving me Beer coupons, I think, alcoholic coupons, whatever.

So if you know me or on LinkedIn or whatever, come over, try and hassle me for a coupon. If I've got one, I'll give it to you. If I haven't got one, I'll try and get London and BuildExpo to get you a free beer. Over the two days, we've got some events on, so check it out. I've got two networking events, which will be fun because you'll be with me.

One of them's having a beer. One of them will be this kind of cool awards ceremony where you get to be the judge and vote on all the cool projects that are there, pick your favorite. And as well as that, we have three talks, one about [00:28:00] sustainability, one about the Metaverse and one about accessibility and design.

So all that will be. Completely free. So check it out at London build expo on that note as well. I think I've got one other event with Leo, but the comment here in the Metaverse. So Leo I'm going to be posting all the details for that very shortly, but you should check out decent architectures event in the Metaverse and you can listen to me waffle on in the spatial Metaverse.

And instead of on LinkedIn might get a break. Maybe you can even mute me. So you won't have to persevere with my droning Welsh accent for any longer. On that note, I'm going to end the live stream now. Have a think about what the future of work means for you in terms of the role, the company, your personal development.

And yeah, Company Logistics and Culture. I hope this is [00:29:00] useful, and have a good Wednesday. Two more days for the weekend. Take care, everyone.