I started as head of people and culture at Rider Levett Bucknall (RLB) on 6 April 2020. Like many others who started new roles during the first COVID-19 lockdown, my onboarding experience was anything but conventional.
Instead of the usual first-day formalities of working out the best route to the office and locating the coffee machine, I received a rucksack with a laptop, a mobile phone and an office chair at the door of my home.
As we recently marked the fifth anniversary of the World Health Organization declaring COVID-19 a pandemic, I have reflected on how our built environment sector responded, the lessons we learned, and the changes that continue to shape the way we work today.
Agility in face of adversity
Looking back, I feel immense pride in how our sector adapted to COVID-19 with agility and resilience. The pandemic was a worldwide curveball, and no-one had the rulebook for how to navigate it. Both professionally and personally, we were forced to rethink how we operated.
RLB, like many organisations, swiftly transitioned to virtual ways of working. Our IT team worked diligently to ensure seamless communications with colleagues, clients and stakeholders.
The sector responded quickly and collaboratively too, implementing personal protective equipment (PPE) regulations on sites, establishing governance structures, and ensuring worker safety. In fact, our industry was among the first to reopen, setting a precedent for safe working practices.
Even at a national level, our sector played a crucial role in the UK's economic recovery. The then Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, turned to the built environment sector to lead the way.
Ann Bentley, now retired but at the time an RLB UK board director and a member of the Construction Leadership Council (CLC), was one of the industry voices advising the government in the early months post-lockdown.
People first and centre
Beyond operational agility, what stood out most was how our sector came together to prioritise people. Across the sector, we worked as one – competitors became collaborators, sharing insights and best practices. Industry bodies convened to discuss ways forward, ensuring continuity and stability.
At RLB, we also worked as one team. We built well-being communities, i.e. small groups of ten people with a senior leader at the centre, designed to foster connection, ensure well-being and support work–life balance.
We hosted virtual drop-ins with the CEO, company-wide communications and well-being webinars, which aimed at looking after each other, including furloughed employees, who remained integral to our team.
Today we have over 25 mental wealth ambassadors at RLB, across all levels of our business, and all locations. In addition, all line managers receive well-being training. We now take a more proactive approach to employee well-being than ever before.
Preparing for future disruptions
The pandemic tested the sector's ability to navigate uncertainty, and we emerged stronger. In fact, over the last five years, at RLB we have seen 52% growth and expanded our team by 617.
Our ability to adapt, trust and collaborate has positioned us well for future disruptions, including geopolitical tensions, supply chain challenges and labour shortages.
As a global business with local footprints, we leveraged worldwide insights, learning from colleagues who were at different stages of the pandemic journey.
The culture we developed through the pandemic has recently been formalised with the launch of RLB's core values – Truth, Trust, Together and Tomorrow – that guide us through change and allow our team to make progress.
On a practical level, as well as introducing new ways of working into our business such as remote working and core hours, we have also prepared our clients for any possible future disruptions.
By working closely with our supply chain, we monitor and recommend alternative trade routes for materials and incorporate greater risk mitigation and contingency planning into projects both in terms of time and cost.
'By working closely with our supply chain, we monitor and recommend alternative trade routes for materials and incorporate greater risk mitigation and contingency planning into projects both in terms of time and cost'
Fostering a more attractive and flexible workplace
Perhaps one of the most lasting impacts of COVID-19 has been the widespread adoption of hybrid working. The pandemic prompted people to reassess their lives, resulting in some leaving the cities for a more rural setting, and others migrating to other countries.
For us, the goal has always been to attract and retain the best people, to be able to deliver the right solutions for our clients. Offering on-going hybrid work arrangements was an obvious step to support work–life balance.
While Brexit had a greater impact on labour shortages than the pandemic, our flexibility has helped us remain competitive in the job market.
It is interesting to read that those companies that are enforcing strict office mandates have faced backlash. Meanwhile, the next generation of workers – those who started their careers in the past five years – view workplace agility as a non-negotiable.
Many employees still value in-office collaboration and learning through osmosis, but they do not expect to be tied to a desk five days a week. At RLB, we respect this cultural shift.
A more holistic view of our colleagues
I think one of the more unexpected, yet profound shifts has been the increased empathy within workforces.
The pandemic blurred the boundaries between personal and professional lives – we often witnessed home life going on in the background of virtual calls, met our colleagues' children and pets, and shared personal struggles in ways we hadn't before.
Although normal life has resumed, we are now more accommodating of colleagues' personal lives intersecting with work.
Conversations about mental health, well-being and work–life balance have become more open across businesses and the built environment sector has embraced a greater commitment to ethical, sustainable and people-centric practices.
We know that if we experience another pandemic or similar seismic event overnight, we will be more resilient than previously.
We are digitally enabled for all our team to work remotely or from another location. We have guidelines and processes in place around how we would keep our team safe and looked after.
And our independence makes us able to make decisions faster to ensure that we can be agile and flexible to adapt to changing scenarios.
We have built strong supplier relationships which could provide us with a diverse and inclusive range of PPE in quantity and at speed if required in future, so we can equip our employees and support our clients to ensure everyone is protected.
For me, the pandemic revealed the best of the built environment sector and brought the best out in our workforce. We demonstrated agility, collaboration and a deep commitment to people. We saw our colleagues as more than just professionals but as people with lives beyond their roles.
As we move forward, our challenge is to retain these lessons. To continue to foster an inclusive, flexible and supportive workplace.
To keep prioritising well-being, trust and collaboration and to build a sector that isn't just resilient in the face of crises but one that is deeply connected to the people that make it thrive.
