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Principals’ chargeability

What’s the same and what’ll never be the same again for AEC firms’ policies, procedures, and benefits? Policies, procedures, and benefits

In Zweig Group’s 2021 Principals, Partners & Owners Report of AEC Firms , we asked principals what percentage of their time was chargeable to jobs. In last year’s report, we saw the lowest median percentage for principals’ chargeability in 10 years at 25 percent. This year, however, there was a slight increase back up to 30 percent. When breaking down the sample further, there was a 10 percent increase in chargeability between “pre- COVID” responses (25 percent) and “COVID era” responses (35 percent). Participate in a survey and save 50 percent on the final or pre- publication price of any Zweig Group research publication. F I R M I N D E X BSA LifeStructures................................10 Dewberry..............................................10 Duffield Associates ..................................2 GeoInsight, Inc........................................2 GWWO Architects.................................12 HSW Consulting. ....................................2 Hull & Associates....................................2 RTA Architects......................................12 Sasaki.....................................................6 Short Elliott Hendrickson Inc...................4 MO R E A R T I C L E S xz MERCEDEZ THOMPSON: Leading with language Page 3 xz Engage, empathize, empower: James Miner Page 6 xz KEVIN TOKEN: What impact are you making? Page 9 xz MARK ZWEIG: Watching your baby grow up Page 11

Z weig Group just released the 2021 Policies, Procedures & Benefits Report of AEC Firms . This resource was compiled from a comprehensive survey of AEC firms as well as participants in Zweig Group’s annual Best Firms To Work For program. Considering extreme changes caused by COVID-19 over the past 12 months, Zweig Group compared pre-pandemic responses to those submitted post March 2020. Here are a few standout areas: ❚ ❚ Hiring and recruiting remains a challenge, but technology may be driving the cost of new hires down slightly. Staff recruitment and retention was the number one challenge according to Zweig Group’s 2021 Principals, Partners & Owners Report , yet spending on each new hire was a median of $5,000 and an average of $8,932; a slight decrease over the previous year’s figures of $7,750 median and $9,454 average. In general, overall average yearly HR spending per full-time employee has remained stable, at just under $2,800. An increase in work-from-home opportunities hasn’t changed firm policies on paying to relocate both new and existing employees. Zweig Group’s Impacts of COVID-19 on the AEC Industry Report for Q1 2021 found that an average of 75 percent of the AEC industry workforce can effectively work remote/telecommute and 55 percent of the workforce was currently working remote. The 2021 Policies, Procedures & Benefits Report found that 44 percent of firms are paying relocation expenses for both new and existing employees, 17 percent pay for new employees only, and 5 percent pay for existing employees only. ❚ ❚ Computer use – policies firms need but we know aren’t being followed! Zweig Group’s Impacts of COVID-19 on the AEC Industry Survey found that most firms reported a “slight increase” in spending on computers and equipment, as well as a change in software/IT systems/online storage over the last 12 months due to the impact of COVID-19. With an average of 55 percent of employees in the industry working remote, often using company provided computers, it was interesting to see the number of firms holding fast to policies regarding personal use of email, internet access, and other online services. Just over half of all firms surveyed have a policy limiting personal use of company provided computers during business hours, and 14 percent of firms have a policy prohibiting all personal use at any time. ❚ ❚ Changes to flex-time, vacation time, and PTO policies. It’s no surprise that people in the AEC industry used less vacation time in 2020 than in previous years. The continuation of remote work and flexible work situations has also decreased a need for seasonal flexibility. Still, the 2021 Policies, Procedures & Benefits Report showed that 25 percent of firms still have “summer hours” such as half-day Fridays or Fridays off. According to the results of last year’s survey, more firms had such hours (33 percent).

Christina Zweig Niehues

See CHRISTINA ZWEIG NIEHUES, page 2

T H E V O I C E O F R E A S O N F O R T H E A E C I N D U S T R Y

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BUSINESS NEWS GEOINSIGHT, INC. JOINS NATIONAL ENGINEERING & GEOSCIENCE ORGANIZATION GeoInsight, Inc. , a New England-based environmental and engineering consulting firm has joined Hull & Associates , Duffield Associates , and HSW Consulting , as part of a national platform of companies focused in the industrial, real estate, energy, technology, transportation, and government sectors. The combined platform now includes over 350 staff in 24 offices, across 12 states (Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Maryland, New Jersey, New Hampshire, Maine, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Ohio, New York, and Texas). Together, the firms offer comprehensive capabilities, including environmental site assessment and remediation, cultural resources and ecology, water resources and treatment, traditional site civil and geotechnical engineering, climate change resiliency, along with marine and coastal engineering. With the addition of GeoInsight, the combined company now also offer clients environmental health and safety and compliance services on a national scale. Gerry Salontai, CEO of the platform, explained, “GeoInsight brings additional leadership to the platform, a great culture fit and a complementary set of capabilities to further solidify our presence in the Eastern U.S., while adding a strong EHS practice to our business. This in turn will strengthen our value proposition to our clients as we continue to build a national environmental, water and civil infrastructure consulting business.” GeoInsight will continue its commitment to offering relationship-centric consulting services to clients in New England, now with an

expanded portfolio of service experience and technical depth. As Nikki Delude Roy, Vice President of GeoInsight explains, “The combined firms of Hull, Duffield, HSW and GeoInsight share a rare set of core values centered around genuine commitment to our clients and our staff. At GeoInsight, we are excited about this partnership and the ability to bring additional resources to our existing clients, as well as the opportunity to introduce our talented and committed staff to a broader set of clients across a national footprint.” GeoInsight President, Brian Kisiel offers, “This new venture offers GeoInsight the chance to bring what we do best to a whole new level. GeoInsight will continue to do great technical work while building and maintaining its long- term relationships with our business partners and our clients, which is the essence of who we are. With this exciting change, we now have the opportunity to bring expanded services to existing and new clients in new geographies.” This platform is sponsored by Round Table Capital and is their third buy and build strategy in the AEC industry. Ashley Chang, vice president and member of the founding team at RTC said, “We are very pleased to welcome the entire GeoInsight team to the platform. The strategic addition of such a strong organization is a win for all stakeholders; providing additional opportunities for employees, enhancing the service offering to clients and creating value for shareholders.” Stradling, Yocca, Carlson and Rauth, P.C. acted as legal counsel, and BDO USA, LLP and CohnReznick, LLP acted as financial and tax advisors on behalf of RTC and its affiliates.

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CHRISTINA ZWEIG NIEHUES, from page 1 Paid-time-off allotments for individuals in the industry are steady. The average employee with zero to four years of service gets just under 14 days of PTO a year, increasing with experience to those with 15 or more years receiving an average of 22.4 days of PTO per year. Due to travel restrictions, many employees entered 2021 with a much larger “bank” of unused hours than in years previous. In the COVID era, the vast majority of firms, 90 percent (and 91 percent of Best Firms To Work For) allow employees to “carry over” unused PTO from one year to the next. Pre-COVID, just 73 percent of firms had this policy. Recent figures indicate that 84 percent of firms have a maximum amount of paid time-off that can be carried from one year to the next, with an average amount of 15 days – almost a full year’s worth! CHRISTINA ZWEIG NIEHUES is Zweig Group’s director of research and e-commerce. She can be reached at [email protected].

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2021 POLICIES, PROCEDURES & BENEFITS SURVEY REPORT Zweig Group surveyed AEC industry firms on their workplace policies, benefits, HR staff composition, HR operating expenses, and other important workplace issues and challenges. The results of this study will help you benchmark your AEC firm in all areas related to benefits and compensation. The 2021 Policies, Procedures & Benefits Survey Report of AEC Firms provides you with industry statistics on policies and procedures, so you can support your policy decisions with hard >Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4 Page 5 Page 6 Page 7 Page 8 Page 9 Page 10 Page 11 Page 12

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