May/June 2020

Leading Insight
As Virus Advanced, Firms Worked to Adapt

In late March, at the same time the US was officially becoming the country hardest hit by the coronavirus, results from a survey of over 100 US AEC firm CEOs and senior managers showed firms’ attempts to adapt on the fly and in the face of uncertainty.

The survey, conducted by management consultant Morrissey Goodale from March 23, 2020 to March 27, 2020, revealed that only 7% of respondent firms expected to need an emergency loan to make it through this crisis while 26% were unsure. “These statistics,” the firm wrote, “are an indication of the generally conservative nature of the AE industry which tends to avoid debt and keep cash on the balance sheet.”

Remote work was becoming standard practice, with slightly more than 60% of respondents working remotely most or all of the time. Nearly a third of these respondents reported that they were still trying to figure things out or were behind the curve.

Morrissey Goodale expects more A/E firms will choose to have most or all of their talent work remotely after the pandemic. A/E firms spend 6% to 8% of revenue on rent and utilities, according to Morrissey Goodale, and they expect that percentage to drop by half. Instead, A/E firms will spend more on technology to facilitate remote working and more on employee training and development to prepare their teams for telework.