Conduit Engineering Blog

Social Media & Information – "The Need for Speed"

2011-08-03T16:59:00.000-07:00

What a busy world that we all work in! It appears in today’s society that time is of the essence, and workers crave regular up-dates, real time information, speed and constant messages to get through a normal week.

This ‘need’ for fast and up to date information is fuelled by society’s reliance on social media, which is now easy to use, cheap to run and readily available on a variety of platforms.

There certainly has been a rise in Social Media over the last 12- 18 months. LinkedIn has doubled in size, Facebook has been growing consistently for over 5 years, and twitter is a phenomenon that just won’t go away. Throw into this new mobile phones which allow you to complete all these functions with a 'click' whilst on your bus to work or even at your desk, and it seems as if now the modern workforce is hooked to finding out more, and quickly!!

It is not uncommon these days for large organisations to ‘tweet’ their stock performances, hire staff on LinkedIn, check Facebook for information on people associated to their workplace and in general have a ‘need’ to find out as much about someone or something, as quick as possible.

This growing trend is now seen as normal to daily life, and also viewed as healthy part of a normal working day. Upon discussion with a Social Media and HR analyst at a recent conference, he enlightened me that large corporations now view a split of 80% work and 20% social media use at work as healthy ratios to succeed.

This is an incredible statistic, which I believe, only as little as a couple of years ago would have been laughed at by corporations across the globe!

So why has our dependence grown on the need for speed of media and up to date information?

It might have something to do with the fact that employees now work incredibly long hours, and 50 hour weeks are considered something of the ‘norm.’ Australians now work the longest hours out of all the developed nations. With all this work we find we need to keep up to date with events as much as possible, therefore we now see workers having work emails delivered to our devices in our own homes, on holidays, on public transport and to us on our weekends. Effectively we are not switching off from work, therefore a 40-50 working week can turn into a 60-70 hour dependence on information.

So is Social Media and the devices they operate on making us work longer, and is it more productive for us?

There is no definite answer as to where this dependence on fast and up to date information will take us, however clearly the faster things happen, the more reliant on speedy information we become! As a Nation if we continue our love affair with Social Media, will this distract from our real jobs and can we burn out from too much information?

It may be too early to judge the effects to work that Social Media is having, however there is one thing for sure that we know, information will continue to become more accessible and we will crave faster and more reliable platforms and ways to deliver our messages.

What does the future hold? Well Ipad's and smart phones are just the start, new technology is appearing quicker than we can ever imagine. The ‘Need for Speed’ is making us work faster and hopefully more productive, but will there become a time when we need to switch off from being connected to social media and platforms, take a step back, and enjoy what we have without the ‘beep beep' of a new text interrupting your dinner?

I would love to hear if you think Social Media is helping us work faster and better, and is it making us more social in the real world?

The Changing Landscape of Recruitment – the Pros and Cons of Internal vs. External Recruitment.

2011-05-16T16:36:00.000-07:00

With projected steady growth for construction, engineering and property sectors forecasted, a new need for workers takes shape, as does a renewed need for good recruitment.

So how does an organisation choose between the traditional external recruitment sources such as agencies, against a new internal recruitment style, which is becoming more popular?

Many large and often global companies now favour a dedicated internal recruitment team, as they focus solely on managing the recruitment phase from start to finish, whilst coordinating the candidate relationships and agreements with external suppliers such as agencies, saving their H.R team’s valuable time.

Therefore, what are the benefits to having an in-house recruitment team compared to an external recruitment strategy, and is it working for you?

Internal Recruitment Team Pro’s

• Backed by strong internal communication, gives the team an opportunity to liaise with hiring managers on a daily basis and have access to intimate job details.
• Able to represent their company from start to finish and can easily answer candidate questions in-depth, whilst giving quick feedback.
• Can build strong internal loyalty and give a recruitment team a sense of identity.
• Cheaper if internal processes are implemented correctly from the outset.
• Opportunity to consolidate a brand identity and the team becomes involved with influencing workplace culture.

External Recruitment Pro’s

• Supplies a variety of new people from an extensive database and network of connections.
• Outside perspective offered from external consultants who give feedback on the market, differing points of view and comparisons to other jobs.
• External recruitment now provides many services including sponsorships, award nights and salary surveys etc.
• Quicker in a busy job market with less political internal issues.
• Can avoid issues of internal resentment e.g. promoting favourites within an organisation.
• Forces internal workers to compete and work harder to succeed in their roles.
• Option of dedicated search, which takes time away from the internal H.R team.

Internal Recruitment Con’s

• Needs to be driven by structured internal processes to be successful.
• Can lead to friction between staff if multiple internal employees are looking for a promotion.
• Consultants may become unmotivated without a variety of roles to work on and if their ability to earn regular financial rewards is restricted (pending on internal remuneration structure).
• An existing negative culture can be reinforced without a variety of outside perspectives.
• Communication with candidates must be monitored and managed extensively.

External Recruitment Con’s

• Can be expensive over a long period of time.
• Communication can breakdown between employers and consultants, resulting in confusion and taking a long time to fill the vacancy.
• Recruiter may be unknown to a hiring manager and lack of interpersonal relationship is established.
• Job description and work place culture not accurately portrayed to external consultant, can result in receiving unsuitable candidates.
• Agencies deal with a number of employers which can impact exclusivity.

No matter which process you choose, it is clear that the landscape of recruitment is changing, and the debate against internal recruitment versus external recruitment strategies will continue. One thing is clear; a relationship with you recruiter, whether they be internal or external, and clear cut communication and understanding of the role is essential to both finding and keeping your next hired employee.

By Patrick Page, Marketing Coordinator and Engineering Consultant for Conduit Recruitment.

The Lost Art of Listening

2010-11-05T23:13:00.000-07:00

The next time you are in a meeting have a notice of how many times someone cuts across the talk of someone else. See how many times someone actually gets to finish what they were saying before someone else starts talking. You may have already noticed that some meetings are just a fight to be heard. You may also notice how some comments are not really relevant to the previous comments and are rather just whatever that person wanted to say and was waiting to get a turn! Its as if we have lost the capability to listen to each other and then make a considered reply based on what had been said. Meetings like this can fail to achieve the result that was intended which was propbably to resolve an issue or generate some ideas. Probably all that happens is that some people get to say how much they know about a certain topic and thus massage their self worth for a bit.

So the biggest crime here is that we don’t listen. By this I mean actually stop talking and stop thinking about what we want to say next and actually really concentrate on what the other person is saying. It takes self control but the benefits are huge. Here are a few benefits of listening:

1. In a calm environment where people feel they are being listened to - ideas are generated. We are little creators waiting to happen and we need room.

2. By listening more you hear more points of view and can therefore make better judgement decisions

3. You will be able to pick up on feelings, intent and body language which can be lost if you are just trying to push your point of view.

4. You will gain respect from the people you are listening to – people like to feel appreciated and be recognised and by listening intently you are projecting respect for them and what they are saying. Basically you will be liked more!

5. People will open up more and feel free to express themselves – in a creative environment this is exactly what you are looking for.

6. Misunderstandings are avoided and reduced as clear communication channels are created

7. Listening creates a feeling of goodwill in professional relationships. Improve your relationships by listening non-judgmentally to the concerns and problems of others. The more you listen without judgment, the more freedom speakers have to find their own solutions to problems.

8. Meetings will have a calmer vibe about them, people will relax and open up and more will be achieved.

9. You will feel more relaxed and therefore live longer !! – big statement I know but its probably true.

10. A collaborative environment conducive to positive thinking is produced.

Unfortunately in a world that promotes an environment where its ‘all about me’ the desire to listen can be stifled at times. But expressing our wants, feelings, thoughts and opinions clearly and effectively is only half of the communication process needed for interpersonal effectiveness. The other half is listening and understanding what others communicate to us. The benefits are clear.

As Larry Nadig says :- "We were given two ears but only one mouth, because listening is twice as hard as talking."

Happy listening.

By Adam Walker – Director at Conduit Recruitment (www.conduitgroup.com.au)

2009 construction forecast: can it weather the economic downturn?

2009-01-19T16:50:00.000-08:00

It’s all over the news that business and consumer confidence is low and that Australia and other Western economies are heading for tough times. Money is tight, many business sales are falling and company directors are wondering whether their business will survive the downturn.

The spectre of job losses is looming across the general economy as the financial jitters spread out across numerous industries including the Quantity Surveying and Construction sectors.

Construction has been following a steady path during the past decade with continual single digit growth in output. The rises have not been as spectacular as other sectors, but the flipside is that it is predicted that the fallout from the current economic troubles will be nowhere near as severe. However, it is clear that this sector like many others is not immune from the crunch.

The private building sectors have been the hardest hit with many banks developing cold feet and becoming more cautious in funding new projects. Private infrastructure spending is still rising, but apart from that, things are gloomy, which shows how important public spending is.

Alastair McMichael, a Director of Rider Levett Bucknall agrees that the private infrastructure sector has been impacted significantly with “numerous projects put on hold or cancelled due to the shockwaves that are travelling through the Quantity Surveying and Commercial Construction sectors.”

McMichael’s predicts that their workload in the New Year could potentially be “substantially reduced and we will be looking into new opportunities as internal resources become more available.”

Rachel Callaway, National Research Manager of Davis Langdon explains despite the doom and gloom, on a “global level we have seen a lot of former expats returning to Australia as they are no longer required in international jobs. Therefore we are seeing a higher calibre of candidates in our industry.”

“This time last year everyone was screaming skills shortage, now the tables have turned dramatically. Economically, it will take awhile for the situation to turn however the government’s quick act to inject money into the infrastructure sector will help.”

It is evident that the outlook for the construction industry is somewhat cloudy with revenue expected to increase by only 4% in 2009-10 and just 2% in 2010-11. Although, despite this somewhat disappointing prediction, there is still hope with it forecasted that there will be nearly 90,000 construction workers needed every year between now and 2012.

A Director of a National Infrastructure Organisation says “despite the obvious slow down, we won’t be changing our area of focus too much during 2009. If we were purely a building company we would notice a more substantial slow down but because we are well diversified we will have enough to keep us going.”

“The current economic climate will see project funding becoming much harder to secure and will probably never revert to that of the past few years. You will need to have a fundamentally secured project to receive funding, including excellent fundamentals, and larger equity invested with less debt. 2009 will start off very flat and probably wont get up and running until the first half of 2010 where more stimuli will come back into the economy.”

A Project Manager of a National Construction Company agrees that “You currently have to look at projects in cycles as a job we start now won't be finished for nearly two years and the economic climate might be different by then. Everyone knows there is a shortage of housing as the demand is there, the problem is affordability and finance.”

“We are still expanding as a company because the work is still coming through. If residential wobbles a bit then we are looking at other areas such as hotel construction, which is booming. All our skills are transferable between the two, so you just have to adapt when things get a little tighter.”

Director of Conduit Recruitment Adam Walker says that recruitment in the construction sector has also been hit by the downturn. “We have found that most of our clients are either laying people off or have established a recruitment freeze.”

“As far as recruitment in construction is concerned, what we are finding is that there are a lack of vacant positions but also a lack of candidates as the quality candidates have not been let go. Smart companies are using this time to attract candidates who may not have been available in busier times.”

Conduit Recruitment Construction Consultant Greg Ford agrees that “there is an enormous amount of uncertainty in the sector. We are finding that many of our clients have had projects cease or be put on hold, but for some construction companies it is a question of adapting and moving into other areas where work is still ongoing.”

“The beginning of 2009 has seen many of our clients madly tendering with predictions that it will be quiet for most of 2009. We have found that many of our clients have switched their focus from placing permanent roles to contract.”

As for the overall prediction of what 2009 will bring, the building sector will suffer as long as private development has all but stopped. Building will most probably stagnate, infrastructure remuneration might continue to move upwards but it won’t increase at the rate it has in the past.

Alastair McMichael says that during 2009 they will be “sitting tight and keeping our existing team together.”

Adam Walker agrees that there is a lot of “wait and see for clients in the construction and infrastructure sector, although the search for hard to find specialist skilled workers such as client estimators has not ceased.”

“In terms of the skills shortage, there will always be a skills shortage in the construction and quantity surveying space. Although there are presently fewer jobs available because of the climate, when things start to pick up the shortage will not have disappeared.”

The economic downturn has caused a construction slump as these leading construction professionals have revealed, and although there is a vast array of prediction and opinion, the general consensus seems to be that we will have ‘to wait and see’.

Is it all Doom and Gloom? - An Interview with an Executive Chairman

2009-01-14T16:47:00.000-08:00

It’s all over the news that business and consumer confidence is low and that Australia and other Western economies are heading for tough times. Money is tight, many business sales are falling and company directors are wondering what the outlook looks like for 2009.

We interviewed an Executive Chairman from a National Infrastructure Organisation to grasp an idea of how the current economic climate has affected the construction sector and what they foresee for 2009.

How has the current economic climate affected your Industry in Australia, and workload in general?
Yes we have been affected, private building is very weak but government building projects remain strong. In mining, top tier miners are still spending (albeit reduced) but second tier miners have stopped expansion. There is still a lot of money being spent in rail; the government sector in particular is very strong. Gas is also a strong industry with there being a number of schemes for liquefied natural gas in Western Australia, Queensland and Darwin. Other areas are going strong such as water treatment plants, recycling and the pipelines.

In regards to the areas of construction that you specialises in which areas have you found to be hit the hardest, and why?
The private building sector has been the hardest hit, which is made up of residential and commercial projects. The reason is finance related with banks changing both their cost of funds and their lending criteria to developers.

Where will you now be shifting your focus or what do you foresee as becoming your main area of interest?
We won’t change our focus too much; if we were purely a builder we would slow down, but because we are well diversified we will have enough to keep us going.

Do you think that the current economic climate will have a lasting effect on the construction industry and what do you foresee as being some of the long term ramifications for the industry as a whole, if any?
Project funding will become much harder to secure and will probably never revert to that of the past few years. You will need to have an fundamentally secured project to receive funding, meaning excellent fundamentals, high degree of pre sales and larger equity invested with less debt.. 2009 will start off very flat and probably wont get up and running until the first half of 2010 where more stimuli will come back into the economy.

In the Construction and Property sectors, salaries are considered considerably good, do you see them changing, staying the same or increasing? Why is this?
Building will most probably stagnate, infrastructure remuneration might continue to move upwards but it won’t increase at the rate it has in the past.

With the current state of the market, have you found that Gen Y employees are concerned or worried about their jobs?
This generation has never experienced a recession before. Many employers have been biding their time through the boom times and will now look to show the Gen Y’s that the boot is on the other foot. We are not like that. We love the vibrancy and diversity of the contribution from Gen Y’ers.

Do you still envisage a skill shortage in Australia, calling for offshore candidates or will you now focus more/only on local talent?
Research shows that by 2018 there will be more people leaving construction than entering into it. We must continue training and bringing on graduates – this is a critical part of our business model. We also appreciate the importance of continuing hiring graduates cadets and apprentices.

What are your predictions of your immediate workload moving into 2009?
We expect to remain slow to steady in 2009 – certainly slower than 2008.. In general, the building sector will suffer as private development has all but stopped. State and Federal governments are being responsible by investing heavily into infrastructure – the trick will be just how quickly they are able to get these projects off the ground.

Abu Dhabi to recycle all waste water

2008-11-24T14:49:00.000-08:00

Abu Dhabi has jumped on the environmental bandwagon, announcing that they are implementing a new water recycling system.

I read an interesting article (below) that discusses the plan for Abu Dhabi to recylce all of its waste water. Do you think this project is going to benefit the population of Abu Dhabi? We would love to hear your thoughts.

Abu Dhabi to recycle all waste water

Abu Dhabi: Abu Dhabi will be recycling 100 cent per cent of its waste water by next year, a senior official told Gulf News on Monday.

"Now, two-thirds of waste water is recycled in the emirate," said Alan Thomson, Managing Director of Abu Dhabi Sewerage Service Company, a government-owned company dealing with sewerage treatment services.

He spoke to Gulf News on the sidelines of the Middle East Economic Digest's Waste Water Treatment and Reuse Conference 2008 which began in the capital yesterday.
Thomson said there is no plan to improve the standard of waste water recycling to produce potable water. "The present recycling system does not aim for potable water."

A proposed 15 kilometre sewage tunnel linking the Abu Dhabi mainland and island as part of Strategic Tunnel Enhancement Programme (Step) will improve the waste water treatment capacity of the emirate, said the official.

"Abu Dhabi's population is expected to double by 2020 and the amount of waste water will also increase proportionately."

Dubai Cityscape Conference - A Vision of Tomorrow

2008-11-05T21:45:00.000-08:00

A couple of consultants at Conduit along with myself recently attended the Dubai Cityscape Conference.

Cityscape Dubai 2008, in its 7th year, is the largest business-to-business real estate investment and development event in the world. Cityscape Dubai attracts regional and international investors, property developers, governmental and development authorities, leading architects, designers, consultants and all senior professionals involved in the property industry. It provides an annual forum that celebrates the very best in real estate, architecture, urban planning and design from around the world.

About 60,000 participants from over 150 countries had gathered in Dubai, to be a part of the world's largest development exhibition and its associated conferences, which is expected to break all previous records. About 40,000 visitors flocked the Cityscape Dubai during the first two days of the show, which exceeds a total of three days of crowd gathering during last year's event.

With the world facing market uncertainty, we enter a new era in which the Middle East developers are expected to maintain or even increase their presence across the world. The intensity and scale of the iconic projects, is one of the most impressive property booms in modern history that has kept the UAE and Dubai in particular, on focus worldwide for most of the decade. However, a report by the property consultants Colliers International stated that Dubai prices would drop by 16 percent during second quarter of 2008, and will remain flat until 2010, which came as bad news just prior to opening of the seventh Cityscape Dubai.

On the whole, about $100bn worth of new projects were launched on the first day of Cityscape. However, this news failed to ignite investor confidence, as there were growing fears about the global credit crunch and the possible overheating of the local property market. Starting from Dh.350bn beachfront project to a kilometer-high tower, the developers at the annual Cityscape exhibition in Dubai launched the usual series of mega-developments, which has been responsible for boosting the Gulf Arab Commercial hub to international fame.

While the Dubai mortgage lender Tamweel, announced plans to launch about Dh.2bn worth of Islamic bonds in 2009, the Sorouh Real Estate of Abu Dhabi announced that all its projects have been proceeding on track.

It is evident after attending Cityscape that we began to think about whether the large scale projects exhibited at the conference will actually be built. Although the shopping malls and apartment complexes look great now, when they are completed in 10 years time they will look dated. There was alot of talk surrounding Dubai and whether places such as Abu Dhabi will in fact produce bigger and better developments in the years to come.

It will be interesting to see as to whether other countries in the Middle East overtake Dubai with the grandeur and large scale of their developments. One thing is for sure that the Dubai Cityscape Conference will continue to be the largest property exhibition in the world attracting tens of thousands from all over the globe.

Burj Dubai - World's Tallest Tower

2008-10-26T21:12:00.000-07:00

I was recently in Dubai and checked out the development of the world’s tallest tower, despite being incomplete, the Burj Dubai.

Construction began on September 21, 2004 and is expected to be completed and ready for occupation in September 2009.

The building is part of the 2 km2 (0.8 sq mi) development called "Downtown Dubai", at the "First Interchange" along Sheikh Zayed Road at Doha Street. The tower's architect is Adrian Smith who worked with Skidmore, Owings and Merrill (SOM) until 2006. The architecture and engineering firm SOM is in charge of the project. The primary builders are Samsung Engineering & Construction and Besix along with Arabtec Turner Construction Company was chosen as the construction manager.

The total budget for the Burj Dubai project is about US$4.1 billion and for the entire new 'Downtown Dubai', US$20 billion. Mohamed Ali Alabbar, the CEO of Emaar Properties, speaking at the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat 8th World Congress, said that the price of office space at Burj Dubai had reached $4,000 per sq ft (over $43,000 per sq m) and that the Armani Residences, also in Burj Dubai, were selling for $3,500 per sq ft (over $37,500 per sq m).