T raining & Recruitment Marketing and communications Company values in a pandemic

Training & Recruitment

Job spotlight Melissa Barber

Head of marketing and communications, Beard

SPREADING THE WORD

MELISSA BARBER EXPLAINS HOW THE PANDEMIC HAS CHANGED HER JOB

What does a typical day in your job entail?

I was just two months into my new role as head of marketing and communications with Beard when covid-19 struck. Every day since has been dominated by dealing with that: keeping the show on the road as far as possible on site, and the transition to remote working for our office-based teams.

We set ourselves the task of keeping colleagues fully informed about government announcements, how Beard was responding to the situation, and what that might mean for them.

The key has been collaboration – with colleagues at every level of the business. The construction industry tends to be focused on bricks and mortar but communications and marketing are all about people.

Has your role become more challenging during the covid crisis. If so, how?

At times of crisis, most people long for some certainty – but that’s difficult to give when the world has been turned on its head. We need to keep people motivated and engaged, while also managing expectations.

We have needed to communicate some tough messages, and it was hard not to be able to do that face to face.

As offices begin to open up again, many businesses will have to deal with the risk of a more fragmented workforce. We are used to having to communicate across our four regional offices, and of course multiple sites, but this presents a new set of challenges.

The trick is to stay true to your values. In Beard’s case, that means helping people feel they are part of something bigger.

Is construction trickier to ‘market’ than other industries?

As we emerge from the pandemic, the priority will be winning work. Beard is fortunate that a lot of our work is repeat business. We’re over 100 years old, so reputation and relationships play a key part.

Some clients may hold back on placing orders due to the wider economic uncertainty. The response to that needs to be a collective and collaborative one, with the industry as a whole working with government and other partners.

Increasingly we are faced with marketing ourselves in a digital world. We need to be able to set ourselves apart when we can’t be in the same room. That will be a challenge but I think an exciting one: a learning curve for me, for the firm and for the industry as a whole. ●

Hundreds of the best jobs in construction. Recruitment news and insight.

www.constructionmanagerjobs.co.uk

Get with the tech

Gareth Randle examines a roadmap to innovation in post-covid UK construction

Construction was one of the first industries that returned to work during the covid-19 pandemic. The key to the sector bouncing back to full strength will be adaptations, not just to personal protective equipment (PPE) and health and safety, but to improved ways of working too.

Modern construction technologies can help in the short term with improved productivity and, in the long term, encourage more young people to the sector to address its skills gap.

Lockdown has swiftly revolutionised how we work; it has exposed the vitally important role that technology plays across all industries – including construction.

While the sector was one of the first to get back to work out of necessity, more construction firms than ever before have found new, agile and innovative ways for their workforce to be able to plan, design, build and deliver.

Construction firms which had invested in technology before the pandemic are likely to be far more financially robust and resilient today than those still using outdated construction methods and techniques.

However, many construction firms often don’t feel ready to revolutionise the workplace, as they’re already working to tight budgets and margins.

And yet, if they can innovate now, and invest in the right skillsets, then they can futureproof themselves even as economic stormclouds gather.

Even now, the government’s research and development (R&D) tax incentives can provide construction firms with the funding needed to embrace cutting-edge technologies – like machine learning and automation, which will see many repetitive low-skill jobs on site replaced, and existing job roles adapted to become more fluid, efficient and dynamic.

The construction industry therefore needs to recruit from a broader talent pool which should include tech-savvy problem-solvers.

That will reposition the sector as a desirable career to attract the right talent by highlighting the changing face of the industry.

Gareth Randle is a specialist at R&D tax credit consultancy ForrestBrown.

Hundreds of the best jobs in construction. Recruitment news and insight. Employers seeking CIOB members.

www.constructionmanagerjobs.co.uk