A beginner’s guide to working through a recession

Many real estate professionals will have headed into the current recession with no experience of such a downturn – and plenty of worries about what it will entail. Redundancies have already swept through some of the UK’s largest real estate companies, and the stress and anxiety of what repercussions economic hardship could have on career prospects will likely feel overwhelming. But the words of more seasoned professionals should give them some comfort. In times like these, lessons are learnt. One can adapt, spot opportunities, and come out of the other side stronger and more resilient. Property leaders who weathered past crises have shared with EG how they managed working through previous recessions, and the lessons they want to pass on to the next generation. The importance of a network George Roberts, Cushman & Wakefield’s head of UK and Ireland, first experienced a recession in the early 1990s. In the third year of his degree studying surveying, it became apparent that getting a job would be harder than he had once thought. “1992 was dire,” he says. “I positioned myself to give myself the best chance and I was hugely lucky I got a couple of job offers – I was one of roughly 10 out of 230 people on the course who managed to get one.” Roberts took a graduate role at DTZ on a salary of £12,500. He remembers feeling lucky to be paid so much compared to other roles advertised. One firm was offering less than half of that. It was a tough time. But the lessons he has taken from that period have stood him in good stead throughout his time in real estate, Roberts says. “It meant that the network you created in the graduate pool, because there were so few of us, became really valuable friends. You looked out for each other. “It taught you to really work hard, look for every opportunity, make yourself indispensable, and every opportunity was an opportunity you had to pursue. You took nothing for granted, and those are the sorts of lessons that I’ve kept with me throughout my career.” But in times of downturn, redundancies will inevitably occur, and this year has been no different. The agency sector, in particular, has been hit hard by Covid, with some of the UK’s biggest agencies – including Cushman & Wakefield – making widespread redundancies. I learnt a lot more in the downturn than I did in the boom. Opportunities arose that would not have done previously – James Sparrow, Savills Roberts says that employers must be “fair and explain the circumstances that lead to a decision taking place” to staff who have been let go, and says that those who have been made redundant must not take the process personally. “For those unfortunately being made redundant, it’s important to remember it’s not about you as an individual being poor at what you do,” he says. “It’s about the role you fulfil not being one that can be supported within the current climate. It’s important for anyone who finds themselves in that position to distinguish this. It’s easy to personalise things if you are on the receiving end, but you need to contextualise it.” Learning from a downturn James Sparrow, Savills’ chief executive of UK and EMEA, also views the recession of the 1990s as a turning point in his career. The recession hit while Sparrow was early in his career in real estate. He joined Savills in 1988 during a boom market, but shortly after experienced the market spiralling downwards when the economic crunch began to bite. “[I] watched the story unfold,” he says. “And interestingly, I learnt a lot more in the downturn than I did in the boom. Opportunities arose that would not have done previously as trends accelerated and, with that, new business areas evolved.” He says being adaptable will be an indispensable skill in this next recession. “My advice to people who have not seen a recession before is to look for the opportunities a downturn produces, act on them by demonstrating flexibility to work in new or different areas if the chance arises.” Build as much support as possible around you, Sparrow says, and lean on those who have experienced tough times before. “Ensure you have a good mentor to help you navigate the journey,” he adds. Pick up a hobby Muse Developments regional director Phil Mayall says that the 2008 global financial crisis taught him valuable lessons in how to cope with feeling overwhelmed in the face of a crisis. Mayall had joined Muse – called Amec Developments at the time – a little over a year earlier as development director. But when the credit crunch hit, the company had a massive task on its hands making sure it would weather the crisis. Mayall felt there was a lot at stake for a development he was overseeing: the Salford Central regeneration. “We had about 18 or 19 developments [as part of the Salford Central masterplan], and did a development appraisal for each one,” he says. “I recast the numbers based on what happened – yields had shifted almost overnight – and the schemes went from £100m to almost underwater,” Mayall says. He also had concerns about how safe his job was, considering he was a new starter. “I was nervous. I don’t think businesses do it now but if you apply the ‘first in, last out’ principle, I was twitchy about that,” he says. “I was also twitchy about what it might mean generally for the business and [whether there] would there be a continuing role.” Picking up a new hobby is a good way of keeping yourself distracted from work out of hours, adds Mayall, a keen cyclist and exercise enthusiast. “It provides a distraction for what feels, at times, like you’re in a boxing ring and you don’t know where the next punch is going to come from,” he says. “You get knocked, you lose funding, whatever it is in your day-to-day job, and you need to go off and be able to do something that distracts you from it so you can get back to it in the morning and refocus. Otherwise the whole thing merges into one, and it’s not a good place to be at all.” But the most important lesson Mayall has learned is asking others for help if you need it. “I think it shows you are stronger person for it, not weak,” he says. “Don’t be afraid of tapping that colleague on the shoulder.” To send feedback, e-mail lucy.alderson@egi.co.uk or tweet @LucyAJourno or @estatesgazette Photo © Dimitri Wittmann from Pixabay