Post COVID, businesses can’t ignore the 87% of workers who’ll only work in a collaborative office space. According to a Gartner research, facilities management in hybrid working in 2024 helps over 82% of world organizations to retain 59% of their hard-earned talent.
To drive efficiency in a business, its people, place, processes, technology, and workforce preferences must function in harmony. And that’s where facilities management (FM) comes in.
What’s Facilities Management in One Sentence?
Facilities management is a semi-autonomous (business-within-a-business), interdisciplinary pseudo – department responsible for space coordination. It’s how technological infrastructure, the people, and business objectives work within the built environment to create an ergonomic workplace.
Hybrid approaches to facilities management center on meeting the workers’ sense of belonging, self actualization, and concrete needs. Of all C-Suite executives, FM professionals better understand the ROI of workplace well-being. Therefore, visionary managers will blend the best of remote and in-office work environments.
Is Facilities Management Something Companies Can Do Without?
Unfortunately, the answer is a caps-lock NO.
Managing an organization’s physical assets and soft infrastructure translates to tons of activities. It’s a lot of work, which is why companies have a resident FM team on staff.
Core Competencies, Functions, and Daily Activities of Facilities Managers
The adaptability, sustainability, integration of tech tools, and flexibility of hybrid office models presents huge management challenges. To solve this, every conscious organization sets aside a team of skilled facilities managers in their HR. It’s a strategic way to remain afloat in these rough labor tides!
Core Competencies of Successful Facilities Managers
To simplify daily business operations and boost a hybrid worker’s productivity, facilities managers need to hone the following traits:
- Excellent communication skills, both written and oral.
- A sharp focus on business continuity and unrivaled financial acumen.
- Hands-on skills in property management, building operations, and maintenance practices guided by trends in technology & modern labor practices.
- Strategic leadership capabilities, project management wisdom, and knowledge in real estate laws.
- An eye for best quality and working knowledge of the human factor in production.
- A conscious passion for environmental stewardship and ecological sustainability.
- A practical understanding of hybrid work, its profits to an organization, as well as the future of hybrid work models.
Watch this video for more traits.
The Role of Facilities Managers in a Company
Fig 1.1: The Functions of Facilities Management (Image Courtesy)
A company must make transformational changes to create a successful hybrid workspace. These alterations may include office redesign and configuration, real estate planning, workplace tech stacking, and redeploying essential facility services.
The list below contains the critical functions of facilities management in hybrid workspaces.
- Workplace data collection and strategic planning to determine where to allocate business resources.
- Identifying business needs, spotting property, the most suitable people, and market trends.
- Acquisition of property, managing the property, requisitioning materials, and contracting / sourcing.
- Putting up new facilities or improving the existing spaces to conform to ergonomic standards of a hybrid workstation.
- Supervision and maintenance of built premises, equipment inspection / service / new installation.
- Coordinate in-house and outsourced maintenance personnel, craft administration & hybrid worker training.
- Storekeeping, populating inventories & checklists, and offering general security to the organization.
- Cleaning, catering, and client relation functions.
- Tendering, outsourcing, and full contract (Service Level Agreement) management duties.
- Managing day-to-day business operations to foster business continuity.
- Designing, testing, and inspecting vital infrastructure to reduce the probability of failure.
- Facilities managers are responsible for ensuring policies and company procedures support remote work. FM also provides necessary infrastructure and technology including remote access systems, cybersecurity measures, and other collaboration tools.
Tech Corner
Integrated workplace tools help facility managers to run the hybrid office effectively. They include workplace management software, virtual collaboration tools, and booking systems.
Day-to-Day HR Activities in Facilities Management
There’s no amount of tech that can wipe the need for human empathy in creating and maintaining an inviting workplace.
Before opening the doors to start a business day, people professionals under FM engage in the following (and many other) activities:
- A cursory inspection of the premises and daily supplies.
- Brief meetings and in-office workers’ update of daily plan.
- Short simulations of essential daily procedures to ascertain workforce or infrastructural capability.
- Fill in observable traits on a structured chart after spot checks.
- Problem-solving on a need basis.
Important!
Prepare and populate checklists for lighting fixtures / flow of power, housekeeping, and gardening.
Check office space layout and make it friendly to hybrid working. Note all facilities improvement needs and occupational safety & health concerns.
How Technology Shapes Facilities Management and Hybrid Working in 2024
Thanks to advances in technology, organizations can now improve facility operational efficiency through automation procedures. Management tools also enable businesses to carry out real-time asset monitoring. Further, FM software assists policy makers to seamlessly communicate their data-based decisions.
Do We Still Need Facilities Management With All This Tech?
I join this debate with a strong proposition that technology ain’t mutually exclusive to breathing humans. The ideal approach is to use as much technology while allowing humans to do spatial planning and hands-on work.
Even with all the tech around us, a human is still needed to manage security efforts like identifying suspicious behavior!
The Rise of Smart Devices and Complex FM Tools
The digital revolution brought with it sophisticated software tools for facilities management. For each FM activity, business owners are spoilt for choice on the hundreds of available apps. Individual preference, cost, and tool reliability/ efficiency are the factors to consider when choosing a suitable software.
Smart devices enable remote workers to communicate with each other or to the central office. Facilities amenities can be set to automatically adjust a workspace environment to an employee’s liking.
Most modern maintenance management software comes with a suite of features that keep track of infrastructure performance. It’s become easy to control equipment and execute work schedules remotely. For example, an access-related app may contain a key management feature that:
- Tracks a key holder and key assignments.
- Manages all keys and keycards on a single interface.
- Organizes keys into groups, types, and system functionalities.
- Tracks all entry and exit points, the position of locks / cylinders, and triggers emergency unlock procedures.
- Collects and analyzes access data for any number of company buildings, entrances / exits, and pinpoint locations in real-time.
- Runs a visitor management extension where visitors log in via an internet-enabled tablet.
- You may also incorporate security surveillance cameras and alarm systems to the digitized tool for an even more inclusive experience.
Some Commonly Used Facilities Management Software
Across the tech scene, facilities management is a huge consumer of trendy software and tools relating to the built environment. In fact, most computer programs in people practice are for FM consumption!
There are two broad categories of FM software;
- CMMS (Computerized Maintenance Management Software)
- CAFM software (Computer-Aided Facility Management)
The two clusters above can further be broken into software action groups according to their function. See the list of software groupings below.
- Employee Collaboration Tools
- Analytics Software
- Artificial Intelligence and Robotics
- Cloud Computing Programs
- Cybersecurity Application and Tools
- Employee Engagement Apps
- Video Conferencing Platforms
- Document Management Software
- Energy Management Tools
- Occupational Health and Safety Monitoring Technologies
- Hybrid Work Tools
- Smart Lighting and HVAC Control Apps
- Remote Work Monitoring and Regularization Programs
- Sensors, Alarm Systems, and Surveillance Tools
- Workflow Tools, Access Control Infrastructure, and Emergency Response System Tools (Oops, there’s no image here – LOL!)