FMJ Facilities Management magazine providing industry-specific intelligence to FM and property professionals
Facilities management firm, Atlas, has acquired bespoke Cleaning Services.
Based in Thornbury near Bristol, bespoke supports 55 clients at over 100 sites from South Wales to the English Midlands, and employs around 1,000 operatives.
A large number of its contracts are with educational establishments such as Coleg Gwent, Dudley College of Technology, Walsall College, and South Gloucestershire and Stroud College, which according to Atlas offers an “opportunity to improve” on its education footprint, which stretches from children’s nurseries up to universities.
Chris Wisely, CEO of Atlas, said: “I am delighted that Atlas has acquired bespoke, a strong business with an outstanding management team. The deal strengthens our cleaning operations across the Midlands, South West and Wales. Furthermore, welcoming bespoke opens possibilities to introduce wider FM opportunities to their valued clients, as Atlas can also offer engineering maintenance, security services and pest control.”
Jackie Woodall, Managing Director of bespoke Cleaning Services, added: “It is great to become part of the Atlas family. We at bespoke have a commitment to being ‘Infinitely better’ and this fits well with the Atlas purpose of ‘Creating happiness’. We have already started working closely with our new group colleagues and we look forward to all the opportunities that being part of Atlas will bring to us and our wonderful employees.”
Frontline workers form the backbone of facilities management services, serving as the face of the brand and interacting directly with customers. Yet research by both L&G and the Living Wage Foundation reveals the majority feel overlooked and expendable.
Accelerating the problem is a growing technology gap. Despite having 2.7 billion deskless workers worldwide, representing 80 per cent of the global workforce, only one per cent of software and technology investments has been allocated to this segment. This means there is a huge disconnect between frontline workers and their headquarters, leading to lack of sufficient training, communication challenges and low employee retention.
For this webinar, FMJ has teamed up with frontline training platform Lingio to bring together a panel of experts, to discuss how easy-to-use and efficient AI tools can help create engaging and gamified learning experiences that fit the needs of underserved deskless workers. The result? Better software and learning experiences lead to improved staff engagement and reduced staff turnover by up to 95 per cent, according to McKinsey.
To register for the webinar taking place on 11 September at 11:00 am click here.
