NEWS & ANALYSIS FMJ.CO.UK
WORKPLACE FUTURES 2020
OUR DUTY OF CARE
“FM is all about people,”
said i-FM’s MD David
Emmanuel in his introduction to
the Workplace Futures conference,
which took place in the new venue of
One Great George Street in the heart
of Westminster. The annual event
always focuses on a key theme, and
the title of this year’s conference
was The 20:20 FM Vision of Wellness
– addressing the wellbeing of the
people that occupy the buildings
cared for by facilities managers.
Kath Fontana, MD of Strategic
Accounts, Public Sector and Critical
Infrastructure at Mitie Engineering,
and the first FM to be named RICS
President-Elect, set the scene in her
talk on creating a positive social impact
in the built environment. “The real
scope of the FM sector is to generate
meaningful experiences for everyone
it touches. As stewards of the natural
and built environment we do have a
risk of causing a negative social impact
of our activity. By understanding social
impact fully, and placing it at the core
of our endeavours we will meet the
twin natural and human challenges,
proving that we can be positive agents
in delivering sustainable progress that
society demands.”
Martin Pickard, who once again
chaired the day with some useful
insights gleaned from his decades at the
heart of the sector, reminded delegates
that FM employs a significant 10 per cent
of the UK workforce. When you factor
in the number of people FMs look a er
within the workplace, this means they
can have a huge level of influence on
people’s wellbeing.
WHAT IS WELLBEING?
It was useful at this juncture to put the
concept of wellbeing into context, for
as Louise Aston, Wellbeing Director,
Business in the Community, quipped,
it’s much more than Pilates and fruit
plates – it’s about supporting people
to help them flourish. To her, the
nub of the problem is that “we’re still
psychologically injuring our people at
work. They may be physically safer these
10 MARCH 2020
days but not mentally, and there is no
health without mental health.”
One of the most tangible ways FM
can influence wellbeing at work is by
ensuring that workers’ surroundings are
good for their health. In his illuminating
and entertaining talk on the impact of
leadership, management and design on
workplace performance, Organisational
Psychologist Dr Craig Knight explained
why workplace strategy needs to be
people-led, not design-led, and driven
by sta empowerment. This means
creating workplaces suitable for
grown-ups: “Why design
workplaces with slides
and gaming stations
as if they’re for
15-year-old
boys?” he
asked.
The
Leesman
Index can
always be
relied upon to
point up the link
between wellbeing
and engagement,
and Development Director
Kyle de Bruin provided a memorable
demonstration of the negative impact
uncertainty – such as finding somewhere
to sit – can have on workers. Bringing Dr
Knight and Hermes FM Wayne Young on
to the stage and threatening them with
(mild) electrocution certainly helped
prove his point. His advice on solving
issues – from anxiety over where you’ll
find a free desk and dealing with the
distraction of noise to combating the
pressure on floor space utilisation, is
“to o er a variety of di erent types of
work spaces coupled with e ective
neighbourhood strategies”.
PEOPLE-CENTRIC
Putting people at the heart of the
workplace was the focus of the
day. So Young Hyun, Workplace
Experience Lead, Wx UK and Ireland,
at Sodexo related the ways in which
her organisation is addressing the
environmental, psychological, physical,
and social factors that all contribute
to wellbeing. Her presentation
incorporated a useful slide which helped
illustrate the complementary roles
played by CRE, FM, HR and finance –
hopefully working in harmony to make a
positive impact on wellbeing.
Peter Ankerstjerne, First Vice Chair
of IFMA’s board of directors, talked
about the take-up of coworking,
which, despite a slowdown in recent
months, is increasingly viewed as a
useful alternative to satellite corporate
o ices. He quoted a recent survey that
found the biggest driver for
workplace happiness
was social
connection – and
where better to
connect with
people than
a coworking
environment,
bringing
people
together to
collaborate and
engage?
The presentation by
Donna Vizzini of OCS Group
on the traumatic situations operational
sta in FM may encounter was powerful.
Her talk was illustrated by examples of
incidents and their a ermath on people
working on the front line of FM. OCS now
helps train and prepare FM workers to
spot the signs of distress and mental
struggle among colleagues and other
stakeholders. “We’re making people
aware a service exists and it’s OK to talk
about mental health,” she said.
Jamie Quinn, Responsible Business
Director at ENGIE, looked at the societal
impact FM can have on the wider
community and why it’s so important for
FM providers to establish a responsible
business charter post-Carillion. It was
encouraging to hear that a number of
FM competitors are collaborating to
help promote ethical practices across
the sector.
Sheila Champion-Smeeth is the newly
appointed Global Head of Wellbeing
for Cisco. Her joint presentation with
colleague Mark Needham reflected on
how the company is not just talking
about wellbeing but embedding it into
all of its management and leadership
structures to “create a safe and open
environment where people have each
other’s backs”.
The a ernoon sessions included a
couple of presentations which looked
at the importance of involving people
in workplace design and how this can
influence their wellbeing. This might
take the form of designing a curated
experience, as described by Anna Kerr
of Signal UK, or creating a user group
at the outset of a change management
programme, as addressed by Adrienne
Mansfield of Jepmond Associates.
EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE
A common thread running through the
programme was the way in which we
are emotionally a ected by the places
we work. Dr Edward Finch, in his talk
on emotional intelligence, warned that
the continuing design of ‘benumbing
workplaces’ stripped of character can
create Teflon environments where
nothing sticks. He remarked that while
emotional intelligence may be more
associated with HR, it’s actually much
more relevant to facilities management.
Taking things to a macro level, the day
drew to a close with a talk by Victoria
Hughes, Business Responsibility Director
at VINCI Facilities, on the wellbeing of
our planet and FMs’ responsibilities
in helping to preserve it. Profit does
not equal success, she reminded
delegates, and as humans we’re having
a catastrophic e ect on the planet – so
what as an industry can we do to play
our part? Quite a lot, it emerged, and
she spelt out the 17 sustainable goals to
which all in FM can aspire.
Overall, the conference delivered what
it promised, homing in on the important
way facilities managers can influence
our economy, our health and ultimately
our planet. Kath Fontana – whose
upcoming role as RICS president will
hopefully bring about a higher profile
for the FM sector – commented: “It is no
longer possible with any accountability
to separate the social and environmental
impact that facilities management
makes in the built environment – you
know it, I know it and our clients
definitely know it…”
Or, as Lucy Jeynes, Managing Director
of Larch Consulting, said during her
excellent summing up of the day: “Be
good.”
The 2020 Workplace Future Conference focused on wellness and our industry’s
responsibilities towards the wellbeing of our people and planet