FOCUS INTERVIEW
whereas globally 40/60. At senior management
the balance is around 40/60 also, with
promotions within the business being quite
even. We’re now carrying out research to
examine the ethnicity within our business
across the world.
“We are also changing our
recruitment practices so for
instance not advertising
a full-time role but a
flexible one, which
should help open
up the market and
encourage a wider
cross section of
people to apply.
We’re also looking
at getting away
from rigid hiring of
people with a certain
skill set or degree,
introducing blind CVs
and ensuring that among
any final group of candidates
there is a diverse mix.”
Aligned to the sustainability drive
is a continuing plan to drive social value
across every project and programme Mace
works on, with the target being to generate
more than £700 million value to society each
year by 2026.
“Societal impact is one of the messages in
our target operating model,” says Abbate. “We
always had the responsible business in there
but from an FM perspective, people working
for organisations are not just looking for a
positive workplace experience but the societal
responsibility of their organisation and its
moral fibre.
“We measure our societal contribution
both as a Division and as a Group. If you look
at our UK investment in apprenticeships,
volunteering and pro bono work, in 2019
Operate contributed six times more social
value than profit. Across the world we’ve
created something like £2.8 million in social
value.”
DIGITAL DISRUPTION
A vital part of the strategy is the ramping
up of Operate’s integrated operations and
technology o erings, utilising data and
42 APRIL 2021
technology to improve services and
enhance workplace satisfaction levels. The
adoption of tech within the FM sector has
expanded during the COVID crisis, but some
FM services providers that boast
of leading-edge technology
solutions too o en
rely on ‘smoke and
mirrors’ according
to Abbate.
“We’ve
been able to
produce a
reporting
system by
investing
heavily in
a data lake,
so all of
our systems
data goes
into this. Using
Microso BI we’ve
created a top hat
reporting system so
that clients are getting real
information automated directly
from the system. The di erence is that ours
is truly integrated, while others are relying
on using a team of people to work through
a series of spreadsheets.
“It’s been an investment which in some
ways COVID gave us time to develop and
which over the last six months we’ve
been able to ramp up in terms of what
we’ve been able to do and the data we’re
providing our clients. By looking at what’s
best in class around the world, over the
last few months we’ve been working with
Evolution, our IWMS system where you’ve
got components such as visitor booking,
desk booking and a product called chat log
for remote communications.
“We’re also looking into apps that are
designed to help create communities,
so as part of our target operating model
we’ve tweaked our app to include a home
working model, because for us, whether
you’re at home or in the o ice you should
be getting the same workplace experiences.
“That’s the area where technology is
going, using it to help create community;
with apps that deliver catering to home,
from an experience point of view you can
touch it and feel it and see it happening.”
CONCLUSION
To help meet these targets Operate has
brought FM stalwart Andrew Smart back into
the business as Head of FM Consultancy(ii),
responsible for consultancy within the FM
business. His remit is to help grow and
develop the global consultancy team and
the service o er in line with Mace’s strategy,
to “adopt new technology and approaches
that focus on creating the best possible enduser
experience in the most sustainable and
e ective way”.
Operate’s plans are certainly ambitious
especially given the uncertain future for
FM and Corporate Real Estate amidst
predictions of the wholescale adoption
of remote working. But ever the optimist,
Abbate emphasises the opportunities.
“My personal view is that we will get back
to somewhere near where we were before
with people perhaps no longer wanting
to spend five days a week in the o ice but
maybe spend three days in the o ice and
the rest at home.
“What organisations will be looking for
from FM will be regarding consumption. If
you’re delivering traditional FM services for
a typical o ice, it’s for five days a week. But
what clients might now look for is a sort of
‘pay as you go’ model, i.e. a consumption
model. This is where IoT will help.
“For us this means determining an
organisation’s base number then ramping
up services depending on consumption,
and the way to achieve this is to measure
how many visitors are in the building over
the next week, and on the Monday and
Wednesday for instance deploying an
additional receptionist.
“If there are more desk bookings on the
system you know you’re going to need
more cleaners, by measuring the number
of people going to use the washroom
and every time 20 people have used that
washroom sending a cleaner round. It
means using the data to establish patterns
and resource teams accordingly.
“Over the next six months to a year there
will be an underlying ramp up of people
going back to o ices and Mace Operate has
the technology and the purpose to help
them manage this.”
REFERENCE NOTES
(i) www.macegroup.com/sectors-and-services/operate
(ii) www.fmj.co.uk/mace-names-new-head-of-fmconsultancy/
What organisations will be looking for from FM will be regarding
consumption. If you’re delivering traditional FM services for a
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