NEWS & ANALYSIS FMJ.CO.UK
ASSOCIATION NEWS
8 JULY 2021
RICS SURVEY SHOWS SUSTAINABILITY
GOALS REMAINS KEY PRIORITY
FiŽ een months ago,
we were all hugely
impressed with the resilience and performance
of the FM sector during the pandemic and asking
ourselves if this was something we could build
on to really showcase the range and value of the
role of FM professionals in organisations and the
wider economy.
It seems clear that we are seeing exactly this and
a profession emerging that is confident, innovative
and leading on key issues that government and
business are highlighting.
Our most recent RICS UK Facilities Management
Survey results found that despite the disruption
of the pandemic, the majority (85 per cent)
of contributors believe that clients consider
sustainability to be one of the most important
issues, with energy management and health and
wellbeing seen as the fastest expanding areas.
As the UK moves to reduce its carbon footprint
quicker than other countries, companies are now
doing their bit to help reach this target, with 38 per
cent of survey respondents highlighting that end
users are now regularly considering implementing
energy e icient measures to reduce carbon
emissions.
The survey shows a greater demand for
services across all sectors, apart from retail,
with FM employment opportunities increasing.
Furthermore, for the first time since the COVID-19
crisis swept across the world last year, profit
margins in the sector are expected to rise. A growth
in demand for FM services was most prominent
in the healthcare sector where 91 per cent more
respondents reported a rise in workloads, up from
+87 per cent in the previous quarter. A demand
for services has seen more respondents suggest
that employment opportunities in FM are rising.
A net balance of +58 per cent reported a rise
in headcounts over the past three months, up
from +24 per cent in the previous survey. This
is the strongest reading since the survey began,
with more people also being o ered FM based
apprenticeships, training and qualifications across
the sector.
Employment expectations for the whole sector
recorded the strongest reading on record for the
year ahead with +37 per cent more respondents
expecting more FM based jobs to become available
in the coming 12 months. Respondents have noted
that it is becoming increasingly di icult to source
building operation and maintenance workers, with
over half of respondents (+51 per cent) citing this
as an issue, up from over a quarter in Q1 (+28 per
cent).
Respondents expect workloads to pick up over
the next 12 months with workplace and relocation
management anticipated to see the strongest
growth across all areas of FM.
RICS President and FM specialist, Kath Fontana
commented: “This latest survey reinforces the
crucial role of e ective facilities management
as we build back better, and now greener, from
COVID19. It is encouraging to see a very high focus
on sustainability and an intensifying drive to
decarbonise. It is clear that FM is evolving rapidly
not only to improve the places that we work and
use daily, but also to tackle some of the biggest
issues facing our built environment.”
PROSPECTS, PROFESSIONALISATION, PROGRESS
IWFM’s vision for workplace and facilities
management is one of a transformative and
enabling profession. Not a cost centre but a
value creator.
With its practitioners at the front line of
organisations’ post-pandemic priorities - whether
that’s workplace safety and optimisation, enabling
flexible working, driving sustainability outcomes and delivering social value -
there are many opportunities to add value, boost performance and improve
the bottom line, whilst also contributing to wider society. For our profession to
realise its potential, however, it needs to have more influence.
This month will see us release the fi eenth Pay and Prospects Report, setting
out the key insights from the survey we ran in the spring and helping us to track
the changing professional environment, conditions and prospects in the sector,
including the motivators and otherwise of those who stay and those who don’t.
An FM ‘state of the nation’ if you will.
Among the findings, one that spoke to this professional development ‘lifer’ was
the link between formal professional development and career progression. It
may seem prosaic to say so, but in this mid-pandemic context, everything counts.
Despite 2020’s turbulence, there are encouraging signs among employers on
professional development where we are seeing more apprenticeships, mentoring
and CPD opportunities.
The evidence is clear that qualifications increase the likelihood of advancement
in organisations and better pay, the latter of which remains our profession’s
primary motivator; yet indicators of wholesale professionalisation are modest
with only one in two respondents qualified in facilities management. There
are, of course, a number of reasons for this, with many entering FM from other
occupations before specialising.
We know from our research with members that the profession wants a higher
standing in the organisations it serves, with influence at board level and in
decision-making. Formal professional development is not a silver bullet as we
need evidence of impact on a number of fronts, but it stands to reason that the
pathway to greater individual standing is likely to be smoother with a formal
qualification or its equivalent.
The Institute is determined to facilitate this change. We want to see a greater
profile for a distinct profession that is recognised for its ability to transform
organisations and their performance. Alongside this, we want to empower and
enable professionals to reach their full potential through upskilling. That is our
mission and vision in a nutshell, whether by broadening the o ering of formal
qualifications or by introducing alternative yet equivalent routes to professional
recognition.
And change is happening. Last month, the University of Bolton was approved
to deliver the first dedicated FM Degree Apprenticeship. The course, starting this
autumn, is the first of its kind since the Level 6 Standard was introduced and
o ers a direct route to IWFM Certified status.
Next year we intend to compliment the Institute’s
formal qualification-based route to Certified status
with a competence-based route to the same, so
that those without a formal Level 6 qualification
can be assessed on a par with their peers.
Paul Bagust - Global Property
Standards Director, RICS
IWFM CEO, Linda Hausmanis