The big issues

FINDING AND KEEPING

The challenge of finding, recruiting and skilling up the right people in the FM sector is increasingly pressing. According to the most recent RICS UK Facilities Management Survey, three-quarters of participants in the report were encountering difficulties when sourcing workers for building operation and maintenance roles. This was reflected in our discussion, where concerns were raised about shortages of in-house roles for facility management practitioners.

Said a contributor: “I think there’s a lot of fantastic individuals in the industry, but they’re being held really tightly by their current employers, and it’s really difficult to find good talent at that sort of level.”

He added: “There has also been a change in work appetite. People just don’t want to come into the office three days a week. You see happening in the wider working world but I find that quite surprising, when from an FM operations perspective there’s resistance from that area.”

Instead, one of our panellists is seeing some positive results in bringing interns in on a very junior basis, who are willing to learn and embrace the opportunities for development support, “because we just can’t afford to lose these individuals and be confident that we can fill their roles and with the same standard of candidate”.

Another of our senior FMs admitted to struggling in all areas of recruitment and believes the recruitment/retention challenge is “worse than it’s ever been” which is a real worry. The panel concurred that part of the issue remains that people still don’t necessarily set out to work in FM in the first place, and that, when compounded with recruiting for a presence-based role in the current world of hybrid work, represents another challenge.

However, on a more positive note, is the FM sector’s key remit in supporting a sustainability strategy. This is taken exceptionally seriously by the younger generation who want to know their potential employer’s sustainability policies, which could become a key delineator in attracting candidates. The panel also agreed that when you consider how important it is for the built environment to help reduce emissions, it is a great motivating factor to get the incoming cohort of workers interested in joining a sector where they could directly help to make a difference.

IMPACT OF TECH

In late 2022, a research paper by the Civil Engineering Research and Innovation for Sustainability Institute in Lisbon, Portugal, found that during the operations and maintenance stage, facilities managers were faced with data from various sources, much of which went uncollected and unprocessed. Our FMs all agreed that this picture is changing fast.

AI is increasingly being adopted to work with smart buildings, technology and sensors. In this way a fault in a building asset can be identified which automatically leads to a fix. The results said a participant will be to: “Create better intelligence around our buildings and ensure much smarter working processes so that that FM’s can be a bit more ‘light touch’ on those day-to-day jobs of checking systems. If technology can take over that piece – we can start getting into probably the more strategic elements of our work in terms of energy efficiencies, and using the data to drive meaningful actions.”

Other suggestions for the use of digital technology amongst our panel was the use of elements such as access control data and to help drive decision making in areas such as the use of space and the overall size of the estate. As one commentator said: “it also helps inform the change process as it’s difficult for stakeholders to argue with evidence-based data”.

An area of concern amongst the panel is that across all the sectors, whether private or public sector there is now a glut of building data available. As one FM asked: “Do I have the resources to determine what to do with that data?” The solution it was suggested, is to focus on key metrics, and unsurprisingly, our panellists are finding that data offers a tremendous amount of help in measuring and reporting on carbon use to help meet sustainability targets.

All these digital developments come with a proviso that recognise the speed new tech resources. One of our panellist’s organisation is concentrating instead on “getting the basics right”, This includes selecting the right helpdesk software, and installing an efficient BMS to ensure the core fundamentals are in place. He said: “We try working to those targets and then looking at opportunities where we can automate some of our operations afterwards.” He continued: “What’s really interesting is seeing this common occurrence where people are jumping to the latest fad that don’t have foundations in place, spending an awful lot of money, and not getting the benefit. Instead, we’re very much focused on building a really strong foundation and looking to continue to complement that with evolving technology.”

CONCLUSION

Given the post-pandemic rise of hybrid working, compounded with the cost of living and energy crisis’, our panel agreed that budgets have been challenging. But, on a more positive level, one reflected: “I also think more of a drive for us is to look how we can save costs that brings more money into our budget. For example, I’m looking at quite heavily at the moment about what I can do to reduce contract costs, which then in turn, increase the level of my budget overall.”

Importantly, given the energy targets, one of our panel noted they are under as much pressure to hit GHG (Green House Gas) percentages as to hit budgetary percentages. However the panel concurred these go together. And if sustainability and efficiency go hand in hand, reducing the estates footprint is a large part of this.

Finally, it was agreed, if you’re an FM practitioner you’ll continue to hear a lot about ESG, but it is really just the latest acronym that describes meeting sustainability targets, supporting societal endeavours and achieving compliance. Ultimately, the panel concluded this shows the considerable role for facilities managers in helping to save the planet.