Hiring a facility manager is a good decision because this means that you are entrusting the management and running of your day-day activities to another person. Good facilities management and maintenance can deliver greater flexibility, sustainability, and adaptability for your organization. Facilities managers are in charge of an organization’s building upkeep and maintenance, attempting to meet regulatory requirements as well as health and safety laws.
Facility Management Definition
Facility management (FM) is a career that encompasses more than one discipline to make certain functionality, comfort, safety, and the effectiveness of the built environment by way of integrating people, place, process, and technology. Facility managers are accountable for making certain systems of the built environment, or facility, work harmoniously. They are vital because they make sure the locations in which people work, play, learn and live are safe, comfortable, productive, and sustainable.
Role of Facility Manager
To understand what a facility manager does, their responsibilities, and the impact they have on a company, it is best to break down their scope of work. The main pillars of facility management are People, processes, the building, and technology and are discussed as follows:
1. Supporting people:
A facility manager’s primary goal is to create a welcoming working environment for its employees. This serves many broader goals, which include attracting and preserving top talent, improving effectiveness and productivity, and growing a positive workplace culture. Facility managers provide employee support in many ways including:
- Facilitating moves and space utilization
- Managing employee directories
- Coordinating desk arrangements
- Handling emergency planning
A facility manager’s primary goal is to create a welcoming working environment for its employees.
2. Establishing the processes:
Establishing processes bring order to the workplace. Order creates a system of expectations, which breeds an organization that positively impacts the way people utilize the workplace. The processes undertaken by the facility manager in the workplace are as follows:
- Submitting a work order request
- Reserving space within the facility
- Checking in guests and visitors
- Emergency action planning
3. Facilities upkeep and improvement:
Facility management is put in place for the facility’s upkeep and improvement of the physical building. It involves not only tending to the building, but cultivating partnerships, asset management, and future planning. Examples of the responsibilities are as follows:
- Repair, maintenance, and building improvement
- On- and off-site property management.
- Workplace cleaning and decoration
- Finding and maintaining vendor contracts
A facility manager’s responsibility is to turn the workplace into a competitive advantage rather than a cost center. He has to ensure that the workplace meets the needs of people who would use it.
4. Technology Integration:
Facilities managers are expected to understand and use technology. Using workplace management systems that assemble data, important decisions as to how to manage a business and modify the workplace can be made. Identifying and implementing the right technology to be used is the primary responsibility of facility managers. Facility managers are responsible for how the physical technologies are selected and used.
Why is Facility Management Important?
The importance of facilities management services at a particular property or organization will always depend upon the goals and preferences of the client.
Some of the benefits of facility management are explained below:
1. Ensures Safe Premises:
There are always laid down rules and regulations that must be followed when it comes to real estate spaces. Facility managers are aware of these regulations, and they will bring that expertise to your space. The Facility manager will ensure that all equipment is functioning safely, that scheduled care and upkeep are observed, and that all surfaces and systems are organized for climate. Basically, a good facility management program makes sure that your space is maintained at a level that keeps your tenants and employees safe and happy.
2. Facility management reduces the cost of operating a space:
Facility management brings all your facility’s services under one managerial unit. Here you have single personnel organizing the day-to-day activities of the organization and as well managing the vendors who complete them. This will eradicate overlap of duties.
3. Streamlines responsibilities and modifies services to individual needs:
Facility managers will assist you in developing an ultimate facility management plan that is tailored to your entire organization or property. You will have the confidence that your facilities are being managed by someone else who understands your space and what it truly requires to succeed.
4. Maintenance of top efficiency in property services and systems:
The best facility management professionals will incorporate maintenance and upkeep to the facility. Any company’s goal is to increase employee productivity, cut costs, and generate more leads. A good facility management system covers almost all the business aspects and takes active participation in strategic planning in other to assist the company to achieve its objectives.
5. Allows business or property owners to focus on what is most important to them:
Facility management allows property and business managers to focus on their responsibilities without having to worry about the maintenance of the facility operations, as this is handled by the facility managers.
CONCLUSION
Facility managers support workers directly and indirectly. They establish processes for order and organization. They are in charge of the upkeep of the facilities themselves. All these functions paint what facility managers really do. Basically, their focus is on optimizing the workplace to support every aspect of the business it touches. But on a deeper level, it is about giving the company a consistency foundation for success.
Max- Migold Limited is a reputable facility management firm. We offer facility management services including assets management, energy, and sustainability, cost-bench marking, amongst others. Need a facility manager for your homes and commercial facilities? Reach out to us today.