IFMA UK
GOING GLOBAL In November, as part of Workplace Week, the IFMA UK Chapter invited
a panel of FM experts to discuss the steps and skills necessary to
build an international career in FM and workplace. FMJ reports
Whichever form of Brexit occurs
on 29th March 2019, it seems
almost certain that UK nationals
will lose the right to live, work and
travel freely between the EU’s 26
other member states – a development
that feels incompatible with the
observable e ects of globalisation
and a growing desire from people to
work in foreign climes. Research by
jobsite Monster.co.uk earlier this year
found that 41 per cent of Britons in
the 18-36 age bracket worry Brexit
will ruin their chances of finding a
job abroad. Mere months before the
UK exits the EU and potentially ends
free movement, more than 520,000
British people of working age already
reside in the economic zone.
Meanwhile, the global facilities
management industry is estimated
to employ around 25 million people.
Many of the FM sector’s larger suppliers
have made no secret of their desire to
win big, multi-service, multi-geography
contracts. And with these businesses
now venturing into new markets, either
organically or through acquisition, there
are more opportunities available to
FM professionals who seek to build an
international career than ever before.
Just this year, facilities services firms
Atalian and Servest merged to create
a €3.5 billion business with a presence
in 33 countries, making international
careers a very real possibility for its
125,000-strong workforce.
But where should people who want
to take advantage of such opportunities
begin, and what skills will they need to
help get them there? These were the
crucial questions tabled at a special
IFMA UK Chapter panel debate during
last month’s Workplace Week London,
an annual five-day celebration of the
capital’s best and most progressive
workplaces, organised by Advanced
Workplace Associates (AWA).
The panel, which comprised folk
from service providers, a workplace
change consultancy and a financial
advisory firm, agreed that qualifications
and experience would improve any
professional’s chances of winning a
position overseas – while a mixture of
boldness, pragmatism and flexibility is
helpful too. The discussion really got
going, however, when the room zeroed
in on the changing nature of facilities
management and the plethora of new
demands this is placing on the industry’s
practitioners.
Claudia Halabi, Head of Talent
Acquisition for JLL, pointed to her
employer’s recent work around the
‘human experience’. The global services
firm has made an e” ort in recent years
to shi• much of its outlook and strategic
focus from bricks and mortar real estate
to the people who occupy the properties
it manages. Halabi said that this shi• had
led her organisation to look for talent
outside of the traditional property and
FM spheres in areas who could transfer
their skills in areas like the human
experience but also data analytics.
Chris Hood, a Director at AWA, and
someone who worked in the US for
almost four decades, noted that much of
this change must be credited to British
architect and pioneer Frank Du” y, who
“realised that we have to approach this
from a user perspective” some 50 years
ago. “We have to broaden our minds,”
Hood implored the audience.
Terms like ‘human experience’ and
‘user perspective’ tend to feel like fresh
concepts even though they have always
informed the jobs that FM and workplace
managers do in some way, shape or form
– it’s just that now there seems to be
genuine momentum building behind this
more holistic view of the discipline.
And yet there is still much work to be
done to ensure the profession has the
physical and intellectual infrastructures
in place to support this transformation.
One audience member told the crowd
that her organisation had struggled to
fill a workplace management role that
had been listed for three months, seeing
only three viable candidates during that
period. For Hood this was further proof
that there is a dearth of people with
workplace strategy experience. “How do
you bring all the right skills together from
one person?” he asked, before pointing
to the growing co-working sector as
a space that was getting this right by
delivering all the elements of user
experience in one neat package.
Satvir Bungar, Managing Director of
financial advisory firm BDO UK, is a key
figure behind numerous international
M&A deals in the FM market, noted that
facilities managers should take more
confidence from the jobs they do now.
“Lots of FM contract managers already
have a broad range of skills and expertise
because running contracts can o• en be
like managing a small business,” he said.
Daniel Dickson, newly appointed
CEO UK and Ireland of Atalian Servest,
and instrumental to the recent merger,
highlighted technology’s growing
influence on the sector. “Understanding
how to use the technology and the
invaluable data we have at our fingertips
is the number one skill organisations
need to provide training and support on,”
he told a particularly attentive audience.
One member of that audience, FM
Consultant Dave Wilson – a committee
member of the new IFMA UK Chapter
– provided some perspective to
proceedings by urging facilities managers
not to lose sight of the fundamentals.
“If you want to be an FM, you have to
understand how buildings work. You
need practical skills. Yes, you need to
know how to develop your career –
but to neglect the basics is a serious
shortcoming.”
Building an international career in FM
or workplace may now be eminently
possible. IFMA itself has a network of
members in 108 countries across the
globe. But the discipline it represents will
continue to wrestle with questions over
its identity and the skills that will see FM
achieve both relevance and success in
the future.
NEWS & ANALYSIS FMJ.CO.UK
10 DECEMBER/JANUARY 2019