WORKPLACE FUTURES
SURVIVAL GUIDE Workplace Futures 2019, which took place at the Crystal London,
may have had as its theme Surviving FM, but there was still room for
optimism, reports Sara Bean
Acknowledging the challenges
which have beset the sector
over the past year, able Chairman,
FM Guru Martin Pickard said he had
seen FM weather some enormous
challenges over the past three
decades, but he predicted that FM
will always bounce back. In her
keynote speech Baroness Ruby
McGregor-Smith conceded there is
a real challenge coming through for
the industry – particularly with rising
costs, meaning that the original
thinking behind outsourcing which
was about saving money no longer
equates in the same way it did. In
fact, she suggested: “In certain
territories particularly the UK, I don’t
think you can rule out insourcing, if
things can’t be delivered in the same
way, my view is some clients should
take it back in-house.”
With the spectre of Carillion impossible
to ignore, Coleen Andrews, Director
of Markets & Suppliers for the Cabinet
O ice was frank in her admission
that one of the things the central
Government hadn’t anticipated when
Carillion went into liquidation was
the public and political backlash, with
outsourcing viewed as ‘evil’. It now
requires some work to build back the
lack of trust between lenders, investors
and the sector, especially as FM is being
painted with the same bad brush as
construction. She also acknowledged
the misconception that you can transfer
your risk by outsourcing.
“One of the things I oƒ en hear from
civil servants across departments when
they are dealing with contractors is
that ‘we’ve outsourced that risk.’ We
now know there is no such thing as
outsourcing risk, it always comes back
to land in your lap if something goes
wrong. I don’t think in government we’ve
thought about that terribly well over
the last decade, particularly in critical
functions.”
Geo Tucker, Sales & Marketing
Director, Norse Commercial Services,
agreed there was a complete loss of
trust in the outsourcing giants within
the public sector, and this plus the
political pressures of voters: “Is a toxic
combination and it is driving the need
to reduce cost and at the same time
maintain services, which is pretty di icult
to achieve.” More innovation is needed
to drive e iciency and productivity
improvements. However, he added,
opportunities for FM in the public sector
is in delivering social value, including
supporting local economies and
delivering environmental benefits.
Whether dealing with public or
private contracts, Victoria Hughes,
Head of Sustainability, VINCI Facilities
endorsed putting sustainability at the
heart of business. The sector needs to
be “brave and hold our customers and
supply chains to account, by looking at
values and ethics, and managing with
integrity. If we are true to our values it will
underpin the culture of our organisation.”
The thread which ran throughout
the day was the societal impact of FM
and none was more powerful than his
presentation on becoming a social
enterprise by Chris Kenneally, CEO,
Cordant Group. He explained how his
organisation has fared since moving
to a social enterprise including the
challenges of communicating the
changes and how it intends to meet
sustainable development goals by
aiming to reduce poverty and modern
slavery. It also means to encourage
the formation of self-managing teams
that gives “the onus back to people
who know what they’re doing.” He also
criticised those who assume that CSR is
in any way aligned to a social enterprise.
“There’s a massive di erence between
social entrepreneurship and Corporate
Social Responsibly. People talk about
CSR but it is not the same. Planting trees
doesn’t put food in people’s mouths,”
he said.
Investment and innovation present a
further challenge for FM said Ian Marson,
Transaction Advisory Director at EY,
who warned that too many FM firms are
leaving the market open to other players
to adopt the latest technologies. FM is an
industry that has been built on steady,
low risk returns, but it is now entering
an unprecedented period of uncertainty
and change. “My view is that firms
need to review their long-term strategy
and their innovation agenda to make
sure they are keeping ahead of their
competition.” Brexit of course is another
major issue and because of the labour
needed and the products we are buying,
it is important facilities management
to consider all of its implications. “You
can’t stockpile labour,” he cautioned,
“you can’t sit it in a warehouse and hope
that it exists, it doesn’t work like that, so
planning for the future and getting the
people strategy right is absolutely key.”
James Bradley, Director, Churchill
Services Group also stressed the
importance of attracting and retaining
people: “As an industry we haven’t
invested enough in the emerging talent
in the workplace,” he said, “and it’s
something we need to do to avoid talent
aging issues in the future.”
This mantra should also apply when
considering the impact of tech on FM
services, for, as Graham Perry, Director
at Datore explained, FM is a peoplebased
discipline so technology should
just be seen as an enabler. You still
need people to contextualise the data
and turn it into useful information
he argued. It’s how you action that
and make real decisions to make real
enhancements for clients that will
improve the customer experience and
organisational performance. Using
technology e ectively means reducing
risks and analytics is the driving force
behind those insights.
A centre point of the day was the
now regular update from the institutes
& associations, which this year were
fronted by Rory Murphy for RICS; Dave
Wilson, IFMA UK and Chris Moriarty,
for the fresh face of BIFM – IWFM. Here,
Murphy made the key point that now
more than ever, the institutes are
important in developing the profession
collectively. Advancing the profession
was the main goal of IFMA confirmed
Wilson, who briefed delegates on the
progress it is making around the world,
with 24,000 members in 105 countries
as well as 135 Global Chapters; with
the UK Chapter now boasting over
500 members. For his part Moriarty
described the e orts the all-new IWFM
is making to encouraging professional
pathways. Asked to comment on
whether there is still room for a FM
services association since the FMA was
disbanded, all three agreed, but didn’t
think their role as professional bodies
played a part in fulfilling this objective.
For her sum up of the day Lucy Jeynes,
MD of Larch Consulting remarked that
FM is really under scrutiny now, so it’s
more important than ever to behave in
ways that are going to withstand that
scrutiny. The closing message was that
to survive and thrive in FM we need to
restore people’s faith in our profession
and embrace social value.
NEWS & ANALYSIS FMJ.CO.UK
10 MARCH 2019