Facility management: 5 challenges to be addressed by 2030
Thanks to their versatility, the missions of facility managers have a direct impact on the company's results. Their field of action is at the crossroads of many issues: profitability, organization, well-being, eco-responsibility or the digitalization of processes. Facility management is therefore an essential part of the company. In addition, this sector is closely linked to the evolution of the entrepreneurial context: it is also part of societal and economic changes. As a result, facility managers are constantly adapting to anticipate the challenges of tomorrow. Here are 5 challenges to address by 2030.
1. Facility management: limiting costs while improving quality of life at work
The very job of facility manager is part of a cost-reduction approach: the facility manager takes on tasks whose importance has too often been underestimated. At present, the added value of this item tends to strengthen itself a little more.
The mission of the facility manager is to optimize operating expenses, while guaranteeing the well-being and productivity of the company's staff. In a context of rising operating costs and intensifying competition, facility managers are required to implement solutions at a lower cost. However, the facility manager must guarantee the quality of life at work for the staff. Pleasant spaces, information flow, networking of teams or personalized services: facility management teams strive to further improve the attractiveness of the company and staff loyalty. Thus, one of the main challenges of the profession will be to find a way to overcome economic pressure, without falling into the pitfall of reducing the quality of the services offered.
2. Increasing productivity and creating value: a dual challenge for facility managers
Spaces, tools, equipment, processes... Many parameters impact the work of the teams. If they are not adapted, the productivity of the company is affected. Thus, facility managers facilitate the daily life of staff, providing adapted solutions to increase the overall productivity of the company. Maintenance of premises, security, fluidity of processes, quality of reception, management of tools...
So many elements must be deployed by the facility manager. Although these missions are directly related to facility management, they are likely to become increasingly important in the coming years. First of all, because it is proven that happy employees are engaged and productive employees. Companies are therefore increasingly embarking on a race for well-being: it is then necessary to engage oneself by deploying devices that benefit everyone.
Secondly, because new tools and new concerns are emerging, digitalization and environmental concerns are pushing companies to adopt new habits. Facility managers are then required to take charge of the operational and strategic management of the company's evolutions ... while being part of a dual logic of improving productivity and creating value.
As such, the concept of service tends to take on a new dimension: facility management services will focus on detecting vulnerabilities and implementing improvements to create social and economic value.
3. Simplify and optimize processes through digital transformation
If digitalization has been a challenge (and an opportunity) for companies for some time now, facility management will have the opportunity to seize it in the coming years. The facility manager occupies a fundamental place in the digital transformation, since it interferes in support functions. It is important that staff benefit from seamless and effective systems that improve well-being as well as efficiency.
In addition, the facility manager is one of the guarantors of the employee experience. As such, he or she will have to ensure that each employee has the best equipment and working conditions. Once the digital transformation has begun within the company, the facility manager will be able to focus on simplifying and optimizing processes: booking a workspace, managing parking spaces, circulating information, etc. So many elements can then be rethought and optimized.
4. Addressing compliance and liability issues
The facility manager is involved in social, health and environmental responsibility. Thus, in addition to deploying solutions that comply with current regulations he or she must implement responsible solutions. Its mission is to limit risks for staff, guarantee employee safety, and reduce the company's environmental record. In this context, contributing to the fulfilment of the commitments of the Geneva 2030 cantonal climate plan is a first-rate action.
5. Improving coordination
The facility manager plays a facilitating role. As such, he or she must improve the coordination of information on the one hand – particularly in the context of digitalization – and of the different actors of the company on the other hand. On this second point, facility management, in support of the Human Resources department, will have to meet a major challenge by 2030: promoting coordination and intergenerational collaboration between new and previous generations of employees. Generation Y has, among other things, always known the internet and had access to mobility. The facility manager's mission will be to find solutions that allow coordination between connected and mobile employees, and older and more conventional employees in their way of working. The facility manager will therefore have to reinvent himself or herself: being more open and more adaptable, but also having foresight and creativity, being both a manager and a teacher.
Mobility needs will also develop his or her responsiveness and availability. Public transport travel passes, parking spaces, promotion of alternative modes of transport... Facility management will have to coordinate actions in favor of mobility, in order to reconcile digitalization, environmental responsibility, employee well-being, productivity and profitability.
Faced with new issues and challenges but always at the crossroads of disciplines, the profession of facility manager is about to reinvent itself in the years to come. To help the facility manager in this mission, tpgBusiness – a Geneva Public Transport entity – has developed a digital solution that revolutionizes travel habits.
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