Facility management professionals carry out a range of activities to ensure all types of buildings and properties remain safe, orderly, productive, and efficient.
Without facilities managers, the world as we know it would quickly cease to exist. It would start small. Light bulbs would burn out, machines would overheat and fail, eventually buildings would crumble and fall. Facilities managers and maintenance professionals keep their organizations running by ensuring properties and equipment always remain in peak condition to keep employees safe and productive and ensure customers are always satisfied.
What do facility managers do?
Simply put, facilities management professionals are responsible for managing all the operations that help ensure an organization’s physical locations are in a suitable condition for supporting their core functions. All types of organizations leverage the services of in-house or third-party facilities management teams for tasks ranging from preventive maintenance to disaster planning to custodial services.
Which facilities require maintenance and management?
All types of facilities require dedicated management programs to function as efficiently as possible.
- Industrial facilities: Factories, warehouses, manufacturing facilities, power plants, refineries, chemical plants, etc.
- Commercial facilities: Offices, retail stores, hotels, restaurants, conference centers, banks, entertainment venues, etc.
- Residential facilities: Apartments, condominiums, retirement facilities, dormitories, etc.
- Recreational facilities: Fitness centers, golf courses, arenas, amusement parks, etc.
- Institutional facilities: Schools, hospitals, religious institutions, government buildings, etc.
Types of facilities management
Depending on the type and size of your organization and its properties, facilities management could mean a range of
- Facilities maintenance: Management and maintenance go hand in hand, ensuring that all facilities are suited to serve their function.
- Asset management: Working alongside maintenance teams, facilities departments oversee the upkeep, repairs, and replacement of assets like equipment and vehicles.
- Real estate management: In collaboration with property managers, facilities professionals keep buildings safe and ensure repairs are all up to date.
- Occupancy management: Managing facilities includes using advanced data analysis to optimize space management across built environments to maximize employee well
- Financial and performance management: Platforms like Computerized Maintenance Management Systems (CMMS) help consolidate budget and performance data to generate detailed reports and drive better decision making and elevate the role of facilities professionals as strategic advisors.
- Building systems management: Each facility includes a range of systems and subsystems, including those for fire safety and building security.
Hard facility management services vs. soft facility management services
How do businesses keep all these various services and systems straight? Many break the vast world of facility management into two smaller categories: hard and soft facilities management.
Hard facility management
Hard FM services focus on the physical components of a work environment and its infrastructure. Many of them will fall under the purview of your maintenance department.
- Plumbing systems:
- Lighting and HVAC systems
- Fire safety systems
- Mechanical and electrical systems
- Structural maintenance
Soft facility management
Alternatively, soft FM focuses on people and organizations. These services help make facilities more comfortable, safe, orderly, and visually appealing.
- Waste management
- Cleaning and janitorial services
- Space planning and utilization
- Landscaping and grounds maintenance
- Pest control services
- Building security
- Environmental, Health, and Safety (EHS) compliance
Facility professionals: titles, roles, and responsibilities
The shape and structure of your facilities management department will depend on a number of factors, but here are a few of the titles you’ll see on just about any multi-person employee roster.
- Facility manager: These professionals oversee facilities management programs and assign duties to teams of technicians and operators. Depending on the size and type of facility, they may have a large team of specialized operators and technicians working under them. In addition to specialized education, professionals at this level may bolster their credentials with certifications like Facility Management Professional (FMP) or Certified Facility Manager (CFM), issued by the International Facility Management Association (IFMA).
- Maintenance manager: Your facilities management team may work alongside a separate maintenance department or include maintenance pros among its ranks. Managers typically oversee teams of operators and technicians, assigning tasks, tailoring the work order system, and reviewing performance.
- Maintenance technician: Technicians make up the foundation of facilities management and maintenance units, putting in the most wrench time and executing on work orders in the most hands-on way.
Across all roles, the core competencies of facilities management professionals include familiarity with specific machinery, communication skills, and problem-solving savvy. More senior professionals typically blend these attributes with project management and leadership skills.
Small organizations may operate with facilities and maintenance departments as small as a single person. As organizations grow and their facilities take up more square feet, the department may take various different forms and employ a host of different strategies. Some organizations delegate responsibilities based on zone, with certain employees responsible for specific facilities. Others take a service-specific approach to assigning tasks, reserving specific types of work for specific employees or teams.
Tips for building and managing your facilities team
- Develop clear and detailed job descriptions: The titles and brief descriptions above are just suggestions. You should make sure the roles, responsibilities, and the chain of command are all tailored to your unique facilities. Once you’ve got these in place, ensure all facilities team members always know where they fit in.
- Offer up-skilling opportunities and detailed career paths: You’ll boost both performance and engagement by ensuring team members have opportunities to cross-train, learn new skills, and expose themselves to different sides of the business.
- Emphasize the role of technology: The right time- and cost-saving solutions can improve engagement and job satisfaction across your team. Take care to loop end users in whenever you’re making tech selections and always emphasize the ways the right tools can augment their capabilities and empower them to do their jobs even better. CMMS tools in particular offer useful integrations with other solutions, automations for core processes, and features for real-time data analytics.
- Balance in-house and third-party FM resources: Depending on the size of your organization and the scope of your facilities management needs, you’ll rely on a blend of both internal and external resources to make your full FM program possible.
Why are facilities management strategies important?
Effective FM strategies empower employees to perform to their full potential by keeping the workplace safe, orderly, and conducive to excellence. Over time, taking the right approach to facilities management has effects that you, your employees, your partners, and your customers will feel.
Benefits of strong facilities management programs
The top- and bottom-line effects of well-managed facilities are numerous.
- Reduced operating costs: A more strategic and proactive approach to facilities management ensures teams plan and schedule maintenance tasks, repairs, and other important work for maximum cost effectiveness. Reducing excess maintenance costs and avoiding unplanned breakdowns ultimately boosts the profitability of facilities and organization-wide operations.
- Safer, more productive properties and workspaces: Safe, comfortable, and accessible facilities are essential for productivity. Minimizing risk and liability helps keep excess costs low and reduce the likelihood of unexpected breakdowns or labor shortages.
- Ensuring compliance with legal regulations: Taking a forward-thinking approach to maintaining assets and facilities keeps your team
- Greater energy efficiency: More strategic maintenance and facilities management can play a key role in making sustainability more than a buzzword. Poor visibility and a lack of direction can often keep businesses from making progress against their green objectives. A management program can help address both these obstacles, ultimately reducing excess energy consumption and emissions across your full portfolio of facilities.
- Improved employee experience: Better planning and a more productive workplace leads to improved overall satisfaction. Your team will thank you for enabling them to spend less time on reactive repairs and more time contributing to high-value projects.
Facilities management vs. property management vs. building management
How does facilities management differ from property management and building management? While the three terms sound similar and the concepts overlap, they aren’t quite the same thing. Facilities management programs cover the most ground.
- Facilities management refers to the wide variety of activities related to keeping facilities operational, safe, and maximally efficient. FM programs involve buildings as well as all of the assets and systems included within those buildings.
- Building management typically focuses on the physical structure of buildings. Tasks related to roofing and painting, for example, may qualify as examples of building maintenance.
- Property management programs are broader than building management, taking into account exterior spaces and encompassing services like landscaping.
Facilities management: today and tomorrow
How are facilities managers leveraging cutting-edge tools to overcome common challenges and confidently entering a new era? We surveyed more than 250 professionals from maintenance and facilities management departments to learn which strategies they’re employing. Check out the report and dive deeper with our webinar on strategies for facilities managers.