I’m regularly asked: “What exactly is Facility Management?” This question typifies the position Facility Management often finds itself in: indispensable, yet invisible. Indispensable because many building functions are essential to guarantee the comfort, well-being, safety, and productivity of employees working in a building. Invisible because many tasks and processes happen behind the scenes. When everything runs as it should, Facility Management—with a few exceptions, such as reception, cleaning, and security—remains invisible, which partly explains why I regularly receive this question.
Regarding that question: Facility Management, like Human Resources and Finance Management, is a business support function. While HR and Finance Management focus on human and financial resources, respectively, Facility Management focuses on managing the company’s infrastructure, physical workplace, and associated services. Ideally, the person responsible for Facility Management within a company should be at the same hierarchical level as the person responsible for HR and Finance Management. The goal of Facility Management: actively support an organization’s core activities and the well-being and productivity of its employees.
Referring to the definition of Facility Management, we can divide almost all activities into three main pillars: Infrastructure, Services, and Workplace Management. The coordination of all these activities is, as it were, carried out by an invisible hand pulling the strings behind the scenes. But what exactly do all these activities entail? Below, I list the most important ones.
- Infrastructure
The most important physical assets of a company fall under this heading. Think of buildings, technical installations, laboratories, production halls, warehouses, office buildings, parking lots, charging stations, solar panels, air conditioning and heating (HVAC), data centers, UPS systems, elevators, lighting, and so on. Some of these assets are critical to business continuity and must be monitored 24/7, for example, or backup infrastructure must be provided. All these elements are installed and managed by Facility Management.
- Services
The infrastructure mentioned above must not only be installed but also regularly maintained and, if necessary, renewed or replaced. The associated services can be provided in-house or outsourced. The same applies to other services such as cleaning, landscaping, security, reception, archives, etc. Services such as statutory inspections and approvals are also managed by Facility Management.
- Workplace Management
The entire office design, such as individual offices, open-plan offices, meeting rooms (including video conferencing equipment), coffee corners (including coffee!), and ergonomic furniture, is typically installed and managed by Facility Management. This is not a static process. The needs of employees, teams, and management are constantly changing. Working from home agreements impact office occupancy, which is typically monitored by Facility Management and used as a basis for decisions regarding the required square footage of offices and meeting rooms.
In addition to these three pillars on which sound Facility Management is built, the following are also part of Facility Management’s responsibility:
- Developing, justifying, and managing budgets, both OPEX and CAPEX, and for both short-term and multi-year budgets.
- Sound Project Management is essential to realize approved investments within budget and on time, just as People Management is important to motivate and inspire Facility Management staff to deliver their best work.
- Actively working with and maintaining constructive relationships with suppliers and contractors, including drafting and managing contracts, typically with support from legal and purchasing departments.
- Monitoring energy consumption and controlling and reducing associated costs, while balancing employee comfort and well-being (e.g., consider the desired temperature in an office versus the associated energy costs).
- Ensuring that the company consistently complies with all applicable regulations, legislation, and corporate requirements. This also means that the multi-year budget must take into account necessary investments to comply with new legislation in the future (future-proof infrastructure).
- Developing an Infrastructure Master Plan that takes the organization’s Strategic Plan into account. This means involving the Facility Management department in developing the Strategic Plan. After all, Facility Management has the best understanding of the possibilities and limitations of the available infrastructure and can identify the need for any future investments at an early stage.
- Communicating broadly internally about the operation of Facility Management and be open to feedback, both positive and negative, from building users and colleagues. • Actively managing expectations is equally important. After all, it’s not always possible to meet all needs and wishes immediately.
Facility Management is a business support function with a broad scope and a potentially significant impact on business results and the well-being of all employees. Given the rising expectations of these employees regarding their workplace and the increasing pressure on companies due to new legislation and rapidly changing internal and external circumstances, a professional approach to Facility Management has become essential.