Workplace, facility management and roles in workers’ productivity

A workplace is a location where people work for their employer or themselves. It is a place of industry and engagement. It can be an office or a space located in one’s home. Workplaces are organised spaces that help businesses deliver their goods, products or services (objectives) to consumers or customers in an efficient way. Corporate team members use their place of work to collaborate and develop new ideas, products and services to offer to their customers. Workplaces are also places of training, research and development (R&D). They are usually arranged or developed to meet the authority’s requirements of the type of facility of each sector. In most cases, we can identify a workplace by the design of the structure. For example, the design of a hospital is different from the design of a school. Government is more interested in the hygiene of the environment of food manufacturers, restaurants and water bottling companies. At the same time, the government is more interested in the safety of some workplaces like industrial premises, petrol stations and paint industries. In some countries, governments set aside land for the development of workplaces.

Facilities management, according to the International Facility Management Association (IFMA), is a profession that encompasses multiple disciplines to ensure functionality, comfort, safety and efficiency of the built environment by integrating people, place, process and technology. In April 2017, the International Standard Organisation (ISO) published the ISO 41011:2017 standard for facilities management and defined facility management as the organisational function which integrates people, place and process within the built environment with the purpose of improving the quality of life of people and the productivity of the core business. The essence of our “gregariousness and team-work” should be continuous development in the way we live and interact with each other. The essence of facilities management is to ensure that the spaces where we perform our work are functional, users-friendly, comfortable and productive.

Facilities management thus has the potential to impact the productivity of workers in a workplace. The main task and obligation of a facility management service provider is to create a pleasant working environment for all employees and other facility users. Facility managers are the point of contact for addressing employee concerns and ensuring a safe work environment. They handle issues related to building sanitation, security, fire safety, emergency preparedness, waste management, adequate lighting and heating system, facility repair and maintenance, and accessibility compliance. Facilities management has a long standing history. The term was coined in the 1960s by IBM alumnus and Electronic Data Systems founder, Ross Perot, in reference to network management of IT systems, and soon expanded to include all elements of commercial and industrial space management.

Bertram Nwannekanma and Nkechi Onyedika-Ugoeze in The Guardian of March 20, 2019, under “Facility Managers want role in proper use of national assets”, stated that facility management is capable of contributing towards reducing facilities costs, increasing the capacity to generate revenue and improving the productivity, image and core business of organisations. Probably, the greatest challenges facing infrastructure development in developing nations like Ghana, Nigeria and South Africa today, is not infrastructure design, finance or the availability of technology for construction, but maintenance of the infrastructure after delivery. Maintenance can help elongate the lifespan of facilities and reduce the demand for new ones. When the infrastructure is a workplace, maintenance can aid production and ensure that workplaces meet the purpose for which they were created.

Workplace and facilities management professionals are responsible for services that enable and support business performances. Roles covered in facilities management include a wide range of areas such as: health and safety, risk management, business continuity, procurement, sustainability, space planning, energy use control and monitoring, property and asset management, horticulture and landscaping. They typically oversee activities like catering, cleaning, building maintenance, environmental services, security and reception or concierge management. All these roles of facilities managers can be divided into hard and soft facilities management. Some facilities managers have diversified to develop their own facilities. This sector is already valued at over $1.5 trillion in 2023 and has the potential to reach $2.00 trillion before the end of 2030 for obvious reasons.

While hard facilities management include the management of physical structures like cleaning of office buildings, office premises, office facilities like motor vehicles, IT equipment, furniture and fittings etc, soft facilities management include virtual undertakings like security and janitorial services, service charge accounting, water supply, gas supply, lighting provision, catering and hospitality, etc. Beyond the built environment, the workplace recognises the joint responsibility of facilities management, IT and human resources to achieve optimal performance between people, technology and work space, anywhere that work happens, including hospitals, hotels, tourist centres and many other types of facilities. Some human resources sourcing companies have capitalised on the huge gap between demand and supply of facilities managers to set up facilities management companies.

Workplace value represents a large proportion of industrial and office operation’s costs, so when organisations bring people together in workplaces, there must be a cogent reason for doing that and there must be a plan to ensure the workplaces are in good condition throughout their lifespan. This can only come about through making use and challenging dedicated facilities management professionals. Workplace facilities management professionals interrelate between different specialties to optimise business performance; they empower work wherever it takes place and to make workplaces productive. Workplace facilities management is a sector to watch out for as it will continue to be a big money spinner in many years to come.

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