Facilities Management
Organizations across the globe rely on facilities management to operate successfully. In this guide, we’ll explore facilities management, how it can vary, and what it takes to become a strong facility manager.
What is facilities management?
In short, facilities management is the day-to-day operations necessary to ensure a physical environment supports an organization’s needs and core function.
Formal definition
The ISO defines facility management as “an organizational function which integrates people, place, and process within the built environment to improve the quality of life of people and the productivity of the core business.”
Many things go into supporting the core functions of an organization, especially when considering the vast gamut of industries that require facilities management. It could be a school district with buildings across multiple locations, a manufacturing company with one large production facility, or a commercial office space renting out a single floor of a city skyscraper. Whatever the industry you find yourself in, facilities management (a facilities manager) ensures your physical spaces and assets can support your organization’s needs.
Why is facilities management important?
All organizations exist to fulfill a core function, from generating profits to serving a community’s needs. Facilities management is the essential spine of any successful organization. They support in a variety of ways:
Productivity
The first and foremost function is to ensure the staff, employees, and occupants are able to fulfill their job duties effectively. This means making sure the space is clean, organized, and ready to use. It also means vehicles, equipment items, and technology are functioning properly when needed.
Comfort & safety
Tied closely with productivity is making sure that all building occupants are safe and comfortable. Ensuring the buildings and equipment are inspected to meet safety standards is critical to minimizing liability and risk. Facilities managers also monitor ways a facility can better meet occupant comfort.
Profitability
Productivity, safety, and comfort must be created efficiently. Facilities management is often the largest expense due to its far-reaching impact across the organization, so any efforts to minimize unnecessary operating costs are important for the business’s bottom line.
Scalability
As organizations grow, expand capital assets, change locations, or adapt to changing work environments (the introduction of a virtual work environment as one example), facilities management is at the forefront of ensuring the success of these changes. The team needs to know the facilities inside and out, as well as the people and assets within them, to best advise on new opportunities.
Sustainability
Beyond EHS (environment, health, and safety) compliance, facilities managers bear a social responsibility to promoting greener practices for the organization. This can mean a reduction in waste, optimizing energy efficiency, or leveraging new best practices. Sustainable facilities management promotes a positive brand image for the organization and reduces their overall energy consumption costs.
Facilities management functions
The title of facilities manager can mean various things depending on the size of an organization and what industry they serve. Their job responsibilities can also be fulfilled by people with different job titles (director of facilities, director of operations, maintenance manager, property manager, and many others).
The easiest way to understand the role of a facilities manager is to break down the facility management services into two categories, hard services and soft services.
Hard services vs. soft services
The simplest way to understand the difference between hard services and soft services is that hard services relate to the physical spaces and assets, while soft services relate to the organization and its operation.
| Hard services include: | Soft services include: |
|---|---|
| Facility maintenance | Staffing and space planning |
| HVAC | Custodial and waste management |
| Plumbing | Grounds and pest control |
| Electrical | Information technology |
| Lighting | Public safety and security |
| Fire safety systems | EHS compliance |
| Construction and renovation | Administrative services |
| Occupancy (leasing, relocation, purchasing) | Energy management |
Facility manager vs. property manager
A role commonly confused with a facility manager is a property manager, and it’s easy to understand why. This confusion primarily lies in commercial real estate, where property owners and organizations are different entities. This is not applicable in owner-occupied facilities (i.e., the organization leaders are also the building owners).
In those commercial real estate situations, however, a property manager and facility manager will be present. The critical difference is that the property manager is employed by the property owner (landlord) while the facility manager is employed by the residing organization (tenant). As such, property managers oversee everything to do with the commercial buildings themselves (building and grounds maintenance, utilities, capital improvements, etc.), and facility managers oversee everything relating to the occupants, employees, and assets inside (workspace management, asset maintenance, catering, etc.).
Read more about facility management vs. property management.
How is a facilities management department structured?
Like most things relating to facilities management, the department structure varies greatly depending on the size and industry of facilities management.
For smaller organizations, the facilities management division may consist of only one individual that oversees everything. When this is the case, the facilities manager (or facility manager when referring to a single facility) is very involved in the day-to-day operations.
As organizations scale, specific services are delegated to focused facility professionals or teams. For example, a maintenance manager, transportation director, or production manager may come on board to own those specific services. Other organizations may split their management based on zones, locations, buildings, or regions, overseen by building managers or regional managers. In either of these situations, the facilities manager (or, more likely, facilities director or VP of operations) is free to handle more strategic tasks in collaboration with the executive leadership.
Outsourcing facilities management
Many organizations will seek to outsource varying levels of their facility management (from outsourcing the entire department to only a few selected services).
Outsourcing can be a cost-effective option by reducing in-house training and payroll costs. Each organization must weigh the costs and benefits of outsourcing for themselves. Often, the more specialized, less frequent services are outsourced, while standard, routine services are kept in-house.
| In-house | Outsourced |
|---|---|
| Core to organization function | Peripheral to organizational function |
| Frequent | Infrequent |
| Common | Specialized |
| Low training costs | High training costs |
Read more about outsourcing facility management.
How well is your facility operating?
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What are the qualifications of a facilities manager?
The role of a facilities manager is not an entry-level position and often requires years of experience or education. Usually, a facilities manager begins as a maintenance technician, building manager, mechanical engineer, or another related job title. As they become more experienced, they start to move into higher-level director positions, enabling them to oversee more of the strategic functions of the department.
The educational requirements change depending on the size of an organization and the candidate competition, ranging from a high school diploma, a 2-year associate degree, or a 4-year bachelor’s degree in facility management or engineering. Many candidates will also bolster their education with a facility management certification.
The three most common are:
- Facility Management Professional (FMP)
- Certified Facility Manager (CFM)
- Sustainability Facility Professional (SFP)
Due to the wide range of responsibilities a facilities manager is expected to fulfill, they require a diverse skillset:
- Strategic facilities planning
- Leadership and communication
- Project management
- Business and financial acumen
- Technical skill (maintenance and technology)
Read more about facilities manager salaries and career paths.
Facilities management technology
Now, more than ever, facilities management teams are held accountable for storing accurate and available data, choosing sustainable practices for their buildings, and prioritizing building and environmental health.
There are countless technologies to help teams achieve these goals.
Utility tracking software
Most organizations want to decrease energy costs, keep their facilities as energy efficient as possible, and track sustainability goals. However, most forgo these initiatives because of the manual data collection process. Utility tracking software automates this tedious process by pulling an organization’s utility bill data into their facilities management software system. This gives staff the ability to:
- Uncover trends to support capital investment projects and equipment upgrades
- See a breakdown of costs by building to pinpoint waste or inefficiencies
- Optimize energy usage for each building and predict future spending
- Assess and compare costs across buildings to catch inefficient operations
Sensor technology
Leading facilities management teams use sensors to drive operational decisions and make buildings more efficient. Air quality, occupancy, and equipment sensors can alert you when they detect abnormalities during data collection. This data can improve occupant comfort and health, equipment performance, and building efficiency. To take action quickly, consider connecting these sensors to your facilities management system to dispatch technicians, prioritize work, and make data-driven operational decisions.
Facilities management software
Facility management software is a digital tool that supports the day-to-day operations of facility management. The software helps organizations:
- Keep buildings clean and safe for occupants with routine servicing and custodial services for all areas of your facilities
- Prevent details from slipping through the cracks with an organized maintenance schedule and intake process
- Consolidate your communication into one location with real-time updates for everyone involved in a task
- Make data-driven decisions based on staff and equipment performance
While there are defined categories of facilities management software (CMMS, CAFM, IWMS software, or EAM software), the boundary lines are somewhat nebulous. Each software provider will offer its own feature set (regardless of what category they fall into).
When selecting the software for your facilities, it’s best to start by identifying the desired capabilities for your organization and then choosing the appropriate system.
Continuing education for facilities management
Facilities management is an ever-growing industry, with many different topics to help you grow and develop your skillset. We’ve compiled a list of resources you may find helpful.
- Facilities Management Job Board
- Facilities Management Best Practices
- 4 Reasons to Choose Facilities Management for a Rewarding Career
- Guide to Facility Maintenance
- Facilities Maintenance Goals
- Facilities Management Checklists
- Integrated Facilities Management
- A Guide to Sustainable Facilities Management
- Guide to Building Maintenance
If you’re looking for a next step, we sat down with 30-year operations and facilities management leader, Robert Gregory, in a recent webinar, 5 Ways to Achieve Operational Excellence in Facilities and Maintenance Management.
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