SECURITY
MANAGING THE CHANGE
Amthal’s Head of Strategic Accounts Phil Bryant, suggests that FMs should review workplace experience and culture with other business areas to enable people to do their best work from any location, safely and securely.
Before the pandemic, of the 32.6 million workers in the UK in 2019, only 1.7 million worked from home. 73% had no experience of working from home. When lockdown hit, more than 20 million of those people moved to a WFH model – a huge shift in their experience and perception of their working life.
While many assumed that when the pandemic was over, we’d just shift back to working in a pre-pandemic way, the reality has been more complex. A significant proportion of the workforce have reset their working expectations.
The term hybrid today is now well known, well used and arguably here to stay as a way of life for many businesses and their employees. It allows them to adapt to the changing environment and continue to be productive.
By 2023, 60% of workers will prioritise a wellness- equipped smart office. Less than a third of digital workers will choose the corporate office as their main place of work. According to a survey by the British Chamber of Commerce, 40% of people would like their employer to offer hybrid working in future.
What does this mean for FMs? In the face of these new challenges, it’s the FM team that is best placed to respond.
The office no longer needs to be a building, and facilities departments can work with this shift proactively. Collaborating with HR, IT, estates and senior leadership to maximise employee satisfaction, productivity and transformation.
Offices can become more fluid, acting as a hybrid space to unify people. A destination where people want to go to imagine, create and work collaboratively. Or simply a place to host meetings.
With these changes to an office environment, FMs are able to navigate the practical elements of implementing security, efficiency, and continuity in the workplace and beyond. Ensuring people feel safe and understood during their return and have had the opportunity to offer their input.
FMs are now evolving their approach to suit and provide a working environment still remains a clean, safe and secure as a welcoming place to be when employees do choose to come in.
46 | TOMORROW’S FM
The changes will also not just be around physical workspaces but also around service levels that go beyond the 9-5, as part of the new flexible working style to encourage more of a work and life balance.
Maintaining the transformation The challenge FMs face is how to maintain the office that now carries such a fluid dynamic. It’s understanding and measuring building occupancy, which can often change quite dramatically on a daily basis.
This means traditional measures of occupancy (for example, desk utilisation) won’t be enough.
The new hybrid working environment requires accurate insight into how employees are using their workspace. Rather than a steady stream of teams being in the office through the week, workplaces now face greater occupancy peaks and troughs.
With building and usage becoming more complex and unpredictable, the range of support skills need has grown. The need to respond quickly to unforeseen events is even more important, especially when it comes to fire safety and security.
For resource, time and personnel stretched FMs, already operating under an uncertain economic climate, the need to constantly understand individual building type and usage, the movement of people and the specific ‘risk factors may seem overwhelming.
Here, the skills shortage is well-documented, where jobs don’t match the people and as digital innovation accelerates this talent gap may only widen. Whereas recruitment may not be the answer, we must work harder as an industry to provide partnerships that can support objectives such as safe and secure maintenance of office environments.
Working together Amthal recognises the number of challenges in the mid-to-long-term level for facilities managers and the associated complexity vary by location and sector, each requiring bespoke solutions.
We are proactively working with each of our customers, starting with a thorough risk assessment of premises designs to support and advise on installation, maintenance and continued monitoring of physical security and fire safety measures in place.
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