As we adapt to working in a post-Covid economy, one of the key features of this new normal is going to be hybrid working.
Hybrid working combines remote working with office-based working, which brings certain challenges to Facilities Management.
What is Hybrid Working?
As the name indicates, hybrid working combines working in an office space with working from home (WFH).
There isn’t a fixed formula for this. How different businesses organise hybrid working will depend on how they work, their size and the type of workplace they occupy.
But generally, the principle is that not all of the employees will be in the workplace all of the time.
One of the implications of this is, there will be more shared spaces and breakout areas, where people can gather for catch-ups or more formal meetings.
There are likely to be fewer fixed workstations with much more mobility of the workforce. Staff will work flexibly from a range of locations. According to CIPD, pre-pandemic, only around 5% of the workforce ever worked from home. This figure has risen to over 45% at various times during 2020.
For many companies, the advantages are clear. They can reduce the rental burden if they need less permanently occupied space. Also, they can attract and retain talent with the opportunity for hybrid working. HW offers flexible benefits to employees who want to improve their work-life balance.
But to make this shift, businesses must also change how they manage their working spaces. A large part of the responsibility will lie with facilities managers to make hybrid working a success.
What Will FMs Need to Do?
Just as technology has enabled WFH to become a practical reality, so it will take centre stage in FM for hybrid workspaces.
Facilities managers will need to invest in technology to support the flexible office.
One example is the use of sensor technology to detect which rooms are occupied at any given time. This will make it easier to monitor work areas for health and safety and to introduce energy-efficient heating and lighting.
Cleaning will be another priority in the post-Covid workspace. With a shifting cast of employees on-site, FMs will need to ensure all workstations and common areas are cleaned and disinfected routinely and thoroughly.
Effective management and maintenance of the workspace require good visibility of what’s going on at any given time, and a diligent approach to workplace inspections and assessments.
This is another key area where technology can support hybrid working. The Inspection Manager is an app designed specifically to support property and facilities managers.
Digital templates allow you to record and share data with ease, automatically syncing between your smart phone, tablet, and desktop – providing real-time reports.
Removing the use of paper check lists, streamlines procedures, and processes and allows for immediate, actionable reporting.
Facilities and property managers, civil engineers and construction teams are all discovering the benefits of using the Inspection Manager app.
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Today’s facility managers find themselves in the midst of many challenges, including regulatory and compliance hurdles, resource scarcity, and burnout. Resource constraints, for example, which affect time management, materials delivery, and budget planning, pose major obstacles, all the while demanding highly prudent allocation without operational efficiency taking a hit.
Technology is rapidly expanding into all spheres of life, and this is especially true of industries. In the property management sector, for instance, one is surrounded by disruptive technology which is improving ‘quality of life’ for not only property and facility managers but also tenants.
The property and real estate sector has traditionally been associated with stacks of paperwork, manual documentation, and physical blueprints. However, all that is changing quickly as the idea of paperless building operations is steadily gaining momentum.
If we go back a few years, the property management sector was a bit slow to adopt new changes, especially those revolving around technology and automation. But in the present day, it has taken a dramatic step forward.
In a 2021 survey where 2,000 UK adults were surveyed who had rented a home over the last 5 years – 66% of them had experienced some kind of disrepair issue, while 26% of Housing Association Properties tenants were not happy with the quality of repair and maintenance during their stay.
Everyone wants nothing more than to have secure, safe, and decent housing. Unfortunately, the housing supply in the UK has been unable to keep up with the surge in demand over the last couple of years. This has made accessing housing of any kind rather difficult for individuals and families alike, especially those from low-income households.
Tenant experience is an important metric to understand when it comes to property and facilities management – it describes how your tenants interact with the properties they live in. The quality of these interactions along with the amenities you offer can have a major impact on your ROI.
If you recall the government’s 2019 election manifestos, all the main parties committed to boost housing supply in England. The Conservative manifesto, in fact, pledged that the number of homes being built will continue to increase, targeting at least 300,000 affordable homes by the middle of 2020.
The property management industry has been traditionally shy and somewhat hesitant to embrace new technological trends. The word “automation” would make everyone from real estate agents to property managers cringe with disapproval – as if impending doom and job insecurity was right around the corner.
Data standardisation refers to using consistent methods for collecting data, although this is a very basic and somewhat generic description of what it truly is. If we delve in deeper, data standardisation is the process used for transforming data to fit a constrained and predefined set of values – ultimately, relying on uniformity to improve efficiencies.
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