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Facilities Management

Defining the Facilities Management Industry

In its broadest sense, Facilities Management (FM) encompasses the management and provision of services that support the core business of an organisation – and this can include any non core activity. Its scope, therefore, can be quite extensive and diverse, covering a wide variety of different service lines.

For the purpose of this article, the FM industry in Trinidad and Tobago is defined as the sum of demands for the various services – for example, Soft Services which includes Cleaning and Housekeeping, Pest Management, Grounds Maintenance, Landscaping, Waste Disposal, Helpdesk, Reception, Health, Safety & Environmental Management, and Security (Electronic & Guarding); and Hard Services such as Building Operations, Building Infrastructure Repairs and Maintenance, Mechanical and Electrical Repairs and Maintenance, Building Automation Systems, Computerised Maintenance Management Systems, Space Planning and Management, Office Alterations, and Project Management.

This definition has deliberately excluded construction activities, as FM services are performed in the built environment post construction.

The concept of Facilities Management is relatively new to Trinidad and Tobago, although the services listed above have been and continue to be provided to organisations as far as one can remember. The fundamental difference this “new approach” offers is that the services are not viewed as ends in themselves but rather as being integrated with the workplace, its occupants and the work performed by the organisation. In essence, FM is viewed as an enabler of organisational effectiveness in that it supports the pursuit of the organisation’s objectives.

The delivery of FM services in organisations locally have traditionally been via in-house departments that would either self-perform the services (insourcing) or engage several providers through individual service contracts (out-tasking).

This modus operandi has created a situation where the industry has evolved on a fragmented basis and is one of the major challenges which industry stakeholders must address in advancing professional FM practice in Trinidad and Tobago.

Within the last three to four years, the industry has seen penetration by one-stop, multi-service FM companies offering a menu of services bundled together. Organisations now have the option of outsourcing their FM service requirements. Outsourcing is essentially a separation of “core from chore”, with the offloading of chores to a third party and is fundamentally different from out-tasking, with the former involving handing over of management responsibility for the FM function to a third party.

The rationale is that a firm can become more efficient by paying for services provided by specialist suppliers, rather than retaining in-house expertise that is not always fully utilised. In addition, outside suppliers may be more expert and more efficient, partly as a result of providing similar services to a number of clients. In out-tasking, on the other hand, management responsibility for the FM function is retained in-house, with the day-to-day services performed by others. The market, however, is currently dominated by single service providers.

Expenditure on FM

How much of corporate expenditure is allocated to FM services? In the developed markets the experience has been that after human resources, FM consumes the second largest chunk of operational expenditure. A sample assessment was made of some corporations in Trinidad and Tobago and the results confirmed that human resources in fact made the biggest bite in operational expenditure, but that unlike the developed markets, expenditure on FM lagged considerably behind human resources. The trend has been that local corporations spend between 2% and 8% of their operational budgets on FM services. Interestingly, the survey revealed that FM expenditure was focused on three principal service lines – cleaning and housekeeping, repairs and maintenance and security. The results are summarised in the following table.

Security emerged as the biggest slice of the FM pie, closely followed by repairs and maintenance and then by cleaning and housekeeping. These results suggest that based on market demand, these three areas of service provision represent attractive segments for the supply side of the FM industry.

It would have been interesting to establish the FM sector’s contribution to the national economic statistics. Unfortunately, employment data is currently not available for the FM sector per se, but one knowledgeable FM Manager suggests that this statistic would run into several thousands. On the output side of the equation, it would be important also to note the FM industry’s contribution to Gross National Product. One would hope that as the industry becomes more organised, such important statistics would be available, yielding time series data that would be valuable to the industry for identifying economic and growth trends.

Opportunities for the FM Sector

With our current buoyant economic environment, there are opportunities for single-service providers (e.g. cleaning, security, maintenance) as well as multi-service, single-source FM companies. The increase in national building stock, as evidenced by the numerous projects being delivered under the auspices of Udecott, is expected to stimulate demand for services provided by the FM industry. In order to take advantage of this opportunity, the FM sector needs to organise itself not only to meet the expected demand but also to provide sustainable quality service.

Another source of opportunity for the sector lies in the area of Health and Safety. The implementation of the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 2004 (as amended in 2006) could see the emergence of Health and Safety Management as a service line within its own right. Organisations without in-house health and safety resources or capability would no doubt look to the market for this service. The FM sector is, therefore, presented with an opportunity to fill this void.

Challenges for the FM Sector

The FM industry is not without its challenges. Given the labour intensive nature of this sector, it is not surprising that labour is a key issue. Competition with other sectors such as construction and the social sector programmes such as CEPEP and URP has made attracting and retaining FM staff an uphill battle for the industry. This is not an easy challenge to surmount, as market forces would, at the end of the day, have the final say.

Another challenge is the relative little importance placed on FM services by corporate decision-makers. FM services are largely seen as a cost to the business and its contribution to the bottom line is generally seen as a cost to minimise, defer or to avoid. The challenge for the industry is to change this mindset and to drive awareness and recognition of the strategic importance of FM’s contribution to the objectives of the organisation.

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