In what are challenging but exciting times for facilities management, Andrew Preston, Group MD of temporary labour specialist, de Poel, discusses how recruitment is shifting.
Despite the fluctuating economic climate over the last two decades, facilities management has quietly grown to become a dynamic industry, creating countless opportunities for those taking proactive steps to adapt to evolving customer needs.
As a vast and complex, but vitally strategic sector operating in a constant state of flux, FM employs around 10 per cent of the UK working population. Whilst this has been said to be a relatively static figure, the total value of the FM market was recorded at £106.3 billion in 2012, with the value of outsourcing bundled and total FM services at almost £19.5 billion in 2014. Furthermore, it has been predicted that the contracted-out sector will grow by a cumulative 14 per cent to 2018.
Andrew-Preston, Group Managing Director of de Poel
Whilst there is much optimism surrounding growth, like many businesses and industries still haunted by the ghost of the recession ten years ago, FM is under pressure to do more with less. Although, this is much more than just a money-saving, procurement exercise. Suppliers are expected to deliver increasingly higher levels of service to end users, whilst continually driving down operating costs.
At the crux of this, is people. Securing quality staff at the right time, for the right price, is absolutely key to the running of a successful business – with increased pressure on FM providers, being accountable and driven by client expectation. However, there are a number of powerful forces at work, which are fuelling escalating hiring costs paid to recruitment agencies and leaving some FM providers backed into a corner frequently having to make a distressed purchase.
Factor in the irony that even the most skilled and expert of FM players – who live and breathe cutting the best deals on behalf of their clients – occasionally don’t practice what they preach resulting in significant cost implications, and you’ve got a near perfect storm.
Neutral vendor, de Poel, works with some of the biggest names in the industry, including FM’s second largest employer. Their intermediary position means they can effectively police agency margins, create a level-playing field by putting an end to charge variation and work with organisations to attain 100 per cent fulfilment rates through compliant channels.
Carrying out extensive research within the FM sector and drawing on their knowledge and expertise, they looked at the make-up of a snapshot of 4,500 workers across the UK – with some interesting discoveries.
Challenges in optimising integrated systems and services
In Frost & Sullivan’s 2015 Global IFM Report, it is indicated that the integrated facilities management (IFM) market is projected to grow at a compound annual rate of 6.4 per cent between 2013 and 2019.
IFM may sound simple in theory – that is, consolidating many or all of your services under one contract and management team – but in practice, facilities managers often feel like jugglers in a circus, constantly balancing services across different providers to make sure they work well together.
One of the major benefits of an IFM system is the ability to fine-tune services to meet larger business goals. For FMs faced with an expanding workforce, physical changes to the facility or cost-cutting measures, integrated systems ensure changes can be enacted across all services, to adapt to major changes.
Whilst having this type of freedom means strategic decisions can be implemented quickly and without the need to work through a complex supply chain to coordinate facility services, FMs are often left reliant upon intuitive and reliable technology to deliver this.
When it comes to managing a temporary workforce to deliver this contract, software solutions like de Poel’s e-tips reduce administration and provide FMs with a bird’s-eye view and real-time insight at their fingertips, capable of supporting even the trickiest of contracts. Towards 2020, more FMs will be keen to leverage more technology in their service offerings to retain their competitive advantage.
A creeping skills shortage
In certain, more highly skilled areas of the FM sector, demand is exceeding supply. With this, opportunity has been grasped by some recruitment agencies to plug the gaps, at a premium price.
According to the BIFM Facilities Management Business Confidence Monitor 2015, 43 per cent of FM firms say recruitment and retention challenges are obstacles to prosperity. Sixty five per cent of professionals from the industry state they are planning to increase their workforce, with 47 per cent citing the skills shortage as a worry. This is hugely significant, given that 62 per cent of service providers cited competition in the marketplace as the biggest barrier to growth going into 2016.
Right now, there is shortfall of FMs at a technical level. With employers seeking out top-tier candidates, this is creating a skills divide and consequentially driving up the average salary, making it harder for SMEs to compete with bigger firms in the industry.
With problems maintaining a strong, skilled workforce, some businesses could see their growth stall and find it difficult to stay ahead of the curve. To combat this, FM providers need to start looking for the facilities managers of the future, rather than cherry-picking from a shrinking pool of specialists.
Just-in-time Talent
According to research in the Evening Standard, whereby 3.6 million hours worked by temps across multiple sectors including FM were analysed, in London alone, a quarter of the City’s workforce (24 per cent) works on a Saturday and 16 per cent on a Sunday. There was also a doubling in the number of anti-social hours worked.
As a sector that never sleeps, there is an increasing need for FM talent on demand, able to keep services running smoothly on a 24/7/365 basis. As such, FM providers are looking for staff available at the drop of a hat, willing to work outside of the traditional 9-5 working pattern. de Poel is increasingly being asked to fill these types of vacancies, working with recruitment agencies to procure ‘Just-in-time’ talent from a wide and diverse pool. However, it is not simply about plugging the gaps in the interim but rather viewing a temporary workforce as an integral, permanent fixture.
In the same way that the sidling skills gap is leaving employers paying over the odds in order to attract savvy candidates, the growing requirement for ‘Just-in-time’ talent is adding further fuel to the fire of rocketing rate margins.
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