Putting People At The Centre Of Post-Pandemic Estates Rationalisation
By Rob Gilbert, Commercial Sales Director at Totalmobile.
Estates rationalisation – already high on the facilities management (FM) agenda for both public and private sector organisations with distributed estates – has long been recognised as a key area for potential capital and operational cost savings. However, as organisations continue to manage the economic fallout of the pandemic, achieving more with less is more business-critical than ever before, and estates rationalisation will take on a renewed importance.
For some time, leading management consultancy firms such as McKinsey have been urging organisations to elevate FM to a C-level priority. Like many areas of organisational transformation, widespread change brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic has both highlighted and augmented this need.
Of course, austerity isn’t a new concept; organisations have been adapting business models and scaling down budgets to deal with difficult economic conditions for a long time. Therefore, in many ways, the idea of reducing estates to continue delivering services on a reduced budget comes as a somewhat natural thought process to many businesses.
However, prior to the events of 2020, many organisations had resisted allowing their workforce total flexibility and there was a lot of apprehension surrounding estates rationalisation. For example, what if productivity levels dipped, or if companies were not able to implement the infrastructure needed for more flexible work? The onset of the pandemic resolved many of these concerns. The way the UK adapted to COVID and the new guidelines effectively demonstrated that people could work from home, or with a rationalised estate with the same productivity levels.
Cutting Costs
Naturally, the main attraction of estates rationalisation is the cost-saving element. For those in the facilities management sector, rationalising estates would mean reducing the amount of ‘corporate office’ space and relying much more heavily on technology to remotely organise workforces and eliminate the need for physical check-ins. Scaling down office space and implementing remote work where possible not only reduces costs on rent (an outgoing that often takes up a large portion of any organisation’s budget), but also saves on maintenance costs. For many UK businesses, the office space they currently occupy is in older buildings, which take a considerable amount of time and money to upkeep.
In addition to the cost of basic maintenance and repairs, much of the UK workforce is beginning to expect more modern and environmentally-sympathetic office spaces - an idea popularised and best exemplified by the Google offices. In Google their offices are defined by their innovative rooms, designs that encourage play, and perks such as free lunches. However, for the majority of organisations, this kind of office space is simply not economically viable, especially over multiple large estates in different locations. The best option, therefore, is often to rationalise the estates that they do have. Not only does this reduce overhead costs, but it also frees up more budget to go into updating and maintaining the office space left.
Putting People First
There is no question about it: estates rationalisation makes perfect sense for any company looking to reduce expenditure. However, the cost-saving element is not the only thing to take into account.
Rationalising estates, and the flexible working that comes with it, can have an enormous impact on the workforce. When the pandemic hit, office workers moved their workstations to the safety of their homes and key workers began operating on skeleton workforces with as little peer to peer interaction as possible. Despite initial apprehension surrounding this new way of working, data seemed to indicate that productivity levels had not been affected, with many studies actually demonstrating that productivity had increased.
However, as remote and hybrid work have shifted from short- to long-term solutions, new repercussions are beginning to surface. Recent research by Gartner has identified groups of people who are facing ‘unfair’ consequences as a result of remote working. These include digital introverts, women, and junior staff. Digital introverts are seen to struggle more to communicate effectively with colleagues remotely. Women, seen as the default parent, are facing setbacks to their career, and the newest members of staff are struggling to progress in the face of inadequate remote training opportunities. This can lead to problems later on with employee satisfaction and retention. For the facilities management sector, the issue with training up new staff is particularly impactful. With so much of the workforce operating with a downsized team, it is even more vital that the staff who are on shift are capable and competent employees.
Businesses should also take into close consideration how dispersed their offices are becoming. When downsizing estates it’s important to be aware of the geographical locations left and ensure that all staff are physically able to make it to an office location. Even with remote operations and lone work, it is vital for employees to be able to commute to a central location for peer-to-peer interactions.
Implementing The Right Technology
In spite of these hindrances, there are many strategies and initiatives that can be implemented to ease these effects. Twenty-first-century businesses have the huge benefit of technology being where it is today and thus are perfectly positioned to manage a remote workforce.
With disenfranchisement being one of the biggest issues associated with estates rationalisation, one of the key roles of company infrastructure and technology must be to support staff. This is especially true in field-based sectors where the staff are on the move delivering goods and services. Employees cannot be expected to work remotely without the correct technology in place. Video-based remote assistance has been a hugely beneficial solution in this area. Not only did this technology allow companies to limit face-face interactions for a safer working environment during the pandemic, and even now as in-person visits are being limited, but video calls can support junior members of staff too. If a smaller team or a lone worker is attending a job, they needn’t be unsupported. Should they require advice from a more experienced team member, they can use the video livestream to show a supervisor the situation they’re dealing with and complete the job themselves under guidance. This kind of technology can also work to protect the wellbeing and safety of lone workers even when they are working in high-risk situations, for example a contractor who is spending time working alone on part of a building site.
Scheduling software can also be hugely beneficial to remote teams at this time. These applications can identify the most pressing jobs in one geographical area and ensure that local teams are deployed onto the job without the need to check in at an office. Physical check-ins can also be reduced by using scheduling applications and mobile solutions which allow employees to capture job related information without the need to travel to and from the office to collect job details and complete admin.
Estates rationalisation is certainly something that should be more widely considered in the FM industry, especially as the pandemic has so successfully proved that remote workers can be just as productive. The benefits are substantial and with the correct technology in place to effectively support workers, there’s no reason estates rationalisation shouldn’t be an achievable and profitable solution.
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