Facility executives until now have been through multiple stages of planning the Workplace for Employees and the features and protocols defining a safe, productive, and welcoming Workplace for Employees and visitors alike. Each organization is present in its place on the reopening zone after the COVID-19 forced everyone to go indoors.
Almost 60 percent of the world is open now, and many people return to a regular work routine. However, the schedule is staggered, and a lot more are still planning to come back to work this fall.
Managers Doing to Enhance Their Productivity and Create a Safe and Better Workplace for Employees
Flexibility is key in this matter. It connects to health and safety. The term also refers to workspace design, remote work opportunities, and the technology needed to manage data and long-term operations.
The broader challenge lies in the rise of the hybrid workplace. In a hybrid model, employees work both onsite and remotely. The key difference is that their schedules won’t be identical.
Organizations with existing remote work systems adapted faster. However, many still face challenges. Even those with some offsite work before the pandemic needed adjustments.
Looking forward, the goal is to bring employees back to the office. At the same time, connecting remote workers and making efficient use of facility spaces are crucial. Improving the real estate footprint is also necessary.
Experts in operations and maintenance, especially in Saudi Arabia, emphasize this. Facilities must be in top-class shape.
Cheryl Carron, global operations lead at JLL, states that we will see a hybrid workplace soon. Facility managers will forecast user demand using technology. Sensors and AI will provide valuable insights. This will help predict utilization, allocate resources, and reduce redundancy. Ultimately, it will create more value for customers.
What new books have been published by the IFMA Foundation?
In a new book to be published this summer by the IFMA Foundation titled “Work on the Move 3: Building Better Workplaces After the Pandemic “; industry thought leaders are working together with facility management professionals for the provision of top-class guidance.
The concepts the book has shared are done so to help executives and remote managers in the facility management realm lead their companies through a critical workplace transformation in a post-pandemic world.
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The role of facility management
Facilities teams have been central in this rejuvenation and overhaul happening since the early part of 2020. This role won’t change, and no expectations for it to change too. As observed by Cheryl Carron of JLL, the role of a facility manager is crucial. Their most critical muscle is their natural ability for multi-tasking, which required much exercise over the pandemic.
Daily and even hourly changes to protocol and space guidelines challenged these professionals to divert, pivot, modify, and re-write operations plan entirely. However, embracing the unexpected was the result of enhanced development in both critical thinking and innovation.
According to Cheryl Carron:
“Equally, resilience became another notable skill. Facility managers were restrategizing plans and determining areas of risk, as they became laser-focused on resiliency beyond the traditional boundaries. This will be an ongoing positive outcome that will benefit the workplace going forward.”
Be it adopting new tech tools or expanding upon existing systems; facilities professionals are also discovering the capabilities of software platforms for workplace management. The most successful organizations combine the most cutting-edge technology and an adaptive culture with agile processes and methodologies. Such organizations leverage the resiliency and knowledge of facility managers to help implement burgeoning technologies into the physical space for better allocation of resources and enhanced productivity. Facility managers are indubitably helping to create safe environments that address employees’ concerns and facilitate a return back to work. In short, facility managers are instrumental to employee productivity and comfort.
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