Achieving Successful Hybrid Working – by and for Facilities Managers
Hybrid working is now embedded within UK businesses. Two-fifths (40%) of organisations have seen an increase in requests for flexible working in recent years – and three-fifths (60%) of employees confirm they have flexible working arrangements in their current role. But the pace of change has been challenging, and while the implications for productivity and corporate culture continue to be widely debated, there are also significant new pressures facing those tasked with facilities management.
With hot desking and flexible options, facilities managers have office spaces that may be over-subscribed one day, and empty the next. They need to oversee the management, maintenance and servicing of assets and equipment that have, by default, become far more mobile, creating new compliance risks and challenging the push towards life-extending preventative maintenance strategies.
40% of organization’s have seen an increase in requests for flexible working in recent years – and 60% of employees confirm they have flexible working arrangements in their current role.
With traditional ‘employee number to building estate size’ ratios now redundant, facilities managers are also on the front line when it comes to assessing the options for downsizing or expansion. If and when opportunities for lease renegotiation arise, how much space does the organisation require and in what configuration? Could space be sublet or divested altogether? Facilities managers need to understand the implications not only for the employees’ working experience but also for asset/ equipment costs, engineer requirements and/ or the use of subcontractors.
Empowering Flexible Facilities Management
Facilities managers need far more detailed, accurate and up-to-date information to support complex decision-making in a hybrid working environment. They need to understand space utilisation and the implications for service schedules of changing equipment usage. Critically, they also need flexible, on-demand access to systems and dashboards: when two-thirds of employees are enjoying hybrid working, it is vital to ensure facilities managers, help desk managers and engineering managers can also enjoy the same benefits.
Rather than the constraints imposed by restricting key information resources either to paper or on systems that can only be accessed from the office, giving facilities managers anytime anywhere access to a web-based CAFM solution ensures teams are no longer confined to their office desks. They can review the information they need to support informed decision-making from any location.
With CAFM Explorer, individuals can log in from any device at any time, meaning they can work from home or office and still have access to all the information they require day-to-day. Service managers using CAFM Help Desk functionality can remotely manage the entire process, from scheduling engineers on-site to responding to end-user logs of equipment failure. Engineers can update information on-site, providing accurate, immediate information about a work order – both serviced and reactive. This information automatically updates the dashboards within CAFM Explorer, ensuring that everyone involved is kept in the loop with accurate, timely information.
Achieving Seamless Hybrid Working
The great thing about web-based access to CAFM is that it also streamlines the whole adoption process – especially if a company opts for a hosted solution. There is no complex IT system involvement; asset and equipment data can be captured and uploaded into the system. Plus, there is a dedicated implementation team on hand to help out at every step, making the evolution to hybrid working quick and easy to achieve.
