Facilities ManagementThe six big questions FM teams struggle to answer
We’ve spent years working with Facilities Management providers across cleaning, security, engineering, and multi-service contracts. Almost all of them struggle to answer the following six questions:
- Is the contractor on site yet?
- Did that job get completed?
- Why is this invoice being challenged?
- Is that timesheet correct?
- Who is available to take on a new task?
- Is that lone worker safe?
If you can’t answer these questions quickly, your reputation takes a hit and you start to lose money.
FM teams are “invisible”
FM teams are dispersed. They work across multiple client sites that are outside of your control, and unless you put a supervisor at every station, you cannot always see what’s going on.
Your people may well be showing up, doing their jobs, and submitting accurate timesheets. But when you cannot consistently prove this, your business starts to suffer.
Financial Loss
- SLA Credits. Many FM providers are obliged to provide refunds, or “service credits”, for missed SLAs.
- Delayed Payments. Invoices take longer to be paid while complaints are investigated, harming cash flow.
- Payroll Waste. Up to 2% of FM payroll is “waste”, due to timesheet errors or even deliberate time theft.
Staff Morale
- Manual Admin. Supervisors must spend hours investigating complaints or verifying timesheets.
- Trust Issues. Staff quickly get fed up of having to explain where they were every minute of every day.
- Payroll Disputes. When staff are paid incorrectly, they lose confidence and become disengaged.
Brand Reputation
- Client Confidence. Your customers lose trust in your services when you cannot answer simple questions.
- Lost Contracts. Lack of trust quickly spreads, leading to less tenders won and fewer contracts renewed.
- Employer Brand. If workers do not feel safe at client sites, you may struggle with recruitment and retention.
What successful FM providers do differently
The FM providers who have the happiest teams, the highest contract renewal rates, and the lowest levels of payroll waste and invoice disputes, are those who have introduced a level of visibility into their teams.
The most successful teams can quickly find out:
- Who is at which site right now
- What work has been completed
- Which teams are behind or ahead of schedule
- Whether lone workers are safe
- How much profit each contract is making
There are several ways to achieve this, some easier than others…
