Skip to main content
Facilitate Magazine: Informing Workplace and Facilities Management Professionals - return to the homepage Facilitate magazine logo
  • Search
  • Visit Facilitate Magazine on Facebook
  • Visit Facilitate Magazine on LinkedIn
  • Visit @Facilitate_Mag on Twitter
Visit the website of the Institute of Workplace and Facilities Management Logo of the Institute of Workplace and Facilities Management

Main navigation

  • Home
  • News
    • Comment
    • People
    • Reports
    • Research
  • Features
    • Analysis
    • Features
    • Round Tables
    • Webinars
  • Outsourcing
    • Contract Finder
    • Contracts
    • FM Business Models
    • Interviews
    • Mergers & Acquisitions
    • Opinion
    • Procurement
    • Trends
  • Know-How
    • Explainers
    • Legal Updates
    • White Papers
  • Jobs
  • Topics
    • Workplace Services
      • Hospitality
      • Catering
      • Cleaning
      • Front of House
      • Grounds Maintenance
      • Helpdesk
      • Mailroom
      • Manned Guarding / Security
      • Pest Control
      • Washroom Services
      • Disaster Recovery
      • Specialist Services
    • Professional Performance
      • Behavioural Change
      • Continual Professional Development
      • Education
      • Management
      • Recruitment
      • Training
    • Workplace Performance
      • Benchmarking
      • Health & Wellbeing
      • Operational Readiness
      • Procurement
      • Security
      • Workplace User Experience
      • Workplace Culture
    • Compliance
      • Health & Safety
      • Risk & Business Continuity
      • Standards
      • Statutory Compliance
    • Building Services
      • Architecture & Construction
      • Asset Management
      • Building Controls
      • Building Fabric
      • Drinking Water
      • Fire Protection
      • HVAC
      • Landscaping
      • Mechanical & Electrical
      • Building Security
      • Water, Drainage & Plumbing
    • Technology
      • Building Information Modelling
      • CAFM
      • Data & Networks
      • Document Management
      • Information Management
      • Internet of Things (IoT)
      • Software & Systems
    • Energy management
      • Energy Management Systems
      • Electricity
      • Gas
      • Solar
      • Wind
    • Sustainability
      • Environmental Quality
      • Social Value
      • Waste Management
      • Recycling
    • Workspace Design
      • Agile Working
      • Fit-Out & Refurbishment
      • Inclusive Access
      • Lighting
      • Office Interiors
      • Signage
      • Space Planning
      • Storage
      • Vehicle Management / Parking
      • Washroom
    • Sectors
      • Corporate Office
      • Education
      • Healthcare
      • Manufacturing
      • International
      • Retail
      • Sports & Leisure
      • Regions
  • Buyers' Guide
Quick links:
  • Home
  • Sections
  • Topics
News
Sections

ThinkFM 2016: What gets measured, gets managed

Open-access content Friday 10th June 2016 — updated 4.00pm, Tuesday 26th May 2020
THINK_FM_CONFERENCE_2016_163

ThinkFM 2016

09 June 2016 | FM World Team


Nigel Bunclark, Corporate Real Estate Executive and Workplace Strategy & Transformation Leader


You're efficient. Well done. Now what?


16:05-16:35PM



What gets measured, gets managed, Nigel Bunclark told delegates at ThinkFM. 


"I have seen people do some very silly, non-commonsensical things in the pursuit of space reduction because of the way that we measured it in the pursuit of cost reduction - and because we didn't know the value of what we were doing. 


"When you start to put people into poor-quality spaces, when you start to condense them, things start to go wrong and a big one is interruption and disturbance from our colleagues. We've all got a colleague who talks too loudly and for too long on the telephone and colleagues who think it's OK to have a meeting at the end of your desk. They think they'll only be a few minutes, but that's two minutes too long. It takes some people half-an-hour to come back from that kind of disruption."


Bunclark said facilities managers could help to choose the direction in which their companies are headed. "Choose carefully what direction you want to go in," he advised.


As the world of work changes with more agile and flexible working, some are questioning whether it is necessary to have buildings at all, Bunclark said. "It's not that long ago in our evolution that we lived in caves from which we got warmth, shelter, companionship, a place to go to meet others and solve problems."


This idea has not changed, said Bunclark. 


"It's what happens in these spaces that matters, not the building," he said.


Within a workspace different approaches to work are needed, he said. Merely flexible working, hot-desking or agile working is not what is required but a combination that is embedded into the culture of the workplace and tailored to employee needs. Bunclark said that some have the perception that flexible working is "coming in on Monday morning and telling an employee to sit wherever they like, saying we're going to keep the cafe open all day for you and keep that desk in the corner for your meetings". 


"But that is not proper smart working," he warned. "That has not engaged anyone or changed them as an organisation except to annoy a lot of people and make life harder. If these kinds of reports coming out are based on this, I am not surprised."


Bunclark said companies should measure cost but with "a sense of productivity" in mind.


KEY POINTS:

Being financially or space efficient does not increase employee wellbeing or productivity.

'Smart working' isn't a collection of flexible or agile working measures tacked onto a company's culture.

How people are treated at work is important as it leads to better productivity.

Well-designed buildings exist with employees with very low productivity but "scruffy" buildings also exist with employees that have a very high productivity. 

FM and property do not have all the answers when it comes to productivity of employees, but are part of the solution.

Going beyond physical and into "the psychological contract".



Summary

Don't disrupt colleagues; some take longer to recover than others.

Within a workspace, different approaches to work are needed.

Choose carefully what direction you want to go in.

FM needs to work with the business to find the right solution.  

Also filed in
Topics
News
Content

You might also like...

Share
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Linked in
  • Mail
  • Print

Today's top reads

 

Latest Jobs

Regional Facilities Manager

Borehamwood
Circa £47,000 + Decent Package & opportunities
Reference
59410

Facilities Manager

Hertfordshire
Up to £75,000 + Decent Package
Reference
59408

Facilities Manager

Guildford
Up to £45,000 + Package & Opportunities
Reference
59407
See all jobs »

 

 

Sign up to our newsletter

News, jobs and updates

Sign up

Subscribe to print

Sign up to receive our bi-monthly magazine

Subscribe
Facilitate magazine cover, June 2020
​
FOLLOW US
@Facilitate_Mag
Facilitate Magazine
Facilitate Magazine
CONTACT US
Contact us
Tel: 020 7880 6200
​

IWFM

About IWFM
Become a member
Qualifications
Events

Information

Privacy Policy
Terms & Conditions
Cookie Policy
Think Green

Get in touch

Contact us
Advertise with us
Subscribe to Facilitate Magazine
Write for Facilitate Magazine

General

IWFM Jobs
Help

© 2023 • www.facilitatemagazine.com and Facilitate Magazine are published by Redactive Media Group. All rights reserved. Reproduction of any part is not allowed without written permission.

Redactive Media Group Ltd, 71-75 Shelton Street, London WC2H 9JQ