Wellness – Is it a Priority for the FM and Workspace Sector?

Reality and Aspiration

In a recent survey of Facilities Management (FM) and Workspace professionals by Martin Bolton, FM Consultant & Founder of g2Gsolutions Ltd, just 17% of respondents stated that Wellbeing is the current focus of its service delivery in the context of FM’s impact on people.?This compares to 54% of respondents citing Statutory & Safety Compliance as being its current focus.

On the face of it, this is no bad thing.?Statutory compliance and safety must be a priority in any organisation at any time.

But, for me, Kate Morris-Bates, a former award-winning senior leader in Workplace Services, and now an accredited Wellness & Transformation Consultant, this is a sign that the industry as a collective is not progressing quickly or confidently enough beyond the basics of what any FM organisation or in-house team should be doing as part of their everyday accountability. ?

“Facilities Management is on a journey, which must extend beyond rebranding to Workspace and Facilities Management.?It is no longer just a matter of service versus cost; great service provision is not defined by keeping the lights on and the toilets clean.” - Martin Bolton

Excellence in Service Provision

Great service provision in the Workspace must put people first.??

And this includes, but extends beyond their safety and security. ?Discussions with senior colleagues within IWFM, thought-leaders and best-practice proponents in the FM and Workspace Sector, echo this viewpoint.

The authors of the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) FM standard also agree.?The ISO41011 FM standard articulates this, stating FM must act ‘with the purpose of improving the quality of life of people’.

In other words, it is no longer a matter of just ensuring our buildings and facilities are safe. It is not just about being statutory compliant. These are some of the absolute basics that FM teams should be delivering, and if they are not then some existential questions need to be reflected upon.

Notwithstanding the handful of inspiring examples of FM client teams and service providers making an impact on the customer wellness experience and striving to achieve and maintain the rigours of ISO41011, the Facilities Management industry generally appears to have a real challenge with living up to the thought-leadership, best practice guidance and ISO standards which are oft-quoted, but less frequently acted upon.

The Challenge

The inevitable question being, Why?

The FM sector continues to be beleaguered by bottom line profit pressures, race to the bottom tendering and outdated SLA targets driven by Boards and Management Executives understandably concerned about controlling the not insignificant costs associated with operating premises, which can often be second only to people costs in an organisation.

But it is more than this.

Those working within FM and Workspace have an opportunity to educate and influence their respective Boards, Management Executives and HR peers.?To demonstrate through evidence that creating the right environment for colleagues, customers and stakeholders to thrive will deliver increased productivity, in direct contribution to the bottom line.

For example, the WELL Building Standard identifies performance metrics, design strategies and policies based on research on the effects of space on individuals. ?And the 2021 CIPD Report states that 75% of businesses have seen positive outcomes from their health and wellbeing activity.?The available data is plentiful, with the opportunity for all to test and translate it in their own organisations.

This requires a different way of thinking to traditional approaches to premises and services investment, and a levelling up in terms of influencing the Board to invest in FM and Workspace in new and innovative ways.?

The Built Environment – Opportunity or Old Hat?

Historically, reliance on refurbishments or new built environments have been a way for FM teams to influence the wellness agenda.

But this is not an enduring solution, nor is it a holistic one. ??

Apart from the squeeze on post-lockdown capital investment, it does not support people who do not work in traditional office settings, such as outdoor workers, mobile workers and those who work in manufacturing plants. ?A refurbished building with pot plants and bean bags does not prevent work-related stress.?Organisational culture where wellness is at the heart of the employee experience helps prevent work-related stress, and this is why people focussed solutions over building, fixtures and fittings solutions are key.

In short, FM and Workspace Teams have a problem if they solely rely on creating the right buildings to support wellness. Wellness is not a building, a new desk, or free herbal teas.?The key is understanding that wellness is a way of being, aka “wellbeing”.

The Pandemic

Overlaying all of this with the lens of the pandemic, we see another paradigm shift.?Previous leadership reluctance to support remote working has been surpassed by necessity. ?There is a temptation to think agile working is a phenomenon born from the pandemic, but it isn’t.?

My last major FM programme in a corporate setting 7 years ago was to be one of the lead roles in the team which delivered an agile workspace in a world-leading environmentally friendly office building in Manchester.

From 2011, I and my team lived and breathed agile workspace principles, knowing then how much better it was for modern, forward-thinking businesses to espouse the idea that people could work as efficiently from home or a cafe as they could in an office. And importantly it was hugely beneficial for wellbeing at work.

So, as we continue to recover from the pandemic, we can see people communicating their experience in the public eye of social media.?We can see through stories of lockdown related mental and physical issues, that workspace wellbeing is becoming increasingly relevant because businesses need to understand the links between employee wellness and morale, engagement, productivity, attraction, and retention.?

Wellness as a Key Issue

Staying at the forefront of the key issues that affect workers, employee wellness, and the latest wellness and employee wellbeing trends is important for organisations who want to encourage and develop their workforce, by creating happy and healthy working environments.

The continuing impact of COVID-19 means Line Managers are managing a potentially complex mix of personal situations in their teams.

Prioritising wellbeing on the business strategy agenda is essential for any business that wishes to grow, prosper and contribute in the post-Covid economy.

Employee productivity, engagement, retention and engagement are amongst the key objectives of many organisations.

Addressing wellbeing at work increases productivity by as much as 12%.

There is strong evidence that workplaces with high levels of mental wellbeing are more productive. According to the 2021 CIPD Health & Wellbeing Report, senior leaders are taking more serious notice of wellbeing issues because they have the influence to transform the culture as well as practice in organisations.

The Role of FM

There are two significant factors to support a strategic role for FM in creating a corporate wellness culture.

Firstly, workspace is unambiguously the accountability of FM.

Secondly, great FM and Workspace service delivery is about putting people first.

By definition the wellness agenda needs to be at the heart of the Vision and Strategy of any progressive FM business or in-house function.?It is not enough to hide behind the statutory compliance and safety flag as a measure of value to an organisation.

The role of FM today is, now more than ever, to provide a service which helps to inspire people and improves the quality of their working life through decisions rooted in the employee wellness culture of the organisation.?Clearly this remit offers significant scope to push outside of traditional “slips, trips and falls” KPIs and into the sphere of mental and emotional wellbeing. ?

Now that would be delivering great facilities management and would certainly be ‘improving the quality of life of people’.?

Interested in Discussing This Further?

My team and I work with corporate clients to help them shape and deliver their Wellbeing Programme; providing them with the specialist knowledge and skills to help embed realistic wellbeing practices into organisational culture.

At the heart of our philosophy is to facilitate Simple and Achievable solutions, which are scientifically proven to aid human productivity through improved wellbeing.

Wellbeing - Wellness - Health are terms used every day but which have a wide range of meanings and interpretations in organisational settings. We offer our support in four optional phases:

1. Vision Setting - Wellbeing Assessment, Gap Analysis, Benchmark, Outcomes/Measures
2. Strategy Setting - Budget, Accountability, Policy, Framework, Timescales
3. Programme Delivery - Oversight, Project Plan, Risk Management
4. Monitoring & Reporting - ongoing compliance and milestone support.

For a no obligation discussion on how we can support your wellness agenda, please get in touch via email: [email protected]

To download our complimentary brochure, click on:

InsideOut Wellness Consultancy Support Brochure (katemorrisbates.com)

Authored by:

Kate Morris-Bates - Wellness Coach & Consultant, Integrative Medicine Specialist. katemorrisbates.com

Martin Bolton - FM Consultant. g2Gsolutions Ltd