The purpose of World FM Day is to recognize and celebrate the vital work that workplace and facilities management professionals and the wider industry contribute to businesses and the built environment worldwide. It was first celebrated in 2009.
The aim also is to raise the profile of the facilities management profession anywhere that its practitioners influence the health, safety, productivity, and well-being of people who use the built environment.
World FM Day is a significant day to highlight the immense work of facilities management professionals in ensuring that the built environment is fit-for-purpose. This is particularly important as the role of FM professionals has aggressively grown in recent years. Following the Covid-19 pandemic, their influence on the well-being and productivity of end-users within the built environment has become vital as well as keeping buildings operational.
There has been a major shift in client demand for how FM is delivered with a focus on sustainable holistic service delivery. Going further is the impact of facilities management on the environment.
Over the coming years, we can expect to see the scope of work for FM professionals becoming broader with tasks such as choosing the right smart building systems and integrated technologies for their spaces. Facilities managers now have the opportunity to make use of technology to improve service delivery and enhance customer experience.
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With sustainability, now a growing phenomenon, the future is bright for the FM industry. That can help further sustainability goals. For example, there are some good Artificial Intelligence (AI) based tools available that can help make better and more efficient use of a building’s energy resources, thus helping reduce costs for the business. There is just so much potential to use technology to create impactful change, and I think FM professionals are well-positioned to be the driving force behind that.
What is most required of facilities management professionals at this time is for them to continue to be proactive and to make a conscious effort to choose smarter options. This is an exciting time in the FM space because the power to create change is right in the hands of its professionals.
As the industry and the end users know, it takes a particular type of individual to want to work in this industry because they are typically resilient, innovative, problem solvers, customer-focused, strategic and fully committed to creating and maintaining a safe and functional environment.
World FM Day should be viewed as a day for all of us who have a stake in the built environment to honour and show gratitude to our FM professionals, who work so hard to create an environment where we either flourish professionally or relax in our spare time.
A colleague once described FM as the engine room of any organization. I am yet to find a better description and hope this will be the position of all in generations to come.
The Institute of Workplace & Facilities Management, Nigeria Region, celebrates all FM professionals in Nigeria and its members in particular as they continue to make themselves worthy ambassadors of this worthy profession.
