How facilities management directly impacts employee satisfaction

Today, it is widely recognised that a happy employee is a productive employee. And, without question, the quality and comfort of their surroundings play a critical role in determining how happy they are day after day.

When an employee is comfortable at work, engages with colleagues and embraces their company culture, odds are good that they will go the extra mile to help their organisation succeed.

Conversely, an employee that feels tense and restricted by their workspace is likely to feel the complete opposite – demotivated, disengaged, and with one eye on the exit door.

Your facilities management team is vital in creating workplaces that motivate people to perform at their best – from the moment they arrive to the second they sign off.

Below, we outline exactly how powerful an influence this department has on employee satisfaction, and the role that effective facilities management software can play in establishing optimal working environments.

Why employee satisfaction matters for businesses

Multiple studies have demonstrated a clear link between employee satisfaction and both their subsequent performance and productivity. The happier and more engaged someone feels at work, the more likely they will work at their full potential, leading to a plethora of positive outcomes:

Increased profitability

Satisfied employees are typically more motivated to get behind your company’s cause and exceed expectations. This greater impetus to perform at 100% will have a strong knock-on effect on your finances. The more employees excelling in their role, the better the results they are generating for your business.

Greater staff retention

It is far more preferable to have an established, consistent workforce than one that is constantly changing and needing to bring new workers up to speed. The happier your employees feel while at work, the less likely they will pursue opportunities elsewhere. Staff retention goes up, boosting your performance and minimising recruitment costs.

Strong recruitment

The more satisfied your employees are, the more likely it is they will advocate for your company on social media and employer review sites. This encourages top candidates to aspire to work for your organisation, which will benefit your talent acquisition efforts.

Better working atmosphere

Finally, an abundance of satisfied employees just makes work a fun place to be for all involved. People come in with smiles on their faces, interact with others more and leave with their heads up. As the old saying goes, “If you are doing a job you love, you’ll never work a day in your life”.

How employee satisfaction affects productivity and performance

Here are a few standout statistics to emphasise the importance of employee satisfaction in the modern workplace:

  • Happy employees are considered 12% more productive than unhappy peers, generating a 3% rise in GDP and economic growth (University of Warwick)

  • Organisations with high job satisfaction levels outperform those with low job satisfaction by up to 202% (GoRemotely)

  • Companies with highly engaged workforces boost profitability by up to 21% (Gallup)

  • Good company culture can result in a 4x increase in revenue (Forbes)

  • Disengaged employees typically cost a company between £2,500 to £7,500 each in salary per year (TheCircularBoard)

  • Half of employees would sacrifice up to 29% of their salary to work at a job they enjoy (HRDive)

  • 77% of employees believe a strong culture helps them perform their best work (East Hill Consulting via PR Newswire)

6 ways facilities management helps improve employee satisfaction

Below we have outlined what we believe to be 6 of the standout ways that facilities management directly influences employee satisfaction levels.

1. Better general cleanliness

Nobody wants to walk into work and see stains on the carpet, overflowing bins and dusty desks. It gives the impression that the company doesn’t care – so why should the employees themselves care about their work?

Consistent cleaning, maintenance and restocking regimes help to ensure employees walk into a clean, welcoming workplace every day. This demonstrates to staff that they work for a company that cares – and will reciprocate that by improving their own performance.

CAFM software can help facilities management teams better coordinate and structure these cleaning regimes. Without a central solution in place, it is easy for cleaning routines to be superseded by urgent tasks, and then forgotten about altogether. Placing everything into one, easily manageable hub makes it much simpler to plan and execute all cleaning duties.

Consider Cleaning Now – through this application, cleaning teams are empowered to:

  • Scan specific locations using QR/barcode functionality

  • Upload ‘route information’ on patrol tasks to give cleaners safe, correct paths to perform tasks

  • Create adhoc incident/patrol tasks on the go – even if the user is in the middle of a patrol task

  • Take/upload images from the device to tasks

  • Complete audit questions quickly with simple yes/no answers

2. Enhanced health and safety

Employees are more conscious of their safety and wellbeing than ever before. Particularly in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, employees need greater reassurance that their surroundings are secure and pose no threat to their health.

Facilities management software is again vital to giving employees that layer of assurance. By making FM services and actions more visible, employees can always be aware of what tasks are being conducted, and how their company is taking strides to look after their wellbeing.

The software can also help your FM teams to guarantee that compliance with health and safety is always achieved. Whether this is improving your ability to fulfil your SLAs, or satisfying PFI & PPP obligations, your CAFM system can alert you to risks of liabilities, so you can then immediately take corrective action.

3. Improved office services

Employee expectations are higher than ever. With competition for top talent extremely high, organisations must go above and beyond the call of duty to keep team members satisfied and encourage new team members into the fold.

One way these expectations can be met is by providing access to useful services that matter to your employees. They might appreciate being able to book a car wash during their afternoon shift, or to arrange their dry cleaning so it can be picked up the moment they leave.

That is where an FM app like @yourService can be incredibly beneficial in upholding employee engagement and happiness. These applications keep employees informed about events and updates relevant to their building, and provide access to additional services to make both their work experience and overall daily routine much more straightforward.

  • Support and status updates provided directly through a single app

  • Immediate connections between employees, service desks and FM workforces

  • Employees can select suitable dates and times for desired services

  • Events taking place within a workplace can be set up and shared with all users

4. Dedicated space management

The layout and configuration of a workspace play an integral role in the morale and engagement employees feel towards their job. For instance, employees stationed in cubicles with high walls could quickly feel isolated and trapped at work, which will in turn negatively impact their satisfaction and performance.

Conversely, a layout that allows them to communicate with colleagues, or gives them flexibility over what desk they work from, promotes interaction and helps employees feel more settled in their environment.

Space management crucially helps FM teams optimise their organisation to minimise costs and increase efficiencies. But it can also influence decision making on office layouts and furniture to maximise employee happiness and productivity.

This could include “silent” spaces for employees to focus on work, comfortable creative zones for brainstorming sessions, and communal spaces where teams love to unwind and socialise.

For more on the extensive benefits of space management software, we encourage you to read this article.

5. Automating the mundane

For facilities managers, engineers, cleaners and other personnel responsible for looking after a building, life can become mundane in a hurry. It could be manually inputting asset data into a spreadsheet, completing regulatory compliance audits, or overseeing the progress of internal projects.

This endless cycle of inputting, replacing and recycling data can become tiresome in a hurry, and negatively impact the happiness of your FM team. It is important to remember that they are a core part of your team – if their productivity is hurt by low morale, it will impact the quality of your workplace.

In this situation, facilities management software is a useful way to streamline workloads and automate data gathering and organisation. This frees up time across your workforce, giving them more capacity for strategic thinking, and ensures your organisation benefits from up-to-date information.

  • Accurate, comprehensive asset management can be conducted in a fraction of the time it would be taken to complete manually

  • Potential cost savings and risk areas can be identified and addressed in real-time

  • Straightforward task grids, with all planned and reactive tasks listed, making project management much simpler

  • Streamlined management of purchase orders, quotation management and sales invoicing

6. Ideal working environments

We highlighted the importance of a clean, well-configured workspace earlier. But, by harnessing the power of the Internet of Things (IoT) and smart technology, facilities management teams can create the perfect working environments for their employees’ needs – often without needing to lift a finger.

By using the data gathered across your workplace every day through sensor technology, compiled into a central CAFM system, workspaces can be automatically adjusted based on who occupies them, times of day, climate and more:

  • Heating, lighting and ventilation systems can be switched on as soon as employees enter the room, set to optimal conditions for your organisation

  • Automated task alerts for various cleaning or maintenance tasks reduces the strain on your helpdesk staff

  • Individual offices can be adapted to optimal temperatures for their specific occupants, ensuring they have the best possible working environment for them

How can workplace apps boost employee satisfaction?

This is just scratching the surface of the influence facilities management – and facilities management software – has on employee satisfaction in the modern workplace. FM is more people-focused than ever before, and its role in encouraging staff to stick around for longer should never be underestimated.

At MRI, a crucial way we help our clients create optimal workspaces for their employees is through our selection of workplace FM apps. These connect with people in a manner that has become their second nature, and gets them actively engaged in their community and maintaining the best possible environments.

Our workplace apps include:

  • Our Info – keeping employees fully informed of company-wide notices and updates

  • Our Say – encourage staff to vote on and complete surveys that will influence key decisions over their company’s future

  • Our Events – ensure everyone is aware of upcoming events scheduled across your organisation

  • ChatLog – a social conversational app directly connected to your FM teams, allowing employees to immediately highlight issues they spot in their day-to-day

  • BookIt – empowering your workforce to organise their own meetings and bookings to suit their requirements

If you are interested in learning more about our range of workplace apps, or want to discover how our all-encompassing CAFM solution, MRI Evolution, can play a key role in keeping your employees satisfied in their surroundings, get in touch with our team today.

 

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