There’s never been a more important time to consider the health and wellbeing of your employees.
COVID-19 has impacted millions of workers around the world. As a result, employers are having to re-think every aspect of their most valuable assets – their people.
Whether its working from home, social distancing, increased protection, remote meetings and a host of new and often challenging problems to address – in a short period of time. In just a few weeks, many businesses have had to re-invent their day to day operations and its fair to say, that some were better prepared, than others.
Facility Managers who have traditionally focussed on assets and maintenance are now being asked to create more sophisticated workplaces – where employee health and safety is paramount.
The wellbeing of staff, is now recognised as a Board level priority. Senior executives recognise that wellbeing is not only to protect existing employees – but to attract, retain, motivate and deliver increased productivity and bottom line profits. It is a strategic priority that smart employers will leverage to their competitive advantage.
Workplace Monitoring
Technology can help. Not only, can FM’s keep control on costs and process efficiencies through using tools such as CAFM and IWMS systems, but now its possible to install IoT sensors to monitor the workplace in real time.
As these sensors become ever cheaper to purchase, install and operate – so it follows that Facility Managers are able to demand increasingly powerful insights into their workplace – and as a result can deliver more value to their clients and employers.
Tools such as Keystone’s FM+ and Workplace+ help Facility Managers to monitor performance of assets, maintenance, contractors as well as keep a close eye on energy, space, temperature, humidity, noise, air quality and a host of additional parameters.
Its data the enables the smart FM to evidence more value to their Boards. For example in the post COVID environment, the FM can advise the business on occupancy levels and how to re-configure the office layout to enforce or encourage social distancing.
Going beyond simply advising the client, FMs can use data to prove the business case. For example, with the right tools in place, FMs can assess minute by minute usage of specific spaces, combine the noise, air quality and productivity of a meeting room and make real-time recommendations to improve productivity and maintaining safety.
As business leaders consider the post COVID return to work, they are considering how to plan the return to work and well as the need for office space and need information to support their business decisions.
Encouraging home working for those who can, optimising the use of flexible workspaces and assessing the effectiveness and risks of operating a centralised workplace. It all requires careful analysis of the data.
Offices will need careful re-configuration, installing the right monitoring and using sophisticated data science to provide the right decision support is a vital consideration, not only for facility managers – but the entire C Suite.
Start monitoring your workplace today. Take a look at Keystone FM+.
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