Re: My boss doesn't get building operations

That's why they have us.  It's our responsibility to make sure everything is running smoothly.  Just as it's our responsibility to correct any problems quickly.  I feel proud when everything runs smoothly, I know it's thanks to me.  Having the right network of vendors helps me do my job.

From what I have done in the past, I have found communication to be the best tool in conveying your "worth" to your boss.  My most successful situation was when the company I was working for was going into re-organization.  Their initial effort was to dissolve my position (I was doing the Facility Management myself) and reintegrate my employment elsewhere.  They looked at FM as a cost center because I did not generate revenue.  Once I provided them with information on what I did and how by lowering costs, I was more beneficial than that of improving sales, I stayed in my position as the FM.  There is an old saying that basically goes... "If I can save you $10 in operational costs, that is worth XXXX in new revenue." 

Other positions were a little easier as they wanted and needed someone in the FM position.  Yes, they still were critical of a staff member sitting at a bench looking at a magazine (he was actually working on getting a part for rebuilding a motor) - but after providing them a glimpse of what my department did on a monthly basis - it quieted down a bit.  I never fully won the battle, but it got easier as it went on.

Keep it up and good luck - it is always an uphill battle- especially from those that are not familiar with the FM profession.

Eric

One of the best ways to show value to the position has been cost reduction. If you can implement energy savings projects that will lower monthly bills with equipment upgrades, you may be amazed at the annual savings. This year alone I have come up with over $100,000 in energy savings for a 50,000 square foot facility. This is just one example of savings projects thatI have tried to implement each year for around the same kind of savings value.

My thought has always been show them one project that covers your salary in savings and everything else you do that year is money saved that didn't cost them a dime.

Ed...

Hi Brian,

It was a few years ago, but we (the editors of BOM) did a package on how, as a facility executive, to add value to your organization. Check it out here.

Greg

Today I had a second and final interview  with a new member to my team. He is in. He was just dropped from a major company where he had a history of nearly 20 years of saving in the hundreds of thousands of dollars through his supply side and demand side programs. I am glad he joined us, but what were they thinking?

A long time ago a friend told me maintenance is looked upon as a necessary evil. Then he asked me to define the difference between evil and necesary evil. We are both still in the facilities field. It is what we do best. I guess if we had really wanted recognition and money we would have sold new Cadillacs.

Could not resist, Bernie

Yes, all of us in the Facility Management field are responsible for budgets that can be well into millions of dollars, as well as being responsible for providing Life Safety, and Security, to hundreds or even thousands of employees every day, but  yet all our efforts can go virtually unnoticed to certain Upper Managment types.

However, I agree in large part with Ginny's comments, that if everything is working as it should, and we do not have to run around daily putting out fires, we are actually doing a good job. It is what we are supposed to do.

Unfortunately, there are times in this business that all the effort we put into being successful hardly gets noticed.

I have enjoyed reading all the comments that have been posted on this thread!

One of the principal reasons facilities folks get limited credit is that there is no ongoing measurement of occupancy quality. If building performance (daylighting, lighting, acoustics, thermal comfort and IAQ) is measured periodically as part of an occupancy study, then management will know how employees feel about their job experience, and which part of it relates to building design and performance. Since most buildings are not compliant with good building performance standards, most occupants, when measured, will confirm this, providing a measurable reason for management to respond.  Our occupancy studies measure organizational quality, work task quality, compensation quality, general environment quality and local environment quality, and they generally find clear issues in environmental quality on most studies.

Steve Orfield

Orfield Laboratories 

Communicate with your superiors and involve the General Population in what you are doing.  Start a "green team" so that more employees gain exposure to what Facilities is all about.  Create a monthly report summarizing your project status/involvement and highlighting accomplishments.  One section should be dedicated to true cost savings (hard dollars) and one to cost avoidance (soft costs).  Make your goal to surpass salaries provided to the team and make it happen.  Make good return on your employers investment and get rid of the "X" on your forehead that comes with being a general overhead expense.

Often I do a take off from Cheers...little known facts....just like Cliff the postman.  "Did you know...we reduced water consumption by 1,500 gallons a month" or "Little known fact...The motor on the roof of this cleanroom is equivalent to a 767 airplane engine" 

There is always selling scrap material for pizza parties or electronic waste for beers on Friday :)

As my entire career in Physical Security has been that uphill battle of if I am doing my job too good, there will be no problems, how do I show Security as a Solid ROI as opposed to a cost center. Today's world, the excutives (the C-Suite) needs to know almost on a quarterly basis (yes that is a lot more tracking and paperwork) how you paid for yourself/your department/your group.  In today's environment, although sometimes painful because it requires that we assess the cost of Human Capital, it behooves us to proactively provide this information/justification because many times the decision that "spreading that cost center to the rest of the human capital that is left" is made before we are even asked to justify our existence.  And worse than the loss of all the FM Human Capital is the great difficulty in gaining it back when times get better.  Learning the language and "forcing" that communication with the C-suite is critical to the existence of all "Cost Center" services and service providers.

One way is to keep a list of things you do on a time sheet for yourself.  Then when you gat a request for something, sit down with him and ask what his priorities are.  Then tell him your special skills and the skills you need more training for.  He would not get a better introduction if it was his own son.  You are not a person to him.  You are an emergency button.  If you let him know what you do and that it takes brains to juggle so much and skill to get it done properly, he might begin to learn about what he bought and what it will take to keep it.

Some jobs have the stigma of a slave.  You have to differentiate your self to gain the respect you deserve.  He might even appreciate you by paying you a little more so you hjang around.  Remember you are only as valuable as your replacement.  If he realizes you will not be that easilly replaced, he will want to encourage you to stay.  That means money to you for the hard work your not telling him about.  If he does not appreciate you then, get another job, cause you are going no where at this facility. 

Brian,

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Amy

There are two major areas where maintenance and reliability professionals can add value; cost reductions and productive capacity.

Cost reductions encompass all the great ideas already indicated; such as green initiatives to reduce energy consumption, etc.  It can also come in the form of being more efficient in how you manage work.  If you have traditionally been a run-to-failure culture (fix what breaks) and improve your work managment practices to excel at planning and scheduling of work you can typically realize a 20% to 30% improvement in labor utilization.  You might reduce headcount, but usually a better solution is to reduce overtime and take contracted work in-house.  These are measureable benefits.

The second area where maintenance and reliability professionals add value is in increasing productive capacity.  This varies greatly depending on the facilities mission.  You may make improvements in indoor air quality resulting in lower employee turnover, absenteeism and job productivity; all may be measureable.  You may also use reliability engineering practices (FMEA, RCM, Root Cause Analysis and so forth to adapt to condition based maintenance or to reduce unplanned system downtime.  Examples are solving root causes of power quality issues resulting in higher data center reliability, or using predictive maintenance technology to evaluate equipment condition without shutting down a system.  Every system has a cost associated with its operation.  Reducing downtime (planned or unplanned) will tend to lower total cost of ownership.

Tom

Oh ya, and a simple thing you can do is communicate what your team has been doing in internal newsletters.  Or ask senior people to sign letters of appreciation for employees who have demonstrated consistent or significant performance; share the letters with department heads and other key persons.