FM has a reputation for high turnover, but it doesn’t have to if you act.
Increasing sick days, decreasing productivity, increasing turnover: yes, they’re silently costing your bottom line, but more importantly they’re extracting a deeper human cost.
And while these are all warning signs of a facilities management team approaching burnout, the damage is reversible if you take action early. And you might be required to do so.
“According to OSHA’s General Duty Clause, employers must protect employees from serious hazards once they become aware of them, even if OSHA’s rules do not specifically address it,” says UG2 safety specialist CJ Mello in his article in FMJ Magazine. “While some noises, sounds, and smells may not make the official list, they contribute to FM workers’ physical and emotional well-being.”
Here’s how you can manage four sneaky environmental stressors now for happier, healthier facilities managers all year long.
1. Dirty or Cluttered Facility
Sticky surfaces, messy areas: they make your team want to avoid the workplace. One study shows that uncleanliness leads to longer lunches and more sick leave.
What to do:
- Clean and dust on a frequent and proactive schedule
- Follow professional-grade disinfectants with an additional product that removes residue and smooths surfaces
- Keep custodial closets and other behind-closed-doors areas clean, since people still feel the impact even when something is “hidden”
2. Poor Air Quality
Poor air quality takes a toll on cognitive health. Keeping air clean and free of odors and artificial fragrances improves your team’s ability to think.
What to do:
- Add water back into sewer traps
- Ensure appropriate air filtration systems are in place
- Use filters to reduce need for fragrances, which can trigger allergic reactions, asthma attacks, and migraines
3. Unmanaged Noise
Even low-level noises can contribute to distraction, irritability, fatigue, and elevated stress levels. And this impact has a domino effect: it can lead to mistakes, slower response times, and, with prolonged exposure, damage to hearing.
What to do:
- Lubricate gears on ceiling air vents, equipment, and vacuums to eliminate rattles, clangs, and hums
- Rotate FM workers tasks to reduce the time they’re in noisy work areas
- Provide quiet break areas
- Reduce noise with barriers, enclosures, and sound-absorbing materials
- Normalize wearing hearing protection
4. An Unsupportive Culture
Micromanaging is common among FM supervisors looking to maintain high standards. But while the tasks may get done, that approach to managing erodes trust and inhibits communication from team members. This trickles down to how your team interacts with clients.
What to do:
- Improve team communication by teaching each team member how to actively listen (read CJ’s full article for an exercise you can use at your next team meeting)
- Thank team members privately and publicly
- Provide the reason behind requests, scheduling decisions, budget priorities or service-level changes so
- Deliver direct, specific feedback and, when mistakes occur, focus on lessons learned
- Ensure each team member has access to necessary training and a clear understanding of job responsibilities
All of these stressors may sound small on the surface. Compounded over time, however, they erode your team’s sense of pride and purpose.
The good news is you can start addressing them today with minimal cost and effort, keeping your facilities management team as happy and healthy as the clients they serve.