FM Innovators' Blog

We, Facility Managers, have seen how the experience of remote working has changed the way our colleagues (and probably we ourselves) look at workplaces. Many of the bees in our hives will be happy to come back to the office for some days per week at least, but our gut feeling tells us that things will never be the same anymore as before the pandemic.

Many among us are busy reorganizing spaces, moving tables and equipment around to assign flexible “hot desks”, with some extra space between them. We also have heard of offices being turned around completely. Some facility managers create distinct workspaces: blue zones for silence and concentration focused hours and red zones for teams working together lively and loudly. Others are buying fancy furniture. Of course, it has been years that we all have our minds marked by those fashionable Silicon Valley offices with foosballs and coffee tables strewn comfortably around and we might feel obliged to adopt the same in our...

Facility Managers, what consequences has hybrid working for your catering portfolio?

In the last months, we all have been talking about what return-to-office will look like and if all office employees will come back to office in the same intensity as before the pandemic. Several studies have taken place and we, facility managers, have read many of them. Although there is still some time to go before we go back to some semblance of a new normal, whatever that may be, it gets clearer every day that hybrid working is here to stay.

How does this flexible going in and out of the buildings we manage impact our catering?

Catering to celebrate physical team gatherings while respecting diversity

In times when remote working is happening at a large scale, gathering as a team will feel like a moment to celebrate. Celebration implies good food and drinks. Not only the quality of the catering should be correct, but it also must suit the specific preferences of the team coming together, or...

As facility managers, we can make our activities and facilities increasingly smarter and more tech-driven using innovations in artificial intelligence (AI), big data, internet of things (IoT) and many other cutting-edge technologies. A lot of these “tech”  are innovations from growth-fueled companies called startups.

But what are startups, by the way?

How do they grow and become a source of innovative solutions for us, facility managers?

The definition of startup

If we look up the definition of a startup, it can range from the simple “fledgling business enterprise” or to the more comprehensive “company or project undertaken by an entrepreneur to seek, develop, and validate a scalable economic model”. In the broadest sense, any new company is a startup. But what is the best definition of a startup? The description given by Paul Graham, the founder of the world’s most successful tech incubator, Y Combinator, is by...

We, Facility Managers, are very busy these days - aside from our daily tasks, we are reorganizing our buildings, our people and our budgets. Covid-19 has turned our world up-side-down. Luckily, we are hands-on and agile professionals. As we are adjusting and adapting to the challenges brought about by this pandemic and are on track again with the flow of changes, why not revisit another burning topic - our company’s eco-footprint.

Setting up a “Paris-Proof Program” for your buildings is important for our planet and a good idea for your budget.

So let’s take a look at what this “Paris-Proof” concept is all about and gain ideas on how to implement it.

What is Paris-Proof?

According to the United Nations Environment Program, buildings and their construction together account for 36 percent of global energy use and 39 percent of energy-related carbon dioxide emissions annually. Progress towards sustainable buildings and construction is...