As the facilities management industry moves forward, Chain Store Maintenance - an MCS Company, is learning and leading alongside our customers. During the past few months, we’ve attended multiple industry conferences and met with clients across the country, providing the opportunity to meet with facilities managers from a range of industries and hear from our peers. These are a few of the key industry trends, takeaways and insights our team is focused on following these conversations.
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Finding sustainable solutions and achieving greater energy efficiency are important for nearly every business, so it’s no surprise this has been a key topic of discussion. From water and electricity usage to other related expenditures, businesses are looking to improve the efficiency of their systems, which could mean initiatives like installing new systems or irrigation systems and ensuring they receive the preventive maintenance needed from service partners to ensure they get the most out of them. This quest becomes even more critical as many larger businesses are facing state and federal sustainability requirements that must be achieved through their green initiatives.
While strides are being made to bring new workers into the trades, current labor shortages in the skilled trades remain an issue across the industry. According to a 2022 analysis from PeopleReady Skilled Trade, there is significant demand for painters, roofers and electricians. At industry conferences like RFMA and Connex, it was also clear that HVAC repair is an industry that is on the hunt for skilled workers.
The PeopleReady analysis also indicated that “40% of the 12 million people in the skilled trades workforce are over the age of 45, with nearly half of those workers over the age of 55 and less than 9% of workers aged 19-24 entering the trades.”
So, naturally, there were discussions at both conferences on the labor shortage and how to educate young people on this viable career path. For our part, MCS is invested in helping young people get started in the trades and is even developing a training program to help solve this challenge.
Even as labor shortages persist across the facilities management industry, it’s notable that both the RFMA and Connex conferences had an increase in younger attendees as well as women. Chain Store Maintenance is the lead sponsor of RFMA’s Females in Facilities group, dedicated to the empowerment and engagement of women within RFMA and the broader facilities management field. By supporting this effort, we are committed to supporting, encouraging and mentoring females in the industry.
Having younger professionals and more women entering the facilities management industry is a hopeful trend as the need for a new generation of industry workers and leaders persists.
Finding ways to leverage technology is a perennial focus for companies. We’ve had multiple discussions around using technology for a variety of purposes, including monitoring systems to stay informed and gathering data to track key performance indicators and enhance operational efficiencies.
Ensuring that the different technologies and platforms used across businesses in the industry can communicate is another critical technology need. Businesses want to be assured that service providers have the APIs necessary to enable this connectivity. Chain Store Maintenance strives to be flexible and adaptable in working with our partners to meet their needs across disparate technologies and various platforms, including ServiceNow, Fexa, FacilGo, ServiceChannel, OfficeTrax, Ecotrak and Corrigo.
More and more, businesses are seeking property services partners with self-performing capabilities in markets where it’s possible. Chain Store Maintenance takes a hybrid approach that combines our self-performing network with “boots-on-the-ground” employees in key markets with directly supervised third-party coverage in high-opportunity areas. This service delivery model provides the ability to customize a service program for each client while offering comprehensive services in every ZIP Code.
Enhancing and growing the facilities management industry will require a bigger tent. Efforts are being made across the board to promote DEIB (diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging) initiatives and promote how these programs are not only the right thing to do, but can also attract new professionals to the field while driving business results. At Chain Store Maintenance, we are demonstrating our commitment to DEIB as we strive to create a workplace that attracts the greatest talent in the industry.