by Chris Pesek — As Baby Boomers begin to retire, many companies are looking for new facility management talent to replace departing workers — while also striving to increase the technological expertise of the workforce as a whole. A new pool of talent is emerging from values-driven, technology-savvy millennials — but many organizations are not yet equipped to tap into this rich talent source. The good news is that all companies should be able to connect with this generation eager for the benefits a career in facility management has to offer.
A better understanding of millennials, along with new recruitment and management strategies, is required to refill the talent well and successfully recruit these eager and technically adept workers. Concurrently, companies can benefit from IFMA and the IFMA Foundation’s efforts to help millennials better understand facility management and view this field as one offering a rewarding career path with plentiful opportunities.
An industry at a crossroads
The demand for facility management workers far exceeds supply, creating a pronounced talent gap which will only worsen in the years to come. Facing this looming challenge, the facility management industry needs proactive strategies to educate millennials about the advantages of the field. Currently, few millennials can even begin to define facility management, let alone realize its potential to match their values, skills and goals, according to a new JLL research report, The Future of Facility Management: Attracting Millennial Talent.1
While the population of workers in the United States is aging across the board, this trend is particularly pronounced in the facility management industry where the average worker is 49 years old — a full six years older than the nation’s general working population average of 43. Clearly, the facility management sector will be exceptionally challenged to replace its aging workforce.
By the end of 2014, millennials are expected to account for 47 percent of the U.S. workforce. However, of this fast-growing group, a miniscule one percent currently plan to pursue facility management as a career, according to The Future of Facility Management. Why the low turnout? JLL’s research shows that many millennials simply have not been exposed to the work of facility management, a behind-the-scenes field that does not attract the public’s attention the way that other industries do.
The sector is further hampered by persistent misconceptions about millennials. One such myth is that millennials distrust or otherwise oppose working for large multinational companies. However, JLL’s report reveals the reality that just over half of working millennials already are employed by national or multinational corporations.
Building interest to develop the millennial talent pool
How aware are millennials of the facility management profession? A significant proportion of employed millennials work in science, technology, engineering or math (STEM) fields, using skills transferable to facility management. Yet, only 43 percent have heard of the field, and a paltry nine percent express a clear understanding of it. Of those 30 to 34 years old, 67 percent have at least heard of facility management as a field, while only 25 percent of the 21-to-24-year-olds have. Women, in particular, are missing out, with only 30 percent having heard of the facility management field in contrast to 56 percent of the men.
Among the millennials who are aware that facility management is an industry, fewer know what the work actually entails. When asked what facility managers do, nearly 30 percent simply did not respond to the question. Eighteen percent offered only superficial impressions such as “managing facilities” or simply “managing.” Fourteen percent mentioned “daily operations” or “upkeep of a facility,” while nine percent said “building or facilities maintenance.”
Facility management professionals know that, in reality, the field offers a variety of roles and career paths. Given that 71 percent of millennials say they are open to new career ideas, what can facility management professionals do to create visibility for the field — and therefore a more sustainable future for the industry?
As many IFMA members are aware, the IFMA Foundation is charged with being an advocate for the profession and is already helping to bring new workers into the field through scholarships, university partnerships, educator collaboration, accreditation programs and more. Its accreditation program initiative has created degree opportunities for more than 800 facility management students at 27 colleges and universities in eight countries, increasing more than 150 percent since 2008.
However, the IFMA Foundation alone — supported by private donations, not IFMA membership fees — cannot solve the industry’s talent challenge. Companies must consider how best to ensure the productivity and performance of their real estate assets into the future.
Aside from uncovering the general need to position facility management as a career of choice, The Future of Facility Management reveals several trends that suggest a way forward. The following are strategies for recruiting and retaining the next generation of facility management leaders:
- Meet them where they are. Direct contact to help millennials make career decisions is much more effective than waiting for them to voluntarily explore the field. Seventy-six percent of millennials say that internships are their most useful source for choosing a career, which suggests that facility team managers should pursue this avenue more aggressively. Simply providing information on the company website or in a corporate brochure is the least effective approach — only 44 percent of millennials say corporate information is among the most useful sources.
- Convey the alignment of millennial career values with facility management. The typical millennial values jobs that offer constant learning opportunities, a clear career path and an enjoyable, rewarding workplace. These are hallmarks of facility management careers that organizations could more effectively convey in their recruitment tools.
- Communicate the relevance of a facility management career to millennials’ own experience. Though they do not realize it, many millennials already possess the skills they need to begin a successful career in facility management. Recruitment materials that connect the dots between STEM-related programs and facility management careers can help millennials realize they have hands-on skills and education that is highly relevant in today’s technology-driven world of facility management. Additionally, vocational school students who have mastered highly technical skills such as HVAC management can easily transfer their knowledge of systems and machinery operations to pursue new goals in FM.
- Define a successful career trajectory. Millennials have positive impressions of several different facility management jobs such as energy manager, sourcing manager and performance manager, as well as roles involving workplace strategy, relationship management and data and analytics. Defining such job roles as steps on a ladder to achievement can inspire millennials who seek a career path with clear advancement milestones.
- Promote diversity. Engaging with a diverse talent base will help expand the potential workforce and position the industry for a more sustainable future. JLL’s study found that 95 percent of millennials consider working for an organization that embraces diversity “very important” or “extremely important” and 85 percent want to interact with diverse groups of clients and coworkers.
Thinking beyond recruitment
Harnessing the power of millennials will require most organizations to rethink their FM recruitment strategies. However, recruitment is only the beginning of transitioning millennials into the facility management sector. A new wave of incoming talent entails investment in onboarding, training and education — no small expense, especially as the talent and skills gap worsens. Younger employees may have the qualities and knowledge needed, but they will not have the skills and experience to fully replace retiring workers without significant training and development.
Since 2009, U.S. companies have spent upwards of US$461 billion on developing employee talent through learning — and US$162.2 billion on talent development in 2012 alone — according to the American Society of Training and Development. One Fortune 50 multi-sector conglomerate pours US$1 billion a year into training and education programs for its employees, while another, a global technology leader, enrolled more than a third of its 33,000 employees in training programs in just one year. As facility management becomes more expensive — costing at least US$1 trillion annually, according to The Economist — corporations that selfprovide their facility management will be hard-pressed to achieve efficiency while addressing the talent challenge.
Facility management outsourcing is one solution for corporations seeking to offset FM talent recruitment and development challenges. One reason is that companies that are not in the business of providing real estate services tend to prioritize talent development for their core businesses rather than for support operations. In contrast, the real estate service providers have, by necessity, an ongoing commitment to recruiting, retaining and developing the facility management talent essential to their businesses. These companies already are engaging with millennials in social media, on college campuses and in other channels.
Working in a professional real estate services company can give members of the millennial generation the career they want: a well-defined work path with career-building experiences and the opportunity to make a difference. A well-organized outsourcing firm can also motivate millennials who want mentorship and career options, alongside opportunities to expand their careers by working on multiple client accounts, whether at home or around the world, and in positions requiring technical expertise, relationship management and more.
Of course, a company may choose to outsource its facility management for reasons other than the talent crisis. Professional real estate service providers can help boost facilities productivity significantly through economies of scale in their service delivery, enhanced by cutting-edge facility management technologies, data-driven decision making and new concepts in workplace productivity.
Millennials are ready — are you?
For companies facing a retirement wave of facility management professionals, a serious talent gap is taking shape in which the need for workers far exceeds the supply. With the increased sophistication of today’s building systems and operations and the growing influence of facilities data analytics, many companies will be challenged to replace retiring Baby Boomers in their facilities departments. Millennials have the potential to thrive in a facility management career, bringing their fearless technology adoption and desire for innovation. The question is, what will be the most effective approach for refilling the well with millennial talent?
REFERENCE
- Commissioned by JLL in March 2014, The Future of Facility Management: Attracting Millennial Talent is based on an online, independent survey of 200 workers and students in North America born between 1980 and 1998.
Chris Pesek is executive vice president and director of integrated facility management for JLL’s Americas Corporate Solutions group, where he helps lead a team of 19,500 professionals supporting three billion square feet of corporate real estate facilities in 74 countries.
With 22 years of facility management experience, Pesek has established a reputation for creating innovative programs and reengineering processes to boost organizational performance. Under his leadership, JLL’s IFM team delivers innovative, technology-driven solutions that help corporate clients improve the productivity of their people, properties and portfolios, and achieve their business goals. Pesek can be reached at chris.pesek@am.jll.com.