New Expectations

What was learned from the pandemic

In 2020, there were high expectations of an exciting new year with plans to improve employee experience, add new technologies, implement innovations, and improve operational efficiencies. But by the end of the second quarter, the realization that most, if not all these goals, were not going to be achieved, and the future was not clear as to what the impact of COVID-19 would have on corporate real estate.

These conversations quickly took over, affecting everything about the built environment, not surprisingly some of these theories ended up not being 100 percent true:

• COVID-19 is something that can be contracted by touch.
  • As more was learned about COVID-19 and how it is contracted, protocols were updated.
• Disinfect every surface, everywhere.
  • This made sense initially, but as the world learned COVID-19 was airborne, the focus changed. However, disinfecting high touch points continues and with positive results.
• Remote working and remote education can work.
  • This worked with a few tweaks for schedules and some improved communication tools, and corporations spent a great deal of money on technology, systems upgrades, desks, monitors, chairs, keyboards and other equipment to outfit their now-remote workforce so their firms could keep their businesses operational.
  • Education brought new challenges; computers for children in an at-home virtual school setting and ensuring Wi-Fi bandwidth was adequate so everyone including parents and guardians could continue to work while children learned.
  • In both cases, there was a loss of social contact that seems to have hurt social skills in general.
• Protecting, servicing and caring for the built environments is changing rapidly.
  • Supporting clients in getting their employees back into the office was a priority, but many parts of the world took another hit with COVID-19 variants and by employees who wanted to continue to work remotely.
  • Many firms continued to service their facilities as in the past but with an added enhanced service to help their employees feel and stay healthy during the transition back to a new business as usual in the workplace.
• The built environment continues evolving as the world works to help businesses bring their employees back to the office.

The conversation also changed a year or more into the pandemic:

• Cleaning for appearance is not a best practice.
  • The janitorial industry had been cleaning for appearance for decades, in part because it was cheaper and much faster.
  • Disinfection of surfaces requires dwell time for the disinfectant to work before surfaces can be wiped clean and dry.
  • This has previously happened in restrooms and cafeterias but not always in office areas.
• COVID-19 is an airborne pathogen.
  • COVID-19 is an airborne pathogen and that changed the focus to cleaning the air coming into the built environment.
  • Adding fresh air by opening windows helped; however, most office buildings have sealed windows that could not be opened. Increasing the number of air exchanges could improve the overall indoor air quality, and that seemed to work.
• Disinfecting high touch points is a best practice.
  • This is still being done in many facilities, but not as much as when COVID-19 started.
• Indoor Air Quality is a major focus.
  • Upgrading air handler units with UV light, thermal sterilization, ionic purifiers, ozone generators and other technologies were implemented to help improve indoor air quality.
  • Sensors to monitor and detect poor indoor air quality were starting to be added to the built environment.

Throughout the pandemic and into the present, everything was tried:

• Hygiene theater
  • There was a lot of wiping and disinfecting, wasting limited resources and incurring an added expense.
  • It kept the janitorial staff employed, which was positive for that industry.
  • In the end, the expense outweighed the value to building occupants.
• Drones spraying electrostatic disinfectants.
  • This worked in large arenas and stadiums.
  • It was not a great solution for schools and office spaces.
• Automated robotic equipment that would spray disinfectants throughout a facility.
  • This was expensive, and although there were some great applications for this process, it did not work everywhere.
  • Schools and some manufacturing facilities benefited, but this was not the case for commercial office buildings.
• Applying anti-microbial coatings to surfaces.
  • This was used widely across many industries.
  • It was cost-effective, but the efficacy was not clear as every surface is used and cleaned differently, and the wear of the anti-microbial coating was uncertain.
  • These came in two basic types:
    • A film that was applied to surfaces that could be peeled off and replaced
    • A chemical that could be applied to a surface, allowed to dry, and then cleaned daily to remove buildup.
  • Masks and hand sanitizer were a hot commodity and provided some protection: however, masks were not popular.
  • There were many other technologies and innovations used to improve the cleanliness of facilities which offered a mixed bag of results.

One positive outcome of the extra focus on cleaning was transiting from cleaning for appearance to cleaning for health. Based on results from April 2020, the cold and flu season saw a 99 percent reduction from the previous year in the number of individuals getting the cold or flu during the influenza season, when compared to the previous years despite similar levels of testing.

Many factors attributed to the low infection rates during the influenza season: Lockdowns, wearing masks, improved cleaning and disinfection of surfaces, more focus on cleaning high touch points and an enhanced focus on personal hygiene. All of these are best practices, but not all are needed all the time.

What is happening today

In the years since the pandemic began, there has been an improved focus on cleaning for health and how it will address a global pandemic, influenza infection rates and the overall improved health of the population. Today, there is a pullback on most, if not all, enhanced cleaning services implemented to fight virus spread as fears diminish. These enhanced services have increased the operating costs, and most of these costs were not budgeted. To add to this financial dilemma, building occupancy is still low, while building owners and FMs are adding enhanced services and employee experience features to draw employees back to the office. Of course, some industry verticals never saw a drop in occupancy because of what they do, mainly in manufacturing, pharmaceutical manufacturing, medical manufacturing and others.

What can the FM industry and soft services do to help clients tomorrow

Because some of the clients are still feeling the post-pandemic pains and others have pivoted how they operate their organizations and run their businesses, how can FM help clients with these escalating costs both now and into the future, while building confidence in their workforce to return to the office?

• Consolidate resources: Combine services, supplier partners, and processes and leverage shared assets, tools, and technology to help offset some of these cost increases.
• Evaluate scope and frequencies: Look at the scope and frequency of services to enhance, reduce, or even eliminate unneeded services, allowing owners to offer the best fit for the best value in services needed to meet the new occupancy and space utilization trends.
• Embrace new technologies: There are new products and solutions that can drive efficiencies in soft services such as sensors to alert service providers of spaces being occupied or which desks are being used each day. These sensors can also tell service providers when a restroom may need service or when a dispenser is low on supplies.
• Utilize new and improved equipment: Equipment has also come a long way, and with the proper use of some of these new pieces of equipment, the need for periodic and deep cleaning services can be reduced or even eliminated. These services normally happen quarterly, semi-annually, or annually and come with an additional cost; however, by doing a better job of cleaning each day, these periodic services should not be needed as often.
• Service evaluations: Until service providers know what a facility’s needs are, it will be difficult to meet those needs and maintain a safe, healthy, and productive work environment. Many scopes of work were written long before the pandemic, and most facilities are not being used in the same way they were 10 or 20 years ago or even how they were being used during the pandemic. Occupancy patterns have changed with peaks and valleys throughout the week, with very low occupancy levels on Mondays and Fridays and a 50-200 percent increase in occupancy levels on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. A service level evaluation will help to identify where and when the highest space utilization occurs and based on these occupancy trends, will allowing supplier partners to focus their time and resources to clean and maintain the facilities that have been entrusted to FM.

Preparing for an uncertain future

The expectation is that the FM industry must be better prepared, supplier partners need to be industry leaders, and customers need to watch their employee habits and motivators. As a group all three parties must become more agile, with solutions ready to be put in place to reduce costs quickly as the economic and social landscape changes. What is uncertain is when is when the next pandemic will strike, but there is a good chance that there will be a next time.

In this century, there has already been:

• COVID-19 (2019-present)
• Monkeypox (2022)
• Black fungus (2021)
• MERS (2021)
• Measles (2017-2019)
• Zika virus (2015-2016)
• Ebola virus (2013-2016)
• Haiti cholera outbreak (2010)
• Swine flu (2009-2010)
• SARS (2002-004)

Something is coming, and it is not if, but when? Organizations must develop a plan for how they want to respond to a new pandemic and implementing technology to drive service levels based on occupancy and space utilization. These new tools will help FMs understand occupancy patterns today, control costs tomorrow, improve the effectiveness of limited resources and enhance the health and well-being of building occupants for years to come.

In a time where change is not only happening quickly but has also become a part of business as usual, the FM industry and their supplier partners Must be prepared for the future. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, said the following: “The pace of change has never been this fast, yet it will never be this slow again.” FM suppliers must be industry-leading in their respective fields by continually learning and observing and by being bold, creative, and agile. Showing value and being what trusted advisors should be, industry leading, forward thinking and most of all agile is what clients want and expect. The future is uncertain, but the FM industry is ready and able to meet the challenges head on.