Assess and maintain the role of workplace and facilities services in the organisation
Overview
This standard covers assessing and maintaining what workplace and facilities services are and their role in the organisation. It is about understanding the way the organisation operates and incorporating this into your workplace and facilities services work. Maintaining compliance with relevant systems, policies and procedures at all times requires an ability to understand these matters, including the management of business efficiencies and sustainable practices.
It is important that you know and understand your responsibilities under the current environmental and health and safety legislation, codes of practice and polices of the organisation.
It also involves understanding the resource constraints of the organisation and your responsibility of evaluating and confirming that others, whose work you are overseeing and responsible for, understand these principles.
This standard is applicable to those who deliver workplace and facilities services, this can be to an internal client (within your organisation) or to an external client, both are referred to as the "organisation" within this standard.
Managers at this level will be required to drive workplace and facilities services within the organisation.
This standard has links to the standards suite Facilities Management and the standards suite Management and Leadership managed by Instructus.
Performance criteria
You must be able to:
- carry out your work in accordance with the current environmental and health and safety legislation, risk assessment requirements, codes of practice and policies of the organisation, including business efficiencies and sustainable practices
- conduct yourself and carry out your work in a way that reflects the culture of the organisation and the workplace and facilities services function
- incorporate the objectives, systems, policies, procedures and resource constraints of the organisation into your work
- assess the role of workplace and facilities services, what they mean to the organisation and how they fit within the overall strategy of the organisation
- assess the costs, risks and opportunities of the planned actions
- inform those involved in and affected by workplace and facilities services of how they fit within the organisation, and underpin this with the required information
- maintain consistency of the workplace and facilities services information and advice you give with the organisation's systems, policies, procedures and resource constraints
- evaluate and confirm recipients' understanding of the workplace and facilities services information and advice that you have given
- confirm that workplace and facilities services activities comply with the relevant systems, policies, procedures and resource constraints of the organisation, including business efficiencies and sustainable practices
- adopt energy management strategies that are compatible with the organisation's objectives, systems, policies and procedures, including business efficiencies and sustainable practices
- confirm that the organisation operates within the current legal requirements and social responsibilities
Knowledge and Understanding
You need to know and understand:
- your responsibilities under the current environmental and health and safety legislation, codes of practice and policies of the organisation including business efficiencies and sustainable practices
- the importance of complying with the organisation's systems, policies, procedures and resource constraints when undertaking workplace and facilities services including business efficiencies and sustainable practices
- the organisation's business objectives
- the culture of the organisation and how you can apply this to your work
- how to assess the market in which the organisation operates, its trends and business drivers
- the overall strategy of the organisation and how this affects your role and responsibilities
- the importance of those involved understanding the role of workplace and facilities services and how they operate within the organisation's objectives, policies and procedures including business efficiencies and sustainable practices
- how to assess the costs, risks and opportunities of the planned actions
- what workplace and facilities services mean to the organisation and how they fit within the overall strategy of the organisation
- what maintenance techniques are available to workplace and facilities services and how to apply these to the organisations and sectors affected
- the core business of the organisation and the inter- relationship with workplace and facilities services
- the range of workplace and facilities services that are offered and available to the organisation
- the responsibility of managing and maintaining workplace and facilities services in accordance with the current legal requirements and social responsibilities
- the energy management requirements within the overall workplace and facilities services strategy and how to devise specific policies in line with and supportive of the organisation's business efficiencies and sustainable practices
Scope/range
Scope Performance
Scope Knowledge
Values
Behaviours
Skills
Glossary
Business efficiencies
This relates to the sustainable management of resources such as water, energy efficiency and waste management, in line with the organisation's business efficiency policies which aim at improving operational efficiency. In business, efficiency refers to the production of goods or the offering of services by using the smallest amount or resources, such as capital, energy etc. Efficient businesses can create products, offer services and accomplish their overall goals with the minimum effort, expense or waste.
Operational performance
This refers to an organisation's performance measured against a standard or prescribed indicator of effectiveness, efficiency, and environmental responsibility. These indicators could include time, productivity, waste reduction, and regulatory compliance.
Social responsibilities
Social responsibilities refer to a type of self-regulatory business plan
and the efforts made by a company to improve society and contribute towards sustainable development. It describes initiatives run by a business to evaluate and take responsibility for their impact on issues ranging from human rights to the environment.
The business plan will focus on achieving economic, social and environmental benefits for all the stakeholders involved (employees, consumers, investors and other groups).
The purpose of it is to encourage businesses to conduct their companies in an ethical manner and work towards having a more positive impact on society through ensuring sustainable growth.
Sustainable practices
Sustainable business practices are characterised by environmentally friendly practices initiated by an organisation for the purposes of becoming more sustainable. Organisations aim to reduce their environmental footprint through initiatives that cut down on waste, poor environmental stewardship and unethical environmental practices so that they offer a reduced level of sustainability within the organisation's policies and practices.
Sustainable business practices differ between industries and are often specific to the type of organisation and the product or service it produces or provides.
Workplace and facilities services
Workplace and facilities services is "the organisational function which integrates people, place and process within the built environment with
the purpose of improving the quality of life of people and the productivity of the core business." Workplace and facilities services professionals are responsible for services that enable and support business performance.
All organisations have responsibilities under the current health, safety and welfare regulations to ensure the daily health, safety and welfare of their employees. This includes ensuring provisions are made for:
Workplace and facilities services (soft services)
• Soft services are ones that make the workplace more pleasant
or secure to work in.
Examples of soft services are cleaning, catering, security.
Facilities Management (hard services)
• Hard services are ones that relate to the physical fabric of the
building and cannot be removed. They ensure the safety and
welfare of employees and generally are required by law.
Examples of hard services are plumbing, heating and lighting.
Hard services are covered in the Facilities Management suite