Death of the Facility Manager

When I first entered the Commercial Property Industry over 10 years ago, there were FMs everywhere!

It felt like things were done the same way for decades. Facility Managers were often ex-tradies, engineers, people who entered the industry through a property call-centre or another connected stream. They were also 95% male.

In the last few years, a change has swept through the industry. The change looks to be lead by the start-up culture and the need to create environments that attract people to a place that offers more than just a computer and a workstation.

Customer service is now at the forefront with a focus on an environment that caters to the employee, not just the employer. We all spend so much time at work so it makes sense.

Enter the Workplace Manager
The industry now attracts many more females and from diverse employment backgrounds. As we have seen in many recent studies, a diverse workforce is a far more highly functioning environment.

What does this all mean for vendors like us at Intact Group?
We’ve embraced the change because our expertise are now more critical than ever and we’ve been able to learn a lot. It’s created a closer relationship with our clients and we work as a partnership who values what each other bring to the overall service delivery. Transparency and open communication is more valuable than ever. Put simply: Workplace Managers now rely more on our technical knowledge and we rely on their insight into an ever-changing working environment - the outcome? A more productive and happier workforce.


It's been a significant and positive change in a short period of time. I’m looking forward to where it can head next!

Scot Pittaway is the Managing Director at Intact Group