Could Facilities Management be the Perfect Career for Generation Z?

Over the past year, there seems to have been an increasing number of articles surrounding the concerns over the facilities management talent pipeline.

The traditional opinion of the profession has become out-dated. The role may once have been perceived as maintaining and increasing the efficiency of how a building is managed, however today, the number and variety of responsibilities have jumped significantly to include tenant wellbeing, implementation and usage of new technologies, customer service and business management, to name a few.

The rapid development of the sector has resulted in a new skill set required and has significantly increased the career progression opportunities. These factors, combined with others, have made facilities management careers much more enticing.

Furthermore, the career motivators from the next generation of talent (Gen Z) are beginning to mirror the sectors new profile, including:

• Good Pay

Glassdoor’s research shows the most common pros for Gen Z is the working environment, flexible hours and good pay.

The IWFM pay and prospects survey results earlier this year uncovered that 83% of respondents received a pay increase in their last salary review and 12% more respondents than 2017 expect an increase in their next pay review.

• Enjoyment and Diversity

The BBC’s polling statistics revealed that having a job that they love, followed by having a family with kids is what would make this generation happiest in life. The wider issues covered in the poll highlighted that diversity and equality are also high on the agenda for this generation.

Facilities Management can provide a fulfilling career and furthermore, offer a diverse and inclusive environment. The Women in FM community ran by IWFM is just one example of the diversity campaigns ongoing across the sector.

• Environmental Impact

Pinterest has found Millennials and Gen Z’ers are each twice as likely to search for sustainability ideas compared to ‘Pinners’ over 38 years old.

At the Facilities Show 2019, Lucy Jeynes, Managing Director of Larch Consulting shared that her daughter follows Churchill’s Managing Director, Anthony Law, and saw his tweet about the need to reduce single-use plastics: “My daughter said, ‘I’d love to work for a company like that … with a boss that is passionate about the oceans.’ It was that sense of purpose that she had highlighted as the first characteristic she’d look at in an employer”.

Facilities Managers are having a massive influence on the real estate market’s impact on the environment, from net-zero buildings to waste management, carbon footprint and energy usage to name a few!

• Technology

The technology skills this new generation can bring to a business cannot be overlooked. Millennials may be recognised as the tech-savvy generation, but Gen Z’ers are tech native, they have grown up using and interacting with the latest technology delivering invaluable self-taught skills. Being immersed in technology from a young age has made working with technology and embracing new technologies not only a skill but an expectation. With facilities management adopting technology at pace – it’s another incentive to pursue a career within the industry.

When promoting jobs to the next line of talent, it is important to showcase the areas that matter to them, be it for their professional or personal life. Facilities Management has become a sector which can match this generation’s ambitions, skillset and social responsibilities of interest. It is great to see the amount of work going into raising awareness of the sector’s development and how a corporate, fast-growing career is more than possible within it.