Lack of FM Could Cost UK Circa £1 Billion

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• Lack of FM Could Cost UK Circa £1 Billion

04 November 2014 | Updated 01 January 1970

Research released today suggests that UK businesses could be losing out on savings of nearly £1 billion based on original research results produced by ComRes which stated that the median average is made up of £1,000 in property operating costs and £3,000 in terms of time and non-staff resources.

RICS research has  found that around 26% of organisations in the UK are still not taking a strategic approach when it comes to FM and those that are could be saving themselves as much as £120,000 on average.

As a result of its findings, RICS suggests that a reluctance to invest in and embed a dedicated FM programme within an organisation (an approach it calls ‘Strategic FM’ - SFM) means that many businesses and public sector organisations could be missing out on huge cost saving opportunities.

 The research conducted with 707 small, medium and large organisations from across the public (203) and private sectors (504), also shows the positive impact SFM has on those organisations that already adopt the approach.  Half of those interviewed who use SFM said that it has saved their organisation money – with many of those in the private sector reporting the positive impact it has had on their profitability (39%) and turnover (48%).

What’s more, of those questioned who use SFM, three in five (59%) said that their organisation had seen an increase in overall productivity, with 49% saying that the attractiveness of their organisation to clients or customers had been boosted by it. In addition, around a fifth (21%) said that employee absence in their organisation had decreased as a result of SFM.

 Of those questioned specifically in the Government sector, the tangible benefits of a more strategic approach to FM were even higher with 70% of those respondents that use SFM saying that they had seen an overall increase in productivity, with a further 71% stating that they had also seen an increase in employee engagement.

 Johnny Dunford, Global Commercial Property Director at RICS, said: “It’s clear from our research that recognising FM as a strategic discipline has the ability to bring about tangible business benefits for organisations of all shapes, sizes and sectors. With nearly £1 billion being wasted by those organisations without SFM in place, our research clearly demonstrates that more needs to be done to get leaders in the private and public sectors on board with the new approach. By recognising FM as an important strategic discipline, businesses could reap the huge business benefits it promotes."

Research parameters

The ComRes calculation was extrapolated from 76 business leaders estimating a figure for the amount of money saved by SFM in terms of property operating costs and 68 business leaders estimating a figure for the amount of money saved by SFM in terms of time and non-staff resources.

RICS calculation

The median value of money saved by those using SFM (£4,000 according to ComRes research) x Total number of UK businesses (2,167,580 according to the ONS UK BUSINESS: ACTIVITY, SIZE AND LOCATION – 2013) x percentage of UK businesses not currently undertaking SFM (34%) x percentage of businesses who use SFM that say that the practice saves them money (32%) = £943,330,816.

Article written by Brian Shillibeer | Published 04 November 2014

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