IFMA and Today’s Facility Manager Team Up to Create Snapshot of Staffing Trends in Facility Management

The International Facility Management Association (IFMA) and Today’s Facility Manager have teamed up to release a new study, the “Facility Management Staffing Report.” Providing an overview of staffing issues within the facility management (FM) profession, this report allows facility and human resources professionals to determine if they are applying sufficient support to the FM function. In addition to staffing tables, the report delves into factors that drive staffing, such as industry sector, facility size/type, and outsourcing practices.

The “Facility Management Staffing Report” is based on a survey of IFMA members and Today’s Facility Manager readers. The survey assessed staffing levels for professional, skilled trade, and non-skilled FM positions; measured total staffing levels; and identified factors that drive staffing — such as industry sector, size and type of space managed, outsourcing practices, employee turnover, and location. The study also provides a ratio of FM staff to square footage managed.

Study respondents include 1,414 facility management (FM) professionals working in 134,900 locations/unique buildings, managing 9.91 billion square feet of space. Based on these numbers, and by determining what proportion of the total FM universe these responses comprise, the report estimates that there are a total of 408,000 facility professionals working in the U.S.

Among the study’s findings:

  • The majority of FMs work in a service industry, followed by institutional and manufacturing settings.
  • More than half of FMs manage multiple buildings in multiple sites, and many manage a combination of owned and leased space.
  • The majority of companies handle facility planning, project management, moves/additions/changes, space planning, and operations and maintenance in house.
  • Services most often handled by a third-party provider are janitorial, roads and grounds, construction, food services, and security.
  • An average of 59.3 total staff work within each company’s FM department, including professional staff, skilled trades, and non-skilled workers.
  • In the past year, FMs report an annual pay increase of 2% for professionals, skilled trade, and non-skilled workers.
  • Four out of 10 respondents report that their total space managed has increased over the past year, indicating that FMs are doing more with less staff.

“We were pleased to derive an estimate of the current number of facility professionals, as we’ve always believed the number is much higher than what’s been reported in the past,” said Shari Epstein, IFMA’s director of research. “There are many practitioners who perform the responsibilities of managing a public or private facility full time, yet they may not have realized there is a profession that serves them.”

“We were eager to invite our audience of facility professionals to participate in this important study,” said Susan Coene, Today’s Facility Manager executive publisher. “By providing an estimate of the number of facility professionals in the field, as well as a look at the myriad duties and challenges they face every day, this report is critical to understanding the current state of facility management. Many FMs are being asked to do more with less, and the decisions they make about their company’s operations are more critical than ever.”

To purchase a copy of the “Facility Management Staffing Report” (Research Report 33), click this link