Business are being told more and more often these days to seek ways to protect their people and workplace. After all, employees and facilities are both crucial to sustaining operations and attempting growth in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic. When even one of these aspects is negatively affected, the business suffers and struggles to survive and thrive.
That’s because workers and work environments are intrinsically linked. They are essential to each other for achieving their respective maximum potentials. Workplaces bring out the best in workers, and workers bring out the usefulness of workplaces.
So what happens to your costs when you invest in protecting both in the middle of this crisis? You might be surprised, but protecting your people and work environment through workplace management can help you use utilities and resources more efficiently.
Avoid wasteful consumption of utilities and resources
Facilities and the assets they contain can consume more resources and utilities than they normally require when they haven’t been maintained and protected according to industry standards. But how, exactly?
Well, imagine a machine that gradually increased its power consumption over the years that you’ve had it. It may surprise you that the reason for this is that the machine hasn’t been given proper maintenance. Wear and tear on different parts from friction and other naturally-occurring mechanical forces can slowly cause differences in timing, throwing the entire device out of sync and reducing performance. To compensate, it may try to draw more electric power or consume more of the raw materials needed for its output.
Even neglecting to clean the machine can cause buildup of dirt and debris that are likely to slow down or block the movement of essential components. Over the course of a machine’s lifetime and with regular use, the activities in the immediate environment produce all manner of byproducts that can clog up interior parts or render exterior parts difficult to use.
Machines that are functioning below their optimal efficiency or malfunctioning entirely are prone to producing output that doesn’t meet the user’s objectives. Often, these results are considered unusable and add to the amount of waste that a workplace produces. So there is wasteful consumption, because the resources and power used did not contribute output that would be useful to the business.
And of course, if the faulty machine causes an unsafe incident, the company’s resources will also have to be spent on dealing with the outcome of that incident. This may involve injuries to employees or damage to other company property.
Do take note that this applies not only to physical properties, but to processes and workflows as well. In that case, not having a project management strategy may lead you to overlook redundancy, unnecessary steps, and tasks that are doing less with more.
Luckily for you, a proper managed services plan is all you need to have your workplace and people protected from this. Pick an integrated facilities management provider for best results. They often provide the widest range of services, which means they are more likely to have team members with the expertise required to ensure your work environment is consuming utilities and resources.
Whether it’s actual maintenance of important assets and facilities or project management that’s tailored to your business, IFM can help you ultimately save on utilities and resource consumption in the middle of a pandemic that’s already straining the economy.