Every day facility managers are crucial in ensuring people are safe and buildings operate as designed. So on this World Facilities Management (FM) Day—May 12—Monnit celebrates FM teams everywhere.

This year, there are even more reasons to honor facility managers. These pros play a pivotal part in leading us through the COVID-19 pandemic and its significant impact on our built environments. How we do business and life from now on will have a lot to do with the work of our facilities managers.

Globally, people depend upon facilities management to empower essential services to stay open and work when so much is closed. We salute you as you strive to keep work environments healthy, businesses running, and all of us ready for what’s next while enabling virtual platforms to take on a more prominent role.

As businesses, governments, and people find ways to reopen and reoccupy; we recognize that facilities managers are reinventing and rethinking best practices for everyone’s benefit. There are so many more concerns that FM leaders have now compared to over a year ago, including:

• Adopting new business entry policies for employees and customers that may include conducting health checks
• Upgrading HVAC systems and integrating IoT technologies to improve indoor air quality and meet new and evolving health and performance requirements
• Limiting and consolidating building use based on changing health code regulations and tenant requirements
• Increasing cleaning frequency and optimizing janitorial schedules with help from the IoT while providing hygiene services with masks, wipes, and sanitizer stations
• Reducing or removing high-touch items and surfaces by installing touchless, automated equipment and IoT monitoring
• Managing physical distancing and reducing occupancy levels by adjusting line paths, traffic flow, and seating

Throughout these complex changes, Monnit remains open and in full support of FM professionals worldwide. Monnit Remote Monitoring Solutions for facilities management will continue to be built for your unique and evolving needs. We appreciate you as we work together to remain resilient, compliant, and agile for current challenges and those ahead of us.

Take some time today or this week to celebrate World FM Day and the FM pros we rely on so much. We encourage everyone to connect and celebrate the facilities management profession, remember previous accomplishments and experiences, and brainstorm new best practices.

As we advance and continue to elevate the FM industry, we recommend the following:

• Stay on top of FM trends that are helping managers move forward and improve their work.
• Be patient with facilities managers and staff considering they’re quickly adding additional skills and services to deliver on new customer needs.
• Help FM leaders redefine their services architecture and delivery systems rapidly evolving into a new era and future for facilities and how they run.
• Reward and recognize those FM employees going beyond their current job description to take the FM profession to the next level of success.

Thank you to everyone in the FM industry for all of the contributions you’re making to improve our health, comfort, safety, and security in and around the facilities you manage.