Head of Facilities

Work.Life is a flex workspace provider for businesses who care about people.

We believe that happy teams deliver measurable benefits for businesses. That’s why everything we do, from workspace design to delivering a best-in-class personal service, is designed to create happy working environments. We have shared workspaces across London, Reading and Manchester; 7,000+ members; and an amazing team of 60 who share our ambition to redefine the workspace experience for the better.

Your Role

As our Head of Facilities, you’ll lead the strategic management of the Facilities department, developing the capability of the team and the wider business to maintain excellent operational, environmental and safety standards in our buildings that meet all legislative, contractual and member requirements.

Your role ensures that all building users including members, staff, managed tenants, suppliers, visitors and third parties; are provided with a safe, inviting & productive environment, from which they can work effectively at all times. You’ll help us elevate our brand experience through our physical spaces, by defining and championing consistently excellent standards of presentation and function across our workspaces.

The Facilities department under your leadership strives to deliver both reactive and proactive service at pace, maintaining a visible presence across our estate to coach & support our space teams.

You’ll ensure that financial investment is managed effectively and commercially; delivering returns on investment; or relevant cost, time & energy savings where appropriate.

Beyond this, you will play a lead role in Work.Life’s sustainability strategy – ensuring that we have access to relevant data to drive decision making in line with our sustainability roadmap towards recertification of our Bcorp status.

Your contribution will support both the delivery of our everyday mission to make people’s work lives happier, and our long-term growth ambition to scale Work.life over the next 3-5 years.

Our Values: We’re inclusive | It’s personal | We go the extra mile | We’re positive

·At all times, you’re a role model for our company values in how you interact with others

·You’re accountable for building productive relationships with our membership team, cross functional support teams, and with third parties & suppliers to deliver great results collaboratively

·You’ll regularly seek & share meaningful feedback on your own and others’ performance & ways of working to drive a culture of continuous improvement.

People & Leadership

We are proud of our incredible focus on Team Happiness, and your role provides excellent leadership across the Operations team to ensure that our teams understand and are engaged with the importance of operating safe, welcoming & sustainable buildings.

·Great onboarding is the backbone of our success: you’ll support this where relevant to build new relationships and upskill new Work.lifers

·You’ll hold regular training sessions/power hours to develop knowledge within the team

·You’ll regularly offer feedback across our spaces to drive operational excellence

Key outcomes in the first 6 months

1.Produce an updated Facilities roadmap to ensure that key priorities and deliverables for the growth period up to 2025 are assessed and plans are in place for this to be regularly & consistently reviewed

2.Champion and lead on operational excellence in our spaces:

·Drive brilliant and consistent basic execution of space cleaning, repair, and safety standards

·Support the Area Manager team to embed a strong operational audit framework and a culture of pro-active facilities management by location teams

·Be an integral part of the company rocks process - from discovery to assessment of projects, ensuring that facilities dependencies are understood from the outset

3.Provide support for investor relations – contributing to operational and commercial planning for upcoming growth; ensuring that ongoing and capital expenditure are appropriately forecast and invested.

Your day to day responsibilities

Operational Facilities Management Ensure the delivery of Facilities Management services to a high standard, continuously identifying opportunities that will improve all aspects of space operations Drive industry-standard best practice across all areas of FM Leadership of all Hard Services including Asset Management across M&E plant, Buildings & Equipment and PPM scheduling Overall responsibility for all soft services including Cleaning, Security & IT services Lead the Energy Management & Environmental Impact workstreams of our sustainability strategy Ownership of the full contract lifecycle from tender & contract through to ongoing management Responsibility for the delivery and improvement of FM Helpdesk and associated systems Ensure training and audit records are documented and maintained for buildings to demonstrate full operational and safety procedures are followed Lead the Facilities team in weekly & monthly Operations meetings to ensure all objectives and priorities and incidents are clearly communicated, including any agreed follow up. Support ongoing property management through working with the Operations Director, Acquisitions Director, Finance Team & Landlords on service charges, rates & lease requirements Lead and develop the management of on/off site storage requirements Continuously evaluate the workload & skillset of your team and any third parties to ensure a fair and productive distribution and prioritisation of work Oversee key business projects, including any requirement for third-party suppliers Provide occasional on-call support in exceptional circumstances or out of hours as required Lead the team to effectively prioritise incoming facilities tickets in line with company objectives. Maintain the safety management system for contractors, including induction processes, permits to work, and any other key requirements Financial Management & Governance Devise, manage & deliver the annual Facilities budgets Partner effectively with the Finance team to closely monitor spend to agreed budget, updating and reforecasting spend on a quarterly basis Provide accurate monthly reporting on Facilities spend and KPIs Develop, review and maintain Business Continuity and Risk Management plans, ensuring they are fit for purpose and regularly tested Manage facilities governance – ensuring all legal and safety requirements are met or exceeded Relationship Management Role model great, positively challenging partnerships with external suppliers (including cleaning, IT & systems, M&E, storage, utilities, real estate) ensuring rigorous reviews on a weekly or monthly basis, with any issues escalated and resolved as appropriate. Lead decisively on any re/tender process as needed Utilise your network in the facilities industry to leverage and share best practice Ensure that all suppliers & contractors are appointed and onboarded in line with Bcorp guidance

How you'll measure success: KPIs supporting the department's performance goals

Response time to reactive Facilities and IT SLAs Initial response within in 12 hours for all issues Acknowledge, assess issue and urgency, plan next steps & communicate expected timeframes for resolution Target average successful issue resolution of <3 days, and within agreed SLA windows Reduce & eliminate instances of issue repetition Demonstration of proactive Facilities management Schedule of weekly, monthly & annual audit is adhered to Consistent system in place for space visits & feedback Actionable items are proactively resolved FM onboarding & coaching programme in place Delivery of Facilities budget Lead the definition and approval of Facilities budgets including Cleaning, M&E, Repairs, IT Support, Equipment Leasing and Ongoing Capex Ensure spend is managed in line with agreed budget Accurately forecast future spend where required Member NPS Support the delivery of member NPS score of >60 across all spaces; through efficient resolution of facilities issues

Who you are

You are obsessed with achieving high standards, and are known for your keen attention to detail You’re solution-focused by nature, keen to always find a pragmatic and efficient solution to issues, flexing your style & prioritisation appropriately You’re a brilliant, concise communicator; able to engage colleagues, contractors & stakeholders You delegate where necessary & appropriate, but equally enjoy being hands-on to deliver key priorities and support your team You’re able to work independently to offer recommendations and lead on decision-making with confidence. You relish being accountable. You’re a vocal advocate for continuous systems & process improvement. You’re commercial, as evidenced through smart deployment of operational budgets, efficiencies, and return on investments made under your watch You are a collaborator – keen to work with others to effectively resolve issues & generate solutions You can demonstrate great leadership – coaching, supporting and mentoring your team & others You’ll be able to present information, verbally and in writing, in a clear, persuasive and concise manner to a wide range of stakeholders.  You’ll generally retain need a calm approach to dealing with difficult or complex situations

Your experience

Relevant degree or professional qualification in Facilities Management or a related field A qualification in health & safety (NEBOSH/IOSH) would be advantageous Extensive hands-on FM experience, ideally with time spent working in a scaling growth business Experience of managing ongoing and capital expenditure budgets A thorough understanding of legal and environmental legislation relating to the built environment Demonstrable experience across contract & tender management Experience of negotiating and procuring facilities management service contracts based upon best practice principles A proven track record of managing impeccably maintained, customer-facing environments would be highly advantageous Desirable experience implementing facilities / building management systems

At Work.Life, we’re committed to providing an inclusive environment for our team and our members, as we believe that diversity breeds a more innovative, creative, and caring culture.

We’re an equal opportunity employer. Everyone who applies to Work.Life will be considered for employment without attention to race, age, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, gender, family or parental status, or disability status.

Ready to join the Work.Life way? We’re excited to hear from you.

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