Fall Client Engage

ENG AGE TIMELY PROGRAMS & INSIGHTS FOR YOUR CAMPUS COMMUNITY

CULTIVATING A DIVERSE WORKPLACE

5 TRENDS THAT INSPIRED OUR FALL PROGRAMS

“EVERYONE AT THE TABLE”

We sat down with Swipe Out Hunger’s Rachel Sumekh and Marissa Nachman to talk about food insecurity

FALL 2020

REFLECTING ON CHANGE It’s no secret that we’ve all been in what seems like a continuous state of change this year. From how we do business to how we interact with our own friends and family, 2020 has required us to adapt in so many ways, through both personal and professional lenses. When I consider the year to date, it’s reminiscent of a quote I read years ago and one that’s always stuck with me: “Change is inevitable.

Change is constant.” – Benjamin Disraeli. It certainly rings truer now than ever.

Soon, we’ll see both fresh faces and returning ones on campus. This fall, Sodexo will come in with a changed perspective on community dining, new safety guidelines and parameters. We’ll collectively tackle this “new normal,” adjusting to different ways of interacting with university communities and delivering the value, appeal and excitement that they expect and deserve from their resident dining experience. In instances like these, I urge all involved parties to remember Benjamin Disraeli’s quote.

Recently, we also welcomed back Tom Post as CEO for Universities North

America. Mr. Post is a shining example of rising within Sodexo and adapting to changing conditions, beginning his career as a dish room employee and progressing to manager, director of food service, district manager, sales director, sales vice president, division vice president and president, leading up to today’s role as CEO. A warm “welcome back” to you, Tom. As you review the insights and information we’ve featured in this issue of Engage, I urge you to remember: We cannot fear change, for it is inevitable

and constant. I’ve urged our teams, and I urge you, to dive into something new this fall, while maintaining the positive attitude and willingness to adapt that students so desperately need to experience on campus. You just might be surprised — and delighted — at what you discover when you step outside your comfort zone.

Wishing you continued good health and safety this fall.

Wendi C. Gretz Vice President, Marketing

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Tom Post

CEO, Universities North America

TABLE OF CONTENTS >>

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Delivering Deliciousness 5 Trends that Inspired Our Fall Programs

“Everyone at the Table”

Sodexo Partner Swipe Out Hunger Invites Business Partners, Students and Advocates to Fight Food Insecurity Together

The Importance Of Employee Engagement Cultivating A Diverse Workplace Wall Of Fame

See a few of our favorite resident dining events from Sodexo-managed universities

Facilities Management in Focus: 4 Questions with Kevin Rettle, FMP­­­, Sodexo Universities

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Delivering Deliciousness 5 TRENDS THAT INSPIRED OUR FALL PROGRAMS This fall, Sodexo will launch Bonjour! Breakfast Boxes, a program through which students can place an order for breakfast brought right to their living space. We’ll also roll out snacktiME, a pop-up snack program with craving-satisfying street food favorites, and continue promoting other beloved programs, like Brunch (perfect for Homecoming celebrations), our revamped Simply To Go offering and more.

Check out five of the hottest trends that inspired our new programs and promotions, and that motivated existing program developments, too.

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Snackability Any time is snacktime for Gen Z. The lines continue to blur around what constitutes a meal for this cohort, but one thing is for certain: Convenient, filling options for on-the-go consumption reign supreme.

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Street Eats, Please Technomic’s new College and University Trend Report indicates that over 40 percent of Gen Z wants street food on menus.

Delivery Picks Up

3

Research shows that 80 percent of college students say they’re interested in delivery; 40 percent have already ordered something delivered from on-campus operations. Plus, the industry has seen an uptick in delivery as individuals reduce social interaction.

4

Specific to morning meals, some of the most popular fast-casual locations are seeing breakfast as their fastest growing delivery segment.

SODEXO PROGRAMS & PROMOTIONS

ALIGNED WITH THESE TRENDS

SnacktiME includes 12 pop-up street food/snack concepts to feature in the dining hall outside of traditional meal hours. Each concept touches a specific craving, so with pop-ups like “Wake Me Up,” “Comfort Me” and “Give Me Global,” university communities are sure to find exactly what they want – all in a delicious mini meal.

VEGGIE ME

Powered by our

SNACKTI M

Along with Gen Z’s love of both breakfast and convenience,

Health is Paramount

Despite their interest in quick options that suit their on-the-go lifestyles, healthy options are still crucial to Gen Zers. They look for organic, natural and free-from options while dining, and research shows that they’re more likely to be vegetarians.

Across the Globe + Elevated, Too

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International influences continue to impact the breakfast, brunch and snack scene. For example, Dunkin’s culinary team recently noted that it’s gravitating toward Asian flair, Middle Eastern spices and European and Latin flavors.

Breakfast is also getting dressed up, with options like a.m. salads, burritos, burgers and chicken sandwiches edging their way onto more menus.

Sources: https://www.qsrmagazine.com/menu-innovations/breakfast-sandwiches-take-over-fast-food; https://www.generalmillscf.com/industries/ restaurant/support-tool-categories/business-building-ideas/6-breakfast-trends-to-wake-up-your-menu-all-day; https://www.smartbrief.com/ original/2019/12/2020-vision-food-trends-will-impact-industry-year-ahead; https://www.restaurantdive.com/news/2020-is-the-year-ofthe-breakfast-wars/573551/; https://upserve.com/restaurant-insider/generation-z-new-food-trends/; https://www.foodservice-snacksdesserts.com/productsandbrands/industrynews/generationzsnacksdessertandfoodpreferences

the recent uptick in delivery services inspired this new program. Students can order a fresh breakfast box to be delivered right to their residence hall rooms. Watch for this program coming soon to your campus.

In case you missed it, our Simply to Go program got a makeover earlier this year, and we’re continuing to innovate and offer quick grab-and-go solutions for social distancing. Simply To Go features everything from bowls to parfait cups and re-heatable items, all made with the freshest seasonal produce.

BRUNCH IS BIG! Just to name a few instances, we’re encouraging campuses to deploy this beloved program for our Brunch ‘n’ Ballot activity during our Foodie Revolution core promotion, as well as during Homecoming to maximize program exposure for students and their families.

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“EVERYONE AT THE TABLE” Sodexo Partner Swipe Out Hunger Invites Business Partners, Students and Advocates to Fight Food Insecurity Together In fall 2019, Sodexo partnered with Swipe Out Hunger (SOH) to pilot Swipe Banks across 13 university campuses. The pilot did not follow Swipe Out Hunger’s flagship model in which students donate extra meal swipes; instead, two meals were donated per every mandatory meal plan sold so banks were populated upfront. As just one anecdote from California Lutheran University in Thousand Oaks, Calif., 300 meals were shared with students in need just shortly after the pilot launched.

We sat down with Rachel Sumekh, Founder and CEO, and Marissa Nachman, Vice President of Programs, to talk more about food insecurity across campuses and what university administrators need to know.

RACHEL SUMEKH

FOUNDER AND CEO

MARISSA NACHMAN

VICE PRESIDENT OF PROGRAMS

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AT-A-GLANCE: SWIPE OUT HUNGER’S FLAGSHIP PROGRAM, “THE SWIPE DRIVE” 1. Students donate extra meal swipes 2. Donated dollars move into a Swipe Fund 3. The Swipe Fund is used towards:

Campus Food Pantry

SODEXO PROGRAMS & PROMOTIONS Describe the support and resources universities receive from Swipe Out Hunger.

What are some questions you hear most often when starting a Swipe program at a campus?

begin by getting to know the staff at each site, understanding their infrastructure and the particulars of their dining program. Then, we support them with resources that are successful, sustainable and student-centric, as well as providing ongoing guidance and tools most appropriate for them.

Beyond resources for dining staff, we provide support to case managers who will connect students to available swipes, ID card teams to transfer those swipes to students, etc. Student interns are also a necessary resource, and we support them by providing materials with transparent, welcoming language and strategies to help market the program while reducing the stigma associated with food insecurity.

economics, e.g. “How do I decide who is eligible to receive meal swipes?” or “How do I financially structure this program?”

incredibly M: We’re relationship-driven; we

What do university administrators need to know about food insecurity?

About Swipe Out Hunger?

Out Hunger is not a R: Swipe one-size-fits-all tech solution, but a national network of tools and resources, supercharged by our work in authoring and sponsoring state and federal legislation to support food insecurity. We’ve integrated our solutions into a myriad of infrastructures and developed models that meet the needs of individual campuses.

TACKLING FOOD INSECURITY

questions we receive R: Many are around eligibility and

Concerning eligibility, we have many case studies that help administrators discern what might work best for their campus based on how other colleges and universities structure their programs.

Some campuses offer swipes to everyone who is Pell-eligible; others have more of a case-by-case basis and use our resources to create simple, two- or three-question forms that are sent out to students and reviewed by an on-site case manager, like the Dean of Students, a Food Pantry Director or another social services provider. Case managers will reach back out to the students, further discuss their needs and work with those responsible for loading meal swipes to students’ cards.

We also help campuses determine an appropriate financial arrangement, sharing with them the top seven ways our partners typically fund their programs.

Oftentimes, funding the meal swipe program will not come out of one department’s budget. Campuses can also put a cap in place after seeing what they can afford.

Ultimately, our program is inherently flexible, and we want our campus partners to know that there are options.

Our #RockTheBlock core promotion for the fall is a block party-themed event, featuring activities like Dunk N’ Donate, a dunk tank event for a good cause. We’ve provided suggestions on how to host a safe, socially-distant event, and recommend that students provide canned goods or monetary donations for a chance to sink a prominent campus administrator.

It’s vital that we support our friends and neighbors in COVID-19 relief efforts. In conjunction

with our two core promotions for the fall, #RockTheBlock and Foodie Revolution, we’re running the Spread the Joy Sweepstakes, in which 30 national student winners will receive a prize package that includes a $500 gift card to support their campus food pantry or a hungerrelated charity.

Our Foodie Revolution core promotion is all about voicing your choice for your culinary favorites. We’ve encouraged campuses to run a Create Your Own Commercial activity, in which students create a “home-grown” video commercial that promotes food security programming, healthy dining initiatives, etc.

Continued on next page >

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Your 2019 impact report detailed some amazing successes for Swipe Out Hunger in the 2018-2019 school year. Tell us about some of these accomplishments.

What obstacles exist in “swiping out hunger”? What is needed to overcome these obstacles? logistics, finances R: Currently, and prioritization are some of

saw many critical M: We attributes – ranging from

physical health to mental health and financial wellness to overall college experience – improve for students when their food insecurity was addressed. It really communicates that positive ripple effect that our programming has for the entire campus community. For example, more than 60 percent of students felt that their colleges “were more supportive of students like them [after receiving donated swipes].” Seventythree percent felt less stress and anxiety about where they’d get their next meal.

Through recent surveying, we’ve also uncovered that our program design is helping reduce the stigma associated with food insecurity. Students not only find it easy to access Swipe Out Hunger resources, but also feel comfortable using them. Fifty percent of students who utilize our meal share programs heard about them from friends. Whenever students are involved in program design and deployment (as they are in marketing our programs on campus), they identify opportunities to implement solutions — no stigmas attached.

the biggest obstacles. By that, I mean that parents and students touring campuses want to see the most stateof-the-art dining hall. However, what it costs to appeal to those individuals is often in competition with what it costs to successfully implement a meal share program. We believe that the cost of the programming should not fall solely on one department’s budget, but that federal and state governments need to provide more financial investment.

Swipe Out Hunger is not just an organization that teaches Universities how to implement our programs.

We know the cost is significant and budgets are tight, which is why we’re especially proud of our advocacy work and policy wins. We’re getting more dollars to fund meal vouchers, pantries and additional staff, and working with passionate organizations like Sodexo helps expand our reach.

We all take a seat at the table together — businesses, students, policymakers — to make this work. That’s how we drive real, meaningful change.

Learn more at swipehunger.org.

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SAN FRANCISCO STATE UNIVERSITY TESTIMONIAL Here’s what one student had to say about Sodexo’s Swipe Out Hunger involvement at their University: “It makes me feel supported and valued as a student.

It also is something I can rely on, even when times get hard.”

Read more student testimonials from SFSU at https://bit.ly/2UowCq8.

Swipe Out Hunger is continuing to do its part in COVID-19 relief efforts.

In addition to other efforts, Swipe Out Hunger launched a campaign this past spring to ensure emergency aid dollars were “distributed effectively, equitably and with transparency” to students most impacted.

THE IMPORTANCE OF

EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT

Engaged employees: Research shows that they’re more productive, easier to retain and that their work has a direct impact on profit margins. When organizations actively measure employee engagement and make efforts to improve it, there is no telling where the positive influence stops.

• Engaged

employees are 44% more productive than workers who merely feel satisfied (Bain & Company).

• Organizations with higher-than-average employee engagement have been known to exceed the financial performance of their peers by 73% (University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School).

• Customers are willing to pay 16% more for convenience and friendliness (PwC).

17 DRIVERS

One software company that specializes in employee engagement and related resources has identified the top 17 drivers of employee engagement, many of which directly relate to our fall programs and promotions.

AUTONOMY FAIRNESS

COWORKER RELATIONSHIPS

CAPACITY

FEEDBACK

GOAL SUPPORT

SODEXO PROGRAMS & PROMOTIONS ADDRESSING

KEY EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT DRIVERS We provide employee engagement tips in our Start-Up Guides for promotions, giving managers actionable tips to engage employees. For example, we’ve encouraged them to provide positive reinforcement to employees who share feedback and score sample dishes using the E-A-T method (execution, appearance, taste) during our Foodie Revolution core promotion, which is all about “voicing your choice.”

AUTONOMY

FEEDBACK

RELATIONSHIP WITH MANAGER

I f campuses choose to host our Singin’ Under The Stars karaoke night during our #RockTheBlock promotion, we encourage teams to ask musically-talented employees to join in the fun. It’s a great way for them to relax while still engaging students and other attendees.

REST

AUTONOMY

THANKSGIVING! e encourage campuses W to cross-plan our THX : ) For Making My Day engagement program with our Holidays & Celebrations, like Thanksgiving, and core promotion of #RockTheBlock. From coloring a “thank you” hand PURPOSE turkey for the holiday season to creating #YouRock signage to present to their favorite Sodexo employee (social distance required), there’s no shortage of opportunities to honor those who proudly serve our customers.

HAPPY

CREATE YOUR THX :) MESSAGE HERE AND SHARE

I want to say THX to

LEADER AVAILABILITY

LEADER INTEGRITY

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT PURPOSE REST

ROLE CLARITY

MEANING

PSYCHOLOGICAL SAFETY

RELATIONSHIP WITH MANAGER

SHARED VALUES

UTILIZATION

And wish them and their entire family a HAPPY THANKSGIV ING! Take a picture with your favorite employee and post it to tinyurl.com/VoteNowTH X and share on social media with #THXGIVING

Sources: https://emplify.com/blog/14-drivers-employee-engagement/ https://emplify.com/blog/employee-engagement-stats-2020/

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CULTIVATING A DIVERSE WORKPLACE Adapted from Sodexo’s “Why Diversity Shows Up in Profit Margins & How to Make it Happen,” January 2020

Just 21 percent of senior management roles are held by women.

Even with the spotlight firmly fixed on equality in the workplace, a recent figure from Equipleap shows that businesses worldwide haven’t made significant progress.

So, what’s the sticking point? Sunil Nayak, CEO Corporate Services Worldwide, Sodexo, says: “We know that most companies recognize the importance of being diverse and inclusive. But many of them struggle to weave it into their organizational fabric.”

If a better work culture isn’t enough of an incentive, we know that a gender-balanced workplace can also increase performance. Diverse teams give an organization a world view, making it more sensitive to customer needs and expectations on a global scale.

In an extensive survey involving 50,000 Sodexo managers across 70 business entities worldwide, we found that performance improved with a 40-60 percent female workforce. With this kind of gender balance, we scored better on five parameters: 1. Operating Margins 2. Employee Retention 3. Client Retention 4. Safety 5. Employee Engagement McKinsey & Company’s latest study, “Delivering Through Diversity,” backs this up. It showed that companies ranking in the top quarter for gender diversity were 21 percent more likely to see above-average profitability than those in the bottom quarter.

Diversity and Inclusion – What It Means to Give Everyone a Voice “Showing diversity in hiring is just half the work done,” says Sunil. “Every person should feel valued by the organization.” Many people representing diversity have had the experience of feeling like a check on a box, rather than a contributing member of the team.

First Step: Make it a Leadership Priority Leadership is the starting point for developing a genuine and effective equal-opportunities culture. “My own journey with gender diversity started many years ago when I had one of the first interactions with my global CEO. He asked me, ‘Do the women in Sodexo India have equal opportunities?’

This question was as important to him as our business performance. Now I know it’s a question that every CEO should be asking.”

For Sunil, leaders play a crucial role in “walking the talk.” Like a celebrity lending weight to a social campaign, the words and actions of leaders have a profound effect on the way their employees think. Once it’s a priority, turning it into action is the next critical hurdle.

The Cornerstone of Equality: Equal Pay Another startling figure from Equileap shows that women worldwide are still paid 23 percent less than men. Equal pay is the cornerstone to equality; it should not be glossed

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over. It should be the first element thoroughly reviewed when a company is undertaking a diversity and inclusion effort.

Sunil recalls: “A few years ago, I hired a female employee into a senior role. The headhunting agency suggested that we didn’t need to offer her a salary at the market rate because she’d been on a sabbatical for the last two years to raise her child. I refused and ensured that she was paid the market rate. We don’t want pay gaps.”

On-the-Ground Details: How to Make Diversity a Reality It’s not enough for leaders to just provide strategic direction; they must play an active role, too. One way Sodexo has turned this vision into a reality, and directly involved senior leadership, is by turning them into mentors and sponsors, setting an example for others to follow. We have five dimensions for diversity – gender, LGBTQ+, disability, culture and origins, and generation – and executive sponsors for each one, with multiple networks across the globe.

Leaders can give their time for one-onone interaction, show up for events or even make simple changes that have a big effect, such as making an office space more accessible for someone with a disability.

Create a Talent Pipeline and See the Results “My own experience at Sodexo has shown that this works,” says Sunil.

“Years ago, we realized that we didn’t have enough women leaders. We wanted to change this, so we created a mentoring program with support and development opportunities for women coming into the organization. This has given us a ‘pipeline’ of women ready to take on leadership roles.”

Today at Sodexo, 54 percent of our board members and 32 percent of our leaders are women. This is proof that our efforts are paying off.

SODEXO PROGRAMS & PROMOTIONS

SUPPORTING DIVERSITY & INCLUSION

If You Can’t Measure It, You Can’t Manage It

In addition to Sodexo’s ability to offer clients D&I speakers’ series, summits and more, we continue to connect cultural diversity with food programming.

Another important step is to link diversity and inclusion results to business results. Having a strategy with measurable targets helps keep everyone focused on diversity and inclusion, showing that your business is going beyond the feel-good factor.

In the End… Sunil knows how to give credit where credit is due: “I must credit my wife, who makes sure I’m inclusive in all my actions and words, not only at work but also at home. I feel proud to be part of a company that values and practices its deep conviction to create a truly diverse and equal working environment.”

We encourage campuses to engage Dining Services employees and customers through programs like Cityscapes (a coast-to-coast program of America’s favorite dishes), Exotic Eats in the Streets (a street food program with global flair) and Let’s Dish (where students submit their favorite recipes from home). Telling their personal stories, celebrating their uniqueness and serving food from the areas they’re from makes the customer experience authentic and special.

Ways to Create Diversity and Inclusion in the Workplace L eaders should “walk the talk” – be active, visible and engaged

Our new Kitchen Cameos program invites visiting chefs to visit campuses, sharing KITCHEN their unique experiences and dishes with campus communities. Plus, Sodexo’s Global Chef program brings twelve chefs from around the world to different Sodexo locations annually, with the goal to share their authentic native cuisine and culture with our customers and teams.

C reate mentoring programs that support women and other under-represented groups in leadership roles

BIG TALENT. BOLD

H ave a diversity and inclusion strategy with targets that can be measured

LESS FUN.

FLAVORS. BOUND

ng Chef

Our Featured Visiti

F oster a culture of inclusion where every employee feels valued W ork with and learn from others – partners, clients and suppliers

Sources: https://www.catalyst.org/research/gen-z-future-workforce/; https://www.surveymonkey.com/curiosity/trying-to-recruit-gen-z-focus-on-di/ *Equileap is a leading provider of data on gender equality in the corporate workplace. Figures are quoted from its Gender Equality Global Report and Ranking 2019.

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It’s important to us to celebrate the incredible work our universities do when deploying resident dining promotions.

Here’s a look at just some of the promotional events and activities worthy of this fall’s Wall of Fame!

ICY & SPICY @ DRAKE UNIVERSITY Drake University students in Des Moines, Iowa, enjoyed a flavor-packed adventure during our Icy & Spicy promotion, pairing spicy foods with chilled ones for an ultimate flavor fusion. They decorated aprons for a chance to win flex dollars, and the Dining Services staff wore them during the event. Menu features included everything from spicy sriracha grilled cheese to snow cones.

ARE WE THERE YET? @ BINGHAMTON UNIVERSITY Binghamton University customers enjoyed a global food fest during Are We There Yet?, a promotion inspired by global culinary journeys. Students traveled around C4 Dining Hall, exploring the flavors of China, Australia, Chile, France and Israel without ever leaving their New York campus.

#PICTUREPERFECTPLATES @ GRACELAND UNIVERSITY Check out these picture-perfect smoothie bowls from Graceland University in Lamoni, Iowa! Students got creative during our #PicturePerfectPlates resident dining promotion, using healthy, delicious ingredients like dried mango, crunchy granola and banana chips to build their signature, Instagram-worthy creations.

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STEP RIGHT UP @ BRIDGEWATER STATE UNIVERSITY Our Step Right Up carnival promotion brought county fair flair to two resident dining locations, which featured dough boys, homemade cheesecake and other confections. The events also triggered remarkable social media growth; a Facebook like or Instagram follow qualified students to win prizes like dining dollars and free food, and the University saw a social media growth increase of over 10 percent!

STEP RIGHT UP @ LIMESTONE COLLEGE Look at all the Step Right Up carnival promotion fun in South Carolina! Several departments joined Limestone’s carnival event and sponsored games and prizes outside the dining hall.

After games, students enjoyed cotton candy, a popcorn bar, corn dogs, salt and vinegar fries, sausage with peppers and onions and more.

VALENTINE’S DAY @ THE UNIVERSITY OF IDAHO Valentine’s Day for Vandals Dining was full of decadent treats, ranging from a pink “cocoa-cream” chocolate fountain to gluten-free strawberry-stuffed marshmallows. Campus partners in attendance included violence prevention services, therapy dogs and student health services. Students also enjoyed a selfie station and raised funds for the University of Idaho Women’s Center. Great job!

CITYSCAPES: NEW YORK @ UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS BOSTON To encourage student involvement in the planning of monthly resident dining events, UMass Boston asked students to vote on the city from which they’d like to try new food. Over 180 students chose New York from our Cityscapes promotional lineup, so the Dining Services Department put on an amazing event featuring studentselected themed music, pastrami on rye, New York-style cheesecake and more.

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FACILITIES MANAGEMENT

IN F CUS 4 Questions With Kevin Rettle, FMP, Sodexo Universities

Kevin Rettle, FMP, is the head of research and offer design for Sodexo’s global Universities market.

His team is responsible for understanding present and future academic drivers and the intersection of service architecture, and composing offers that increase the performance outcomes of university populations. Kevin is a proven thought leader on the future of student engagement and the built environment’s impact on the performance of students, faculty and staff. His role includes the application of experience design principles to develop environments and experiences that foster engagement, well-being and academic performance.

Q: What FM services does Sodexo offer to Universities clients?

offers a full range of plant operations, building A: Sodexo operations and technical maintenance, project management,

and construction to our clients and prospects. Service lines include all the typical trades – plumbing, electrical, general maintenance; to cleaning, painting, carpentry; and remote building monitoring, roof management, steam generation and water distribution. We also have a set of solutions that support landscaping and athletic field management.

Q: What innovations are transforming FM solutions?

is building offers and services with built-in A: Sodexo advancements in green chemicals, lower water usage

processes and work management efficiencies. We are also aligning our operational plans with the deployment of building information management systems and sensing technologies.

Building Automation is having a strong influence on our ability to manage HVAC more effectively and purchase energy at better costs on behalf of our clients. Drones are also helping us to do visual inspections of high-risk areas such as rooftops and high-story glass.

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Early digital innovations in the FM space focused largely on robotics and mechanizing typically manual processes; and while they offered step-change improvements, many of these technologies were hard to prove sustaining value. Imagine the “autonomous” floor scrubber that required an operator with a remote 50 feet behind it. Not many locations that deployed this showed better quality or cost savings. But a new day has dawned. Ushered in by open source code, lower cost of hardware, broader coverage and lower cost of cellular Wi-Fi, and market demand for real-time data-driven operations and capital planning, IoT (Internet of Things) is leading the charge in the FM innovation.

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Today, we can put a vibration monitor on a fan in a cooling tower in Tampa, Florida, monitor it in Youngstown, Ohio, and dispatch a service technician BEFORE it critically fails. We can also build a stream of real-time data to drive predictive maintenance strategies. Further, we can have this installed, configured and providing data in less than a day!

This is a clear demonstration of real value creation with sensing technology.

But it is important to note that Sodexo does not simply deploy this type of technology for the sake of being novel.

There is a clear proposition linked to our ability to steward our clients’ assets certainly in a more efficient way, but also more strategically. Guaranteeing up-time, supporting capital plans and extending the life of assets and systems allow for other investments to be made on campus. These are all higher-order activities that our clients and prospects are expecting, and the market at-large is moving quickly to supply that demand.

Other big areas of digital FM innovation focus on BIM (Building Information Management System) optimization by using machine learning and predictive analytics, predictive utility expense management and mobile-first enablement of our managerial systems and tools.

Q: How do trends in

education affect space usage and design?

of our institutions today are A: Many looking more and more at how they

can use space more efficiently.

Multi-purpose, co-working and cocollaborative are design themes we hear every day. Further, we are seeing a push to create spaces that welcome in the surrounding community into the campus in a more tangible, purposeful way. Movie theaters, sport arenas and re-imagined student unions are good examples of this concept. These efforts are designed to strengthen town and gown relationships and demonstrate the institution’s commitment to mutual success in the community.

Sodexo has long been reporting on the trend of hybrid space. Universities are executing on this concept in some non-traditional (for the average U.S. campus) ways. Examples include fitness centers in the residence halls, food and beverage points of service in heavy

traffic academic spaces, rest zones/ pods distributed throughout campus and wellness centers that focus on the whole student, not just one component— bringing physical, mental and emotional health all under one roof.

Q: What changes in FM are

increasing sustainability for University clients?

are several key drivers A: There and outcomes in the market that

are helping to increase sustainable campuses. At the forefront are societal challenges such as climate adaptation, energy efficiency, sustainable development and green growth – for which the facilities management profession can develop unique solutions with positive contributions and tailor value propositions at the organizational level with societal-level effects. It is wellknown that buildings are responsible for approximately 40 percent of the total energy consumption and one-third of greenhouse gas emissions, and thus we are seeing an emergence of the following trends:

TOP TRENDS The LIVING BUILDING is becoming an affordable reality. In the coming months and years, buildings will make their own energy, whether through solar panels, wind energy or other types of renewable energy.

Taking the Living Building a step further are WASTE-FREE BUILDINGS, which not only produce their own electricity but create minimal waste.

ELLBEING (WELL) BUILDINGS W that are good for the body are one of the hottest trends in facilities management. These “Well Buildings” utilize low VOC paints; furnishings and carpeting made from natural, non-toxic materials; whole-building air and water filtration systems; the maximum amount of natural light; and spaces that are ergonomically designed.

SODEXO PROGRAMS & PROMOTIONS

HIGHLIGHTING FACILITIES MANAGEMENT We’ve carefully constructed our promotional activities for the fall, providing safety and cleaning guidelines to augment campus’ individual policies and procedures. For example, during our #RockTheBlock promotion, we suggest that games are played at an appropriate social distance, and all equipment be properly sanitized and only touched by the player/participant (like bean bags for cornhole).

Campuses are strongly encouraged to celebrate Facilities Management (FM)-related observances with special events and dining offers, like International Housekeeping Week and National Preparedness Month in September, National Custodial Worker Day in October and America Recycles Day in November.

In a recent study we fielded with the Association of College and University Housing Officers-International, lighting retrofits, co-generation of energy, energy audits, infrastructure renewal and new net zero facilities were the top five projects universities identified to undertake.

Check out an FM case study from Northwest Nazarene University at https://bit.ly/2MTIQDa

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Lifestyle Tips

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Our Bite app tells you what’s on the menu today at our dining locations – what’s for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Know what the specials are and never miss one of our great events. Customize your filters to make managing your diet easier.

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