Redactive Publishing Ltd 17 Britton Street, London EC1M 5TP 020 7880 6200 www.fm-world.co.uk EDITORIAL Tel: 020 7880 6229 email: editorial@fm-world.co.uk editor: Cathy Hayward ⁄ news editors: Louisa Roberts and David Arminas ⁄ sub editor: James Richards ⁄ assistant editor: Natalie Li ⁄art director: Mark Parry ⁄ art editor: Daniel Swainsbury ⁄ picture editor: Sam Kesteven
CATHY HAYWARD EDITOR COMMENT
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he novelty factor of being at work after the festive break has worn off. You know you’ve got at least another two to three months of going home in rain, wind and probably snow (not to mention the dark) before either the weather starts to cheer up or you’ve clocked up enough annual leave to take a week away. And on top of that, talk everywhere is of job losses and budget cuts. It’s no wonder that mid-January is the most depressing time of year. Traditionally, the start of the year was a time when many of us start looking for a new job. With the idea that the grass must be greener elsewhere, we start polishing up our CVs and our LinkedIn profiles, visiting recruitment consultants and making a real effort to go to industry events to network with our peers (and possibly find out about that unadvertised role). But it seems that this year is different. Job security is becoming increasingly important to facilities managers and many would prefer to stay in their current roles to ride out the recession (even at the expense of moving to a more challenging, interesting and well-paid job where you take the risk of being subject to a ‘last in first out’ policy if things go wrong). Facilities professionals would prefer to have any reasonable job at a reasonable salary rather than no job at all. That was the main message from this year’s FM World Salary Survey research, sponsored this year by FM recruiters Catch 22, which is included as a separate supplement with this issue of FM World. While salary remains, unsurprisingly, the key motivator, pay packets have stayed the same this year for more than a third of FMs with those that did receive a pay rise tending to get one of between 1 and 2 per cent – a worsening of the 2009 position and a world away from the generous pay rises reported in the 2007 and 2008 research. There are reasons to be gloomy although the new year does offer the prospect of a fresh start and better times. But if you were waiting for the first sign of the snowdrops poking through the frozen earth to cheer you up, you may have to think again. Derby Council has announced plans to grass over its award-winning flowerbeds in a bid to save £70,000 on plants and maintenance costs (page 8) and other councils will no doubt follow suit. It’s the 21st century equivalent of bricking up windows to avoid paying taxes – and just as depressing. As FMs we play a key role in motivating the rest of the workforce, especially in tough times. While large-scale and budget-breaking plans might be out of the window for now for many of us, small, low-cost gestures can make a big difference in making people feel a little bit more motivated on a grey January day. Workplace expert Nigel Oseland recommends offering people a free warm drink and a slice of cake or a biscuit after they’ve struggled into the office. “The evolutionary psychs say we like to gather around watering holes,” he says (page 12). A bowl of free fruit at tea points or in workplace kitchens is another idea for those still on new year detoxes, or perhaps, giving out bowls of steaming soup and crusty bread when the weather is really bad – especially if you don’t have a canteen on site, so people don’t have to leave the office and brave the elements. Even with really small budgets, there are ways to keep spirits up – at least until February. FM
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“A BOWL OF FREE FRUIT IN WORKPLACE KITCHENS IS AN IDEA FOR THOSE STILL ON NEW YEAR DETOXES”
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