As building operators rely more on data to guide workplace space decisions, changes in how space gets used happen more often, requiring more frequent moves and additions that could create hassle without an on-site team to manage, says facilities concierge company Flockheart.
Against that backdrop, handing off some office management responsibilities to a concierge-style facilities partner is one way facility managers can improve tenant experience, lower costs and reduce the burden from frequent changes, according to the company.
“It could be a breakdown of the office [or] they hired a new employee [or] they need a whole office set up for them,” Matthew Negron, vice president of sales at Flockheart, said in an interview. “They might be decommissioning a whole wing of the building. And we also manage their warehouse.”
Negron said Flockheart provides full-time site management to healthcare campuses, corporate offices and commercial facilities. Work includes moving furniture, handling on-site logistics and managing maintenance. It also includes having signage done, putting up decorations during holidays, and undertaking regular maintenance tasks like dusting, having carpets cleaned and touching up paint.
If a company stands up a new facility, Negron said, Flockheart will install its own person or team to manage the facility on the company’s behalf and work with it to set up operating procedures. “We’ll actually document everything,” Negron said. “We’ll make sure that our partners are servicing it so that when the executive team is walking around they’re happy.”
The concierge model is gaining traction as office operators view the workplace as a curated experience, a report by CBRE and Technology Architecture Design indicates.
When the space is treated as a curated experience, that can mean restacking projects that aim to revitalize office environments to better serve employees and businesses are happening on an almost yearly basis – if not a monthly basis – rather than every three or five years, Negron said.
Also adding to the need for agility is the widespread use of sensor data, which facility managers are using to learn how space is being used to optimize building systems. “So there’s more of a need to have someone on-site consistently,” Negron said.
In addition to front-of-house management, Flockheart provides technical support and maintenance for back-end systems. “Our goal is really to map out the entire building, understand everything that needs maintenance and do preventative maintenance throughout the year to ensure it’s done well,” he said.
When it comes to breaking down or decommissioning a space, the company can ease transitions and limit waste, Negron said. “Maybe [another office] needs that piece of furniture, and we can get it out. So it means there's less waste,” he said. “We're being cost conscious. If we can sell it, we'll also sell it for them too. So there's a lot of things that we offer within our own organization, and then we have partners to help facilitate that too.”
The concierge team can take pressure off managers in another way, by handling problems when things go wrong, he said. “If a CEO is visiting a facility and they get stuck in the elevator and it takes them four hours to get out, someone’s going to get in trouble,” he said. “Let us take on that burden of having all that stuff done.”
