After moving to a purpose-built UK head office in Leicester in 2007, the facilities management team at Office Depot was aware that different sites had become used to operating independently and had different requirements in terms of their ongoing maintenance and management. By finding synergies and putting in place standardised, company-wide systems, the company knew it would be possible to drive efficiencies and, in some instances, improve the customer experience.
To succeed in sharing best practice in a lasting and meaningful way, the company realised that it would be necessary to engage people at every level of the organisation. It would also be important to have a good eye for detail because getting the small stuff right can help to involve and motivate the workforce by helping each person to understand how they can play their part in supporting the changes that the business is making.
However, the starting point for change has to be a broad-brush and strategic one. In the case of Office Depot, the desire for change was rooted in a shared vision of the business as a leading force in the global office supplies marketplace — a modern, well-run business, with world-class processes, structured to succeed in an increasingly competitive marketplace.
A centralised outlook
Many businesses and public sector organisations are adopting or have already adopted a centralised approach to managing back office services, including areas like procurement and service contracts, with the aim of improving efficiency. Office Depot’s expertise in helping organisations to achieve this is now being put to good use within its own business.
Case study
One area of facilities management that has changed irrevocably over the past year is Office Depot’s reception service.
The 12-strong team of receptionists is spread across five sites and until 12 months ago, none of them had ever met. They worked independently and were employed on a site-by-site basis by the local customer services team.
In a drive to develop a world class reception team, the FM team reviewed front-of-house services and subsequently made recommendations to raise standards and share best practice.
Today, the receptionists report directly to the FM team and they have embarked on a skills development programme to ensure that customers receive the same high quality welcome no matter which Office Depot site they are visiting. Working as one team, the receptionists also have their own uniform to give a more consistent and professional image and new computer-aided systems for booking meeting rooms and managing visitor attendance have also been introduced.
In many ways the reception area is a microcosm of the office environment as a whole — a well-run reception speaks volumes for the business and the way it operates.
To increase consistency and improve overall efficiency, Office Depot decided to introduce a centralised FM helpdesk, as well as service level agreements, to measure the success of the new system in responding to workplace needs. All facilities-related issues were to be reported via email to the new helpdesk. They would be issued with a reference number by way of acknowledgement and recorded on a database. The launch of the helpdesk service was communicated to all employees by an internal communications campaign.
Today, the helpdesk service is considered a valuable management tool that ensures all employees are kept fully up to date with any requests that are made to improve or maintain workplace facilities. The system has introduced greater visibility, so individuals responsible for raising issues can immediately see the action that is being taken by the FM team.
By adopting a more responsive, centralised approach, the team is helping to spread understanding of its function and the role it plays in driving environmental performance and energy efficiency.
As well as looking after the repair and maintenance of office areas, the team is responsible for managing all soft service and utility contracts.
Among the criteria used when awarding these contracts, the company typically specifies a single point of contact in the form of a key account manager and agrees the number of visits to take place each year. The company’s expectations about the minimum level of service are also shared up front with the service provider — for example, if one of the office vending machines breaks down at any site, it must be fixed within four hours; upon failure of this, the vendor must provide an alternative solution.
Tender review
In a bid to improve efficiency and standardisation across the business, the team has reviewed and updated the tendering process for all its existing contracts. For example, the team decided to use a national cleaning contractor to provide cleaning services at all the company’s sites, but knew it would be important to ensure that the contractor fully understood the scale of the work required before tendering for the job. To address this, the prospective contractor was invited to visit each location to ‘walk through’ the specific requirements at each location. By sharing detailed information from the outset, the company has been able to minimise the risk of disputes arising and put in place service contracts that are efficient and have been structured in such a way that they will last for many years. Critically, contractors have said that they value this approach and it has led to the development of closer supplier partnerships.
Sustainability focus
Driving sustainability is a core part of Office Depot’s business strategy and introducing environmentally friendly solutions can, of course, help to reduce costs too.
Over the past 12 months, the organisation has introduced a company-wide carbon reduction programme, including the installation of a hi-tech remote energy monitoring system. The system allows the team to monitor energy consumption on a half-hourly basis, identifying patterns of usage as well as unexpected peaks in demand. This information is used to inform management teams and, in some cases, has led to changes in working practices as a result.
The centralised team is also testing a variety of sustainability initiatives, including a water conservation project at the company’s Leicester head office that uses grey water supplies to wash liveried vehicles and flush workplace toilets. Lighting systems are also being reviewed and the company is considering investing in white LED lighting, which is more energy efficient and could help to further reduce the carbon footprint of the business.
A key role of the team is to stay abreast of the latest technologies and, where appropriate, to trial and quantify the benefits they could bring to the business.
To maximise the benefits brought by any corporate change programme, it is important to ensure that everyone is involved, at every level of the organisation. The key is to make each employee aware of their role and how they can become an agent of change.
One area where this approach has proved particularly successful is an initiative to minimise waste and reduce the costs associated with landfill.
Following a successful single site trial, the company has recently completed the roll-out of an innovative project to encourage employees to recycle more of the waste generated in their work space. Each employee is responsible for segregating their own waste and depositing it at their nearest workplace recycling point. Work station bins are no longer used and instead, recycling points have a range of bins for the collection of cardboard, plastic bottles, cans and paper recycling, both confidential and non-confidential.
To support take-up of the initiative and win the support of employees, a communications campaign called ‘Bin the Bin’ was used, which included eye-catching flyers, articles in the internal newsletter, The Insider, and more detailed intranet-based communication explaining the cost savings and other benefits that will be achieved by implementing the initiative.
Spreading the word
Culturally, the team has found that communicating pro-actively and openly with employees has had another welcome reaction. Increased understanding about the role of the team and its contribution to the business has encouraged employees to come forward with their own ideas.
Since making changes to FM practices and sharing more information, there has been a steady flow of facilities management ideas from employees, raised through the company’s ‘Fresh Ideas’ programme. All ideas relating to facilities management are considered and their potential cost and/or environmental benefits assessed, and in some instances, positive changes have been introduced.
