Maincontracting

Maincontracting is regarded by an increasing number of organizations as an alternative to providing and managing FM services themselves. This especially applies for countries where, from a financial perspective, it is not beneficial to retain local FM staff.

This powerpoint-presentation provides a comprehensive overview of the characteristics, the advantages and disadvantages of maincontracting.

Marketing of facility services

Customer focus and customer satisfaction are two terms that (fortunately) are getting more and more attention from facility management professionals. In addition to 'just' delivering the desired services in the desired manner, customer satisfaction could be supported by the use of internal marketing tools.

This document provides some background information regarding the marketing of facility services (in Dutch).

Service standards

The (internal) customer should be made aware of the level of quality that he/she can expect from the facility services. Quality norms provide the customer with a tool to evaluate his/her satisfaction with the performed services. A facility management department could use quality norms to manage customer satisfaction.

This document can be used to communicate quality norms to the customer.

Continuity of Business (COB)

Increasingly, companies use a COB plan to ensure the continuity of service to their customers in case of emergencies. The facility management department should evaluate the COB Plan to determine its applicability and completeness.

This document can be used to evaluate a COB Plan.

No-smoking policy

On January 1, 2004, the modified (Dutch) Tobacco law came into effect. As of that date, employees have the right to a smoke-free work environment. The employer is, by law, obligated to guarantee to non-smoking employees that they can work in such an environment. A violation of the law could result in a fine for the employer, ranging from € 300 to € 2.400. The employee (or visitor of an office) can file a complaint with the 'Keuringsdienst van Waren'. It is therefore important that companies and organizations implement a no-smoking policy.

You can download an example of a no-smoking policy here (in Dutch).