Challenges of an Estate Facility Officer

The task of facility officer in an estate is one that is yet to be well known in Nigeria and other developing societies in the world.

With so many changes in the global economy, changes in technology, company mergers, and general changes in the way that twenty-first-century businesses operate, the role of facility officer has become increasingly difficult. Facility officers are expected to do more with less, be available 24/7, as well as increasing profitability to their firms. As you can see this is a difficult task, which for the most part is going to fail due to the unrealistic expectations placed upon these professionals or semi professionals as some call them.

But that’s not the bone of contention today. What I want to drop in our sub-conscious today are the challenges of a facility officer in estates.

1. Operational Visibility – Many facilities managers are held responsible for the bottom line so have to keep a close eye on expenses associated with maintenance programs. This can be so hectic when you have to negotiate with prices of all items listed and also you have to monitor the person you contracted when carrying out the said job.
2. Workload – The typical facilities manager want to take a very hands-on approach, but due to the high demands on their time from their superiors, somethings will ultimately give. Modern FMs are expected to track every penny being spent, monitor the progress of each job, as well as being available around the clock to deal with those not so fun after hours and emergency calls.
3. Lost family time: After hours and emergency calls ruin your evenings and weekends and often prevent you from doing things that you would like to, like spending time with family and friends. This is the time that you can never get back, so don’t let it get away from you. Make a change today. Often time at night let say 10 pm I still get calls from resident to attend to their complaints even in the church.
4. Isolation Being a facility manager is an extremely tough job which is not for the faint of heart. A lot of the time it can feel like you are on an island where it is you against the rest of the world. This is not fun for anyone and is something that we try to avoid when possible by being your partner and having your back.  At my present site, I hardly see anybody to talk to, to me it is so dull and not exciting place to work. This gradually reduces my passion for Job.
5. Service Charge Enforcement and Collection. This is one of the most difficult aspects when we are talking about facility management. If it happens, you are posted to an estate where the cooperation bond among the resident are not in a solid state there is bound to be a problem as regards to service charge enforcement and collections. When these service charges are not paid, it will affect the overall work in the estate and also affect the salaries of the workers in the estate, of course you know when they are not paid; work will not be so effective in that particular estate.

I still believe Facility Management companies in Nigeria aren’t doing enough to create a workable environment for staffs in this industry, neither do we expect residents or site user i.e. stake holders to have any consideration when it comes to setting out expectations or key performance expectations.

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