Q. Could you give us an insight into your journey of over 25 years as an FM professional in this industry?
My first job was with Taj Hotels in 1995 as an assistant housekeeper. In 1999, I joined a company called Cleantec which later went on to get acquired by ISS Facility Services in 2005. At that stage, facility management (FM) was at a very nascent phase in India. It was more oriented toward basic cleaning and upkeep of spaces only. After the 2000s, though, as more MNCs came to India and the whole concept of IT parks and business complexes picked up, facility management commenced its transformation toward a larger scope.
I then moved on to Technique Control Facility Management (TCFM) in 2021, where I took on the country head role.
Today, we are leaders in the industry and cater to a wider set of demands, from housekeeping and technical equipment maintenance to sustainability and social equity. As CAFM (Computer Assisted Facility Management) and ESG (Environmental, Social & Governance) further become a norm of importance for real estate development, our role as the FM has become more crucial than ever.
Q. What factors have fuelled your growth in the facility management industry?
As the industry grew tremendously during the 2000s, a need for skilled and trained professionals also became rampant. This fuelled my own interest in contributing to the upskilling and development of people as a resource. While operations were always my forte of work, I also took on other roles in L&D, and became responsible for upskilling and developing over 55,000 employees. Today at TCFM we employ over 9000 professionals pan-India. My primary agenda is to ensure these people find a prosperous career at our organisation and develop their skills to contribute to the sector’s growth.
Q. Despite a somewhat recent increase in awareness, large FM corporations have still struggled to close their existing gender gaps. What are your thoughts on the same?
When we look at the FM industry, on the whole, it is quite evident that the nature of the job, location presence, and skillsets required are not often suitable for women. Many times, the locations are remote, the timings are round the clock, the tasks require more manual intervention, etc. At TCFM, we strive to deploy women staff wherever possible, but never at the risk of their safety. Our primary goal is always to ensure that our staff has a comfortable, safe, secure work environment. When this is so, women also find more solace in pursuing their jobs in this field. These are some of the challenges that are an obstacle to achieving gender-neutrality in this industry. It is becoming much better though.
Q. Could you expound on some of the key innovations in this segment?
We currently have over 12 sets of tools under a platform called E-Spectrum. These tools assist all three layers of FM, from the ground and supervisory teams, all the way to executive leadership. Among the many features and advantages, these tools primarily enable a digitised management of operations in a completely remote and real-time ecosystem. A facility manager with multiple teams and geographies under his portfolio can use these tools and monitor operations from a central location, thus easing his ability to deliver the numerous tasks in FM. These tools are also integrated into IoT and the cloud to deliver reports and analytics. This further adds value to the system by allowing a data-centric pursuit to facility management.
Q. What are the initiatives taken to support local communities and youth?
One of the biggest challenges we face as the industry itself is attrition. However, by employing people from the local and surrounding communities and providing them with career development paths, we have made significant contributions to our community also.
One of our most recent initiatives was the launch of an NSDC-certified FM Skilling program. We provide certification training to the students who have passed out of our CSR-sponsored government school, currently assisting over 1.2 lakh students from over 120 schools in Karnataka. Upon completion of their course, they get placements at TCFM and are groomed and trained to take on managerial roles in the future. We already have over 50 such students who are currently working with us and earning jobs more than minimum wages.