Last week I had a chance to meet with front line staff from the East Bank. They had good questions and we had a productive discussion. Several folks asked about FM Service and were concerned about their lowered headcount. We fully intend to keep FM Service. They offer a valuable skill set to the University. Here’s what folks have been asking both in last week’s meeting and as I see them around campus.
Are FM Service numbers low?
FM Service is currently not as large as it has been in the past. FM Service has changed over the last few years and its staff numbers have varied between 45 to 160. There are two factors that contribute the most to these changes; the time of the year and the number of customer requests. In general terms, October through March are low staffing times while the remainder of the year typically has increased numbers. This makes sense because we get work done while the campus is less occupied and we have easier access to the facilities.
What trends do you see with customer requests?
In our current University situation, departments are not spending money as they normally have. Much like our budgets at home, departments are delaying projects whenever possible, until they know their FY10 budget.
FM Service is a non supported Internal Service Organization ( ISO); which means they pay their way by charging a client for the services they provide. This is different from the districts which are funded from the University’s cost pools. So when the customer requests increase, the number of staff in FM Service increases to meet the need.
Over the last few months, FM Districts have filled some of this gap by hiring FM Service to help manage their backlog. The Districts are a customer and are charged by FM Service for work performed. The districts do not have the budget to continue purchasing services as they had in the past.
Is FM sending more work to outside contractors?
Our general response to customer needs is to use FM staff. However, FM has always used contractors to augment our workforce. This happens when the demand is urgent, our crews are already scheduled, or a project requires either specialty skills or warranty work. Comparing FY 08 to FY 09 we’ve increased work contracted out by less than 1%.
If outside contractors cost more per hour, why use them?
For any given hour of work, our staff are cheaper. However, for a short-term urgent need, it may be less expensive to hire a contractor rather than to add to our on-going staffing levels. Again, we may also select a contractor who brings specialized skills or for work where we’d like a warranty.
Does FM Service have the flexibility to meet customer needs?
We still have the flexibility to deal with changing work requests and emergency situations, however good customer service is not provided with changes to schedules and staffing. We can not routinely pull people off of scheduled projects. While the person who gets an immediate response is happy, the customer whose job is delayed is not.
FM Service is now being more planful of its work as we pro-actively manage staffing based on anticipated workload. This effort takes place weekly where we meet with FM supervisors and General Foreman to review workloads in the system, other work that we know is in the pipeline, and any other factors that will help set appropriate staffing levels for the coming weeks.
I appreciate the chance to talk with folks. The difficult part of this conversation is that while FM Service staffing levels reflect current demand, they don’t account for the budget cuts we will need to absorb. Governor Pawlenty said the State’s deficit may reach $7 billion. While the numbers will not be comforting, we will share them with you when we know what FM’s FY10 budget will be.
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