The facilities management industry has been a place that's good for everyone. The slow and steady growth seemed guaranteed, and there was a well-known operating model for how to win. But the good times are over.

Active Workplace Solutions worked with online facilities management resource and insights provider i-FM to survey FM practitioners on the key issues, needs and opportunities they face today. The research provided some interesting insights.

Received wisdom says that open plan offices are good for both employer and employee because they promote face-to-face collaborative working and, as a result, help harness creativity and improve teamwork.

SMEs continue to be undervalued and under-represented in FM. But they offer numerous benefits and it’s high time we offered them more support to enter and stay in the supply chain.

Choice is a wonderful thing. Maybe not so much in the 57-varieties American-inspired overload that quickly becomes baffling. But more in the sense of having a few clear options, one of which should lead to satisfaction.

Lately, there has been loads of copy dedicated to a very specific cohort of the workforce, namely millennials: their personalities, their requirements, what they’ll bring to the workforce and what employers shouldn’t expect from them.

The FM sector has a lot to gain by employing ex-armed forces personnel. But, the process of moving into a civilian role can be difficult. The Armed Forces Covenant ensures that those who have served are given a chance and treated fairly.

For the FM industry to drive innovation and deliver the superior performance customers demand, we must lead a radical overhaul of FM service supply chains, says Andrew Wood.

FM has historically been about assisting organisations by delivering services that reduce bottom-line costs, helping to make them as profitable as they can be. But that business model has the seeds of problems within it.

Retail centres are feeling the squeeze as customers place an ever higher value on their shopping experience. Paul Thrupp argues that the time is ripe for FM to step in as a central component to reviving the retail sector.

I've been reading the IWFM's ISIG white paper 'Contracts across Borders'. There are some great insights in it from some very knowledgeable people, but also an inescapable sense of déjà vu and a bit of disappointment.

UK productivity rates are below par; we all know that.  But as one more ‘why & what to do about it’ survey lands on our newsdesk, we can’t help but wonder: why don’t all the proffered solutions get implemented, thus delivering huge gains for the nation?