Director Lucy Hayes gains her CIPD Level 5 Diploma in People Management

When Q3 was formed in 2018, Lucy joined the embryo business as Bid Director. However, it very quickly became apparent that a HR function was needed to ensure Q3 fulfilled its commitment to becoming a true, people employer, in line with its values.

Lucy decided to take on the challenge of leading the HR function and embark on a complete change of career direction. Few people knew this, but Lucy’s first job straight out of school had been in HR, and her passion for all things HR remained. So, deciding on this career change was very much a return to her original calling.

With Q3 at such a critical time in its development, HR was key to the company’s future growth and success. To make it work, Lucy reached out across the business and pulled on every bit of resource, advice, and guidance she could, attending seminars and networking events and riding a very steep learning curve.

To enhance her role, in 2020 Lucy enrolled at the City of Bristol College to embark on her CIPD level 3 qualification, which she passed with flying colours and went straight into her CIPD Level 5 Diploma in People Management. On Saturday, 19th November, she formally graduated at a ceremony held at Bristol Cathedral.

This is a great achievement. Not only was Lucy undertaking this qualification during the Covid pandemic, but she was also home schooling her 12-year-old son whilst juggling a full-time job, studying for the diploma, and being a mum.

Commenting on her graduation, Lucy said, “I could not have accomplished this without the support of Martyn, Lian, Stuart and Alex and everyone at Q3 who supported me during this time. The biggest thanks go to my partner Pete, who continued to push me even when things got tough, my sister Verity who distracted me when distractions were needed and my absolute shining star Harry (my son), who understood the sacrifice I was making when I had to work all week and study all weekend.

“It is my intention to continue to level 7 but first I’m going to give myself a year off, to concentrate on implementing all that I’ve learned into Q3 and to continue to make Q3 a great place to be.”

Another integrated FM contract added to the Q3 portfolio

Q3 has secured a three-year, integrated FM contract with the health and employability specialists Maximus, covering over 280 locations across the UK. The contract comes with an option to extend for two years.

Maximus is a specialist service organisation that works with public and private sector clients, assisting individuals into employment, providing access to support, and helping people remain healthy in their workplace and community.

This is a first-generation outsourcing programme and Q3 went to lengths to ensure that they fully appreciated the needs of this diverse organisation before proposing an innovative solution that would satisfy its expectations. This included the introduction of a dedicated, self-service help desk and cutting-edge CAFM system.

Commenting on the contract award, Richard Piggin, Facilities Management Director at Maximus, said: “Maximus operates nationally across 280 locations, and we feel with Q3 we have found a facilities provider that can support our needs. It was important to engage an FM supplier that aligned with our cultural and social values and provided a bespoke solution that supported and enhanced our daily activities.”

Martyn Freeman, CEO of Q3, said: “We are delighted that Q3 is able to work with such a like-minded organisation as Maximus, and look forward to a long and successful relationship.”

Q3’s new sustainable initiative for redundant IT equipment

Q3 has started working with the Turing Trust on a recycling programme for all the company’s old and unwanted IT kit.

The Turing Trust was set up by the great nephew of Alan Turing, the famous mathematician, computer scientist, and cryptanalyst, who worked at Bletchley Park. The project honours his legacy by providing computers to those who need them most.

The Trust takes unwanted company PCs and laptops, as well as monitors, peripherals, tablets, mobile phones and cameras and refurbishes them in its Edinburgh workshops, before shipping them to schools and communities in sub-Saharan Africa.

So far, over 7,000 pieces of tech have been reconfigured and distributed by the organisation in this way, not only reducing the environmental impact caused by junking old machines, but also benefiting the educations of tens of thousands of students and school children in Africa.

The Turing Trust has a rigorous process for removing all sensitive data from the equipment, ensuring data security and GDPR are not compromised when the equipment is reissued. There is also an environmental benefit because equipping just one classroom with 20 reused PCs, saves 6 tonnes of CO2 – the equivalent of planting 14 trees. This offsetting arrangement is something Q3 will be incorporating into our own CO2 emissions reporting and will ultimately contribute towards Q3 achieving its net zero target.

Q3 will be looking to integrate the Turing Trust capability into its waste offer to our clients and, and as soon as we can organise the logistics, we will offer the facility to staff for recycling their own, personal IT equipment.

Q3 Services secures a three-year contract with The Square, Camberley

Q3 Services has secured a three-year contract with The Square, Camberley’s leading retail shopping centre.

The Square, with around 100 national and independent retailers, spans 480,000sq ft at the heart of the town centre which has also recently benefited from a £355m regeneration programme.

Commencing September 1st, Q3 will be providing security, cleaning and other soft FM services across The Square, as part of a three-year deal that will employ up to 20 people, 24/7, including a full-time, on-site manager.

Commenting on this latest contract, Q3’s CEO, Martyn Freeman, said: “This is a great win for Q3, which serves to strengthen both our presence within the retail shopping centre market and our involvement with local authorities, as well as increasing our security services footprint in the UK.”

Rhoda Joseph, Centre Manager, said: “We have built a strong team ethic here at The Square and with all the site enhancements reaching completion, we are looking forward to working with Q3 to take The Square to the next level as a premier shopping destination in the Surrey, Hampshire and Berkshire catchment area.”

Mark Hazelwood appointed Managing Director of Q3’s new IFM business

 

We are pleased to announce the appointment of Mark Hazelwood as Managing Director of Q3’s new Integrated Facilities Management (IFM) business.

Since its inception four years ago, Q3 has taken a radically different approach to the provision of IFM services. Recognising that each client’s needs are unique, the company has created a bespoke services model for each new client, built from the ground up and tailored to meet their specific requirements. Mark has been instrumental in translating this original IFM vision and strategy into reality, working with existing clients to successfully prove the model’s viability and value.

With Q3 mobilising another new IFM contract in September, the time is now right for Mark to spearhead the future development of this important element of Q3’s service proposition.

Q3 believes that client organisations wishing to focus on their own growth and development would benefit enormously from the Q3 model, because it frees resource and removes the distraction created when clients try to manage the non-core, but nevertheless important, activities. Q3 has the experience and confidence to take ownership for running the properties, delivering a robust and compliant FM service, achieving savings, and creating better workplaces for colleagues.

Commenting on his appointment, Mark said: “I am excited about this latest development at Q3. With my background in both FM Operations and IT, I feel well placed to blend the essential ingredients that make this unique type of IFM contract succeed – compliance, value, CSR and technology. Technology is the key element that will transform Integrated FM into Intelligent FM, making our service personalised and demand driven, not off-the-shelf.”

CEO Martyn Freeman muses whether big is always best when clients select a service provider

The trend towards BIG FM continues apace in the UK, driven by market consolidation. It’s involved some big and famous names, including Interserve’s acquisition by Mitie in 2020 and Atlas FM acquiring Salisbury Group earlier this year. And, like some Disney cartoon of big fish being swallowed by even bigger fish, Atalian acquired Servest (2018) and Incentive (2022), before very recently being gobbled up together with OCS, by Clayton, Dubilier and Rice. In the FM space, so often criticised for its race to the bottom mentality, it now seems the race is to see who can grow biggest, fastest.

It’s natural to want to grow a business and for a public company there are undoubted rewards to being a strong, market leader. Unfortunately, this generates endless pressure to deliver growth because directors must create shareholder value to survive. There are a number of ways to generate that shareholder value: by increasing turnover (organic growth), improving margin (efficiency and productivity), or increasingly, through mergers and acquisition (M&A) because the first two have become much tougher to achieve.

M&A offers the benefit of instantly increasing turnover and market share as well as providing short-term, cost reduction opportunities. However, consolidation in a mature market can often be a symptom of the existence of underlying issues. Acquisitions can buy time, create some breathing space to resolve problems and provide the illusion of progress. In private companies there is also this desire to grow, and although the motivations are slightly different, the same options apply in terms of how to get there.

M&A is attractive right now because, if you are a big FM organisation chasing organic growth in today’s market, you face a big challenge. The FM market in the UK is estimated to be in the region of £60bn and growing steadily if you believe predictions. Yet, when I look at the tenders coming through, I see very little new to the market, outsourcing business. I can’t remember the last time an in-house service delivery team TUPE transferred to a contractor. And the impact of the pandemic has meant that companies are shrinking their office portfolios, with sectors like retail and hospitality experiencing severe cutback and closures. So, the big players are chasing market share in a fairly static, mature market which makes it difficult for them to achieve growth without compromising margin.

As a big FM company develops, the new business focus gravitates towards a certain type of big client – those operating multiple buildings in multiple locations or across several countries. Big FM companies have evolved their growth strategy by focusing on big ticket, high value opportunities and playing on the international or global stage, delivering a comprehensive range of integrated services in a one-stop shop. Certain FM players such as Mitie, Sodexo, Compass and ISS and even the property specialists CBRE and JLL, all do this extremely well and have aligned their offer to meet the complex needs of these clients and their large portfolios.

Why? You only have to look at the maths. Take for example, a medium-sized FM company with a £1bn turnover, which is looking to grow by 10%. Assuming a win rate of one-in-four, they would have to quote £400m of work to secure the necessary £100m they need. Of course, there will be attrition across their existing contracts, so actually, to grow 10% they may have to quote £600m or more to achieve their goal. These are big numbers, and they aren’t going to realise their ambitions by quoting dozens of small value contracts because they simply don’t have the resource to manage it. Big company overheads, keen pricing and smaller margins, also make the smaller contracts less viable. So, the bigger the company grows, the hungrier it gets, reinforcing the need for more big wins to stay big.

For these super players, the Pareto principle applies, whereby 80% of their business ends up coming from 20% of their clients and retaining and extending these valuable contracts occupies everyone’s working hours. Conversely, it presents a challenge for the organisation to manage the remaining 80% and provide the same attention and service quality as for the key clients. Sadly, they can’t succeed at both ends of the spectrum and my experience is that the bigger and more important the contracts become to the P&L, the greater the fallout at the small-end client level.

When FM companies reach this scale, it’s fair to say that they can often struggle to understand or satisfy the needs of a client with a smaller portfolio, or even a single building. They become a bit too rigid and inflexible in their approach, to adapt to the specific, and sometimes idiosyncratic needs of the smaller client. On the large contracts, a client-side manager is sitting somewhere in charge, reviewing massive data from the contractor incorporating facts, figures and trends, against various SLAs and KPIs. The client with the more modest portfolio doesn’t crave this sophisticated visibility, or data for data’s sake. They are looking simply for the ability to build strong working relationship with a high level of personal communication and work with a team that is flexible, adaptable and actually delivers.

This is a sector of the market where SME providers like Q3 are now able to demonstrate their value to clients and actually enjoy a competitive advantage over the bigger players. Indeed, while the larger companies have been seeking growth amongst larger contracts and internationally, where SMEs have zero chance of competing, they have been losing market share to the smaller players in their own back yard.

I believe that this hierarchical arrangement is now an established part of the evolution of the FM industry in the UK, where big will look after big and small look after small. A situation of horses for courses.

This situation is dynamic of course. If an SME continues to be successful in the £1m-£5m contract range, it will soon reach a level of scale where it too must figure out how to continue its upward trajectory without losing the inherent flexibility and personal level of customer care that brought its success in the first place. I was recently confronted by this conundrum by a prospective client when pitching for their business, when they asked directly, “When does a boutique FM company stop being boutique?”

It’s a good question and we recognise that there is a dilemma. At Q3, we address this by striving to grow a sustainable business, both through our financial model and our corporate values. The values though, are far more important than the financial results. So, each day we continue to remind ourselves what our core values are and how to live them. That way, as we grow, they are embedded in everything we do and right across all our teams. This is the number one item on the Board agenda as well as the business units’ agendas. We’re even looking to appoint a values ambassador to promote and instil the values into our existing teams and new contract start-ups.

Area Manager Gitana Sultangarejeva is recognised for the contribution she is making in her new role

Gitana Sultangarejeva, who works on the London Borough of Redbridge contract, was recently presented with a Shining Star award by her manager Chris Finch.

Chris nominated Gitana for the award and explained why, “Since Gitana was promoted, I was thrilled with the way she got straight down to business. She went around introducing herself, not only to cleaners, but to clients as well and clearly set out her intentions to all parties. Communication has improved across the contract, answering clients’ questions concisely and never promising anything she could not deliver. Our cleaners trust her and are happy to work with her.

“Although she previously received no formal training, she has taken to management like duck to a water, I can rely on Gitana to undertake any requests I give her and can trust her to carry them out efficiently and in a manageable timeframe. People really like her and it’s a testament to her nature. She is a fantastic manager, and I would like for her to be recognised for the impact she has made in just six months in the role.”

One of the three pillars of Q3, is Quality People. We certainly have a quality person in Gitana – well done on your step up into management. A rising star as well as a Shining Star!

Paul Baker examines the 2022 property conundrum and explains how Guide Dogs has responded

After many years working in the financial sector, with senior roles spanning operations and property, Paul Baker has transferred his skills and experience to the challenges of two very different organisations. He is currently Chairman of Q3 Services, having been a founder and original investor, as well being a Trustee of the Guide Dogs charity.

It was in his capacity as Trustee of Guide Dogs that he wrote the following article, describing the charity’s experience of dealing with the disruption caused by Covid and the formulation of the return-to-work strategy. The article was originally reproduced in the Civil Society’s Governance and Leadership publication, in May 2022.

Whether in a charity or a business, we are all reviewing our organisational model to ensure it remains fit for purpose to support changing work patterns post-Covid. The spectrum of challenges that this presents to leadership is similar, regardless of sector.

This article focuses on the impacts of these challenges upon the location and physical presence strategies at Guide Dogs, where I am a trustee.

Before the pandemic, working from home or remotely was predominantly convenience driven, usually under a banner of “flexible working” where arrangements mostly suited a staff member’s non-work commitments or a business need. Moreover, a growing societal drive for a better work-life balance and greater nurturing of our mental health was also gaining traction in terms of influencing operating models and strategies.

Notwithstanding this, the norm remained for most work activity to be conducted on-site or in theoffice, with process, systems, policy and physical presence all set to support this well recognised and successful organisation model. For example, at Guide Dogs, our day-to-day operating model (excluding the volunteer network) was exactly this, relying on full-time office workers with static dedicated desks. There was minimal remote working and despite a good level of flexible contracts, these were also mainly office based.

Then came the pandemic, and almost overnight our long-established models were turned upside down as lockdowns drove a large proportion of workers away from the office. All sectors responded brilliantly, with deep-rooted systems, policies and processes quickly broken down and rebuilt to support remote working. Arguably, this has been so successful that far more work can now be carried out away from the office and it is clear that many workers want this to remain as standard.

It also led to a proliferation of workforce surveys over the last year or so, most of which seem to be landing in roughly the same place. The consensus seems to be that around three-quarters of employees across all sectors prefer to work from home at least one day a week and ideally two days. Similarly, three-quarters believe that remote working gives them the best work-life balance, andnearly a fifth don’t want to return to the office at all. Indeed, many potential employees and staff will now only consider those employers that provide the most flexible working arrangements. This is particularly so in the younger age groups – the future workforce population that we all rely upon.

That said, there is also evidence across all sectors that plenty of senior leaders would prefer most staff to return to the office full time. Against this background, a clear conundrum now presents itself. All organisations must now consider the balance and extent to which staff will return to the workplace, at what pace and on what basis and cost. For instance, what percentage of staff will continue to work from home with only
occasional visits to the office, versus those returning full time to the office, or those having new hybrid arrangements? At the same time, leaders must consider the economics of returning to previous models; can we still afford it if business demand has dropped, costs have risen, or income
has fallen?

These workplace drivers and cost dynamics all demand that leadership teams and boards must consider carefully how they line up their location and physical presence to support changing organisational models. We cannot ignore the need to map out new paths that not only capture the best of what we had, but also encompass the new learnings and preferences of our teams.

Lessons at Guide Dogs

At Guide Dogs, we are alive to these challenges and opportunities, and have seen some common themes and indicators emerge as we have planned forward and begun to implement changes.

Our technologies were adapted quickly and have worked well in supporting remote working. This has helped to maintain staff engagement and morale which, while variable at times in line with the ups and downs of lockdowns, has held up overall – aided by a sharp focus upon regular staff communications. A hybrid model of working has emerged as the clear favourite by those who are able to work remotely, and encouraging staff to return to the office has not always been easy.

Interestingly, we have seen some absenteeism reduce, and some staff have reported higher productivity as a result of fewer interruptions and less time wasted commuting. While some report better mental health with less stress as work and family conflicts have reduced, for others these
stresses have been exacerbated. Examples include those who may be in unsuitable housing for work, such as flat shares; those with pre-school children; or those simply missing face-to-face interactions. What is abundantly clear is that there is no one-size-fits-all solution.

In making our own operating model changes, we have discussed in some detail the impact of these indicators and preferences. For example, whether, if staff were always working from home, at some point might the disadvantages of working remotely start to exceed the advantages? In particular, the potential impacts eventually of more staff feeling isolated, having less connection with others, and feeling more distanced from the charity and its culture. Accordingly, we have determined a need to ensure that as we change, we maintain the team ethos and ability to develop ourselves and our teams in ways that promote collaboration, and sharing of knowledge and expertise – while also allowing our leadership to maintain influence.

How have we responded?

Quite early on in the pandemic, as some of our buildings became virtually empty, we took the decision to ramp up our strategy for some rationalisation. This encompassed our National Centre near Leamington Spa, our central and community centre in Reading, our regional centres and a smaller number of community sites.

We have had a particular goal of moving to a freehold estate, with buildings that have much more open space for the dogs to be trained and prepared for their partnerships. We also needed more drop-off areas as dogs are brought to the centres by our volunteers each day now, rather than being partly boarded on site as they were for many years. Previously, while the National Centre was already a modern and effective space, some of our other buildings and interiors were tired, limited by older dog-boarding spaces, small meeting rooms with dedicated desks, and centrally-defined ways of working. These workspaces and furnishings were past their best and not as welcoming as we needed them to be to encourage staff and volunteers back.

Since the pandemic began, we have completely revamped our centres in Bristol and Exeter, merged our central office and local operations into one site at Reading, and are progressing plans for the sale of a big centre in the middle of Leamington Spa and the transfer of those activities into the National Centre. We are also on-site at Leeds and Redbridge, and in the process of buying and selling several freeholds.

The London office lease expires at the end of this year and we will have to relocate. Finding a new home in central London is not easy but we have one in our sights.

Our new post-Covid designs focus upon more collaborative spaces that we hope will prove attractive to our teams. We have used staff, volunteer and lived-experience feedback to make sure our offices will be far more accessible for staff and visitors with sight loss. They are also now less cramped, leaving room for office zones or neighbourhoods for people to work more flexibly. Furniture has been replaced and lockers for all staff are back in vogue. Moreover, we are including new facilities such as kitchens and familiarisation zones, which we use to support children and young people with sight loss to be more confident and independent.

We have moved to a point where most office-based staff are now required to be on-site at least two days a week. As you walk around our offices you will see more colour, more evidence of the brand, examples of project work, and nearly everyone hot-desking. There is also much more space for dogs. The environment is more modular so that local staff can change things around more easily and showcase their great work. Finally, the meeting rooms are now more able to cope with a hybrid mix of attendees, some in person and some on screen. These are supported by more breakout areas for staff to relax and socialise.

Clearly, this has come at a cost but as trustees we believe it is money well spent, since whatever we might think of the future, we can be certain that post-Covid it will be nothing like the past. At Guide Dogs, we believe we have hit the ground running and have used lockdown, a time when we could not deliver all our services, to set ourselves up better for what is now our absolute focus: to reduce our waiting lists and support even more people with sight loss.

Q3 and Chelsea Harbour have reached the final three of the PfM Partnership Awards

Q3 and Chelsea Harbour have reached the final three in the SME category of the PfM Partnership Awards 2022.

Facing some stiff opposition, in a year which PfM confirms has seen record numbers of entries, the partnership now faces a site visit from the competition judges later this month, as part of the process to select the outright winner.

During the visit, the judges will have the opportunity to tour the facility and ask some tough questions of both the client and Q3 representatives on site. The outcome will only be revealed at the Awards Dinner at The Brewery in London on 2nd November 2022.

Chelsea Harbour is a very different kind of FM contract, incorporating a diverse variety of functions, including the largest interior
design retail and trade centre in Europe, retail space featuring 120 showrooms, 160,000 sq. ft. of office space let to over 100 independent businesses, a five-star hotel, 80 berth marina, car parking for 1,000+ cars and 310 exclusive residential apartments.

It’s an exciting time for everyone involved, as they prepare for the judges’ visit.

Paul Courtney joins Q3 to focus on Quality People

We welcome Paul Courtney to Q3 in a new role, as HR Advisor.

Paul has spent the past 15 years working within the education sector for a national training provider, which offered a range of apprenticeships across different sectors.

Paul worked within the organisation’s Learning and Development department, guiding and supporting new and existing employees, and has spent the last 15 months working in a more general HR role.

He joins Q3 to support and strengthen the HR function, following the organisation’s recent organic growth, and diversification as a result of the Newtons Group acquisition.

Commenting on his appointment, Paul said, “One of Q3’s Values is ‘Quality People’ and this is a great opportunity for me to use my previous experience to help the company recruit and develop the talent it needs to achieve its future ambitions.”