GROUP EFFORT

Liz Benison, the CEO of ISS UK and Ireland,

In2021 Liz Benison was appointed the UK and Ireland CEO of ISS, reporting directly to Jacob Aarup-Andersen, ISS Group CEO. As we were in the midst of the pandemic and in person meetings weren’t viable, she went to see ISS’ London Canary Wharf o ices to get a sense of ‘place’.

Given that the global facilities management and workplace experience business’ mission statement is to ‘provide placemaking solutions that contribute to better business performance’ this underlines her appreciation of the role of the workplace.

It also belies the fact that she came into FM from a tech and service outsourcing background. With a degree in production engineering and management, her experience in the technology sector, included roles at DXC Technology, Capgemini and Ford Motor Company, before moving to Serco as Divisional CEO.

She explains: “About 10 years ago I fell out of love with tech for tech sake – and I got the opportunity to go to Serco. The experience was brilliant, working with what we now know as ‘placemakers’ out in the field. I found it more satisfying a ecting real change in behaviours and creating jobs for people who wouldn’t normally have opportunities, so I made the decision that tech was over for me and I was going to stay in that field.”

Prior to being appointed ISS UK and Ireland CEO she was Managing Director at Arriva Group. Her recruitment from outside the sector was part of ISS Group’s strategy to find a fitting person to run their biggest market following a few disruptive years, who could bring a fresh perspective, build a new team and take the business forward.

She explains: “The three challenges I was given were: improve our utilisation of technology, introduce more innovation as clients felt they wanted to be challenged and made to think, and the third was around data and how it needs to be better utilised to drive insights. The more I got into the topics though, I realised these are industry-wide issues, and all areas we can fix through strategy.”

THE ONEISS STRATEGY

ISS announced the OneISS new operating model in December 2020, just a few months before Benison’s appointment, which is a strategy to sharpen its focus on key segments, accelerate technology investments and introduce a new globally aligned operating model.

The goal says Benison: “Is to be the global leader in IFS (integrated facilities services) by focusing on market segments we have influence on, and for a limited number of services where we think we can be exceptional.

“It’s not being everything to everyone and showing up in the same way in every market. Jacob [AarupAndersen] talks about force multipliers – so that’s at the heart, how do we get to be the leader in IFS in the segments that we want to be?

“There are three additional ambitions to that, and the first is being the global company of belonging. The amazing thing we do for more than 350,000 people across the world is being the di erence for them of a life in poverty and those first steps in the ladder of a job that could become a career.

“We want to be very intentional in the way we bring that to life, by making sure that is part of everyone’s experience when they come here. This is why we’ve launched a value proposition which is all about ‘a place to be you’ and bringing our D&I agenda to life.”

This includes investing in training opportunities for employees to get an externally recognised qualification and embracing societal values – for instance a commitment to o ering more than 100,000 placemakers and/or their family members a recognised qualification by the end of 2025. This requires working with organisations that share these values and explaining to customers and suppliers why a living wage and a sustainable supply chain is important.

Says Benison: “If it comes to the point where we don’t think our values can converge we’ll take some tough decisions when qualifying new business, evaluating suppliers and so on. We don’t want to be the company that talks about all this and doesn’t do anything. We want to be measured on the actions that we deliver. It’s early days but it’s a massively important part of the agenda.”

The Group also plans to “leapfrog the sector on tech” which includes putting everything in the cloud to reduce costs and o er more agility. Two tech centres have been opened in Poland and Porto in Portugal that support ISS’ focus on building and bringing its own tech talent into the business. This o ers the advantage of both generating its own tech and quickly bolting in new technology from the market when needed.

Benison explains the last part of the strategy is around sustainability: “We’re asking ourselves ‘what are we doing in 2023 to move the dial?’ It’s very straightforward, we’ll go to market through market segments so if we want to be number one in banking what thought leadership do we need to be able to generate? Do we need to employ people from the banking sector who learn about FM? We’ll then deliver services that are standardised and consistent wherever you go, so if you’re a global customer it will look and feel the same.

“What will help pay for those things is to have a very e icient back o ice. Coming from a di erent sector I’ve noticed the FM industry is quite far behind but it’s improving and using tech will be a massive help in having a data-led rather than instinct-led conversation, which is much more powerful.”

WORTH THE COMMUTE?

When contemplating the future of the workplace, Benison believes the industry doesn’t yet have the magic answer to the challenges of changed working patterns, but it is making progress. She’s keen to use its showcase HQ in Canary Wharf as a test bed on ways of attracting people back into the workplace. This included the creation of an optimised workspace with a 40 per cent desk reduction, and an increase in meeting and collaboration space of 90 per cent. Along with a more sustainable environment, a series of themed events, such as wellbeing, learning, charity and inclusion have been introduced and the Group is utilising the latest workplace technology including an ISS Workplace Experience App.

ways spaces are being used and advise the customer on what’s working and what is not.

“The combination of the data and the tech is allowing us to put options to customers, which range from very easy to do and fairly low impact, all the way through to some quite di icult decisions. Most clients are shying away from controversial changes but as we’re renewing contracts we’re ensuring agility for the future.

“We are on the cusp of the workforce changing, it’s becoming a majority millennial workforce, and we will have to be agile as we move through these generational shi s.”

We’re asking ourselves ‘what are we doing in 2023 to move the dial?’ It’s very straightforward, we’ll go to market through market segments so if we want to be number one in banking what thought leadership do we need to be able to generate? Do we need to employ people from the banking sector who learn about FM? We’ll then deliver services that are standardised and consistent wherever you go, so if you’re a global customer it will look and feel the same.

“The prize is, all these initiatives can be data driven,” says Benison. “IOT data can tell us for instance when too few people are utilising a particular space and we can then come up with proposals on what can be done with it, from mothballing to repurposing it. For some of our customers we’ve also installed ‘floor hosts’ who examine the di erent

PEOPLE-LED BUSINESS

FM is primarily a peopleled business, and within the sector there is a growing concern in ensuring there is the right talent for the job, from front line operatives to the next generation of management.

Says Benison: “Like the rest of the industry we’re having to work a lot harder to recruit. This is why we’re a doing complete revamp on the way we hire our ‘placemakers’ and how they are onboarded.

“ISS is looking at a range of innovations, including a programme that brings people in from the military for their first role in civilian life. We also aim to be more e icient in getting job o ers in and aim to onboard new recruits as quickly as possible, from getting them the tech and uniforms they require, to streamlining right to work checks.”

When it comes to job progression says Benison: “We’ve got to make it easy to progress for those that want it and always treat our people with dignity, which means being paid correctly and on time. We’re also introducing initiatives like financial wellbeing programmes, for if we can equip people with information on how they’re being paid, what this deduction is and so on, they can then make more informed choices.”

On the management side, ISS is going through a transformation process with its back o ice and has hired some new talent from the competition and from outside the sector. Along with the refurbished London o ices the group has also invested in its Stoke and Bolton workspaces which o er flexible, sustainable spaces that promote wellbeing.

Says Benison: “We know the workplace is important to our people as well. The power of ISS is that we’ve 350,000 people working across sectors and around the world and if they interact with 10 people on a daily basis, and we can make any of those interactions intentional, then the reach that we have is immense.

“As an example, one of our floor hosts in professional services, noticed a partner throwing her co ee cup into the wrong bin. The placemaker has a decision to make, does she just wait until the partner’s le or challenge her, which she did so in a lovely way. The partner asked her to come in and talk to her leadership team on supporting sustainability both at work and at home. Encouraging 350,000 people to do this every day is the mission we’re on.”

Driving Change In Fm

Moving into the FM sector in 2021, Benison witnessed the important role it took during the pandemic, where ISS was intrinsic to the setting up of the Nightingale Hospitals. She believes FM has a window of opportunity in utilising its higher profile. Hailing from a consultancy background she also pinpoints FM’s USP.

“Advisory companies can’t e ect change but FM can bring ideas to life. We have an advisory o ering around energy management for example, and can tap into the building management systems of an estate and give advice on the ways that an organisation could save money on energy.

“Customers will value that but the unique bit is that we can then make it happen for them as well, through our skilled engineers ensuring all the infrastructure of the building is tuned to deliver on that strategy. We can then refer to our placemakers who are on the ground and can see if despite all the fancy stu being done there is still a guy who keeps opening his window.

“This means we’re in on the thought leadership process from the beginning and all the way through. That to me is what is exciting about this sector because on the really big agenda topics like diversity and inclusion, to sustainability I think we’re almost uniquely positioned to make a di erence.

“FM has been too subservient before and grateful to be included in big conversations and what I’m hearing now is ‘pull up to the table beside us and give us your ideas’.”