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PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to address the knowledge gap on the use of benchmarking techniques as utilized by facilities management (FM) professionals for the purpose of identifying means to improve industry benchmarking practices and guide the direction of future FM benchmarking research.Design/methodology/approachData were collected through surveying 585 FM practitioners representing various countries, organization sizes, types, industries. The data were summarized and analyzed through creating frequency tables, charts, and cross-tabulations. The survey results were compared to a previously published study on benchmarking use to identify the similarities and differences between benchmarking for FM functions vs core business functions.FindingsThe findings indicate that while FM-oriented benchmarking has been adopted at similar levels as other industries, FM-oriented benchmarking tends to be simplistic, lacks a strategic position in the company, often relies upon self-report survey data, is often performed by an individual with no formal benchmarking team and does not utilize process benchmarking or benchmarking networks. These findings emphasize the need for benchmarking education, advocacy for FM as a strategic business partner, the development of verified data sources and networks specifically for the unique greater facilities management field functions.Practical implicationsThese findings provide needed data on the state of FM practitioner use of benchmarking specifically for FM functions in North America. The results can be used as an assessment for the industry, to improve practitioner use and knowledge, and to identify further avenues for academic study.Originality/valueThe value of this study lies in filling in identified knowledge gaps on how FM practitioners are using benchmarking in practice. These data are absent from the research literature and offer the potential to help bridge the academic-practitioner divide to ensure that future research will focus on addressing practitioner needs for the industry.

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Operational staffing is an ongoing concern for the built environment industries. The proper staffing of maintenance personnel at hospital facilities to ensure optimal operations in the event of emergencies and disasters is an issue that has been the focus of continuing research. While a fair amount of scholarship has been dedicated to healthcare staffing in hospitals, such as nursing, there is a lack of research on identifying proper staffing for facility management related professions in hospital facilities. Numerous utilization metrics, such as admissions, and facility metrics, such as Gross Square Feet (GSF), have been proposed as potential predictive measures for making staffing allocations. This study was conducted to identify predictors of maintenance Full Time Equivalents (FTEs) using publicly published data by the Washington State Department of Health. A linear regression was performed on maintenance FTEs at these healthcare facilities using the predictor variables, GSF, admissions, available beds, and Plant, Property, & Equipment (PPE), R2 = .625, F (3,84) = 46.59, p = .000. This research suggests that benchmarking efforts can be supplemented through regularly published hospital data to utilize a wide variety of predictor variables. Future research should focus on developing models that can be applied at a national level.

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