What are the major transformations you have seen in the IFM (Integrated Facilities Management) industry over the years?
The IFM industry has evolved tremendously over the past 20 plus years. What was approached as contract management or outsourcing activity has shifted to partnerships and strategic alliances. Businesses have accepted that it makes more sense to engage with professionals for functions that are not their core business, especially FM since it requires a scientific approach. While traditional FM construed only basic services like housekeeping, technical and security, today it is all integrated to form IFM (Integrated Facilities Management) and contributes to diverse components such as asset lifecycle enhancement, employee experience and ESG among others.
How has TCFM scaled itself to meet the demands of modern Real Estate?
TCFM was incorporated in 1995 in Hungary to provide technical services to the logistics industry, especially for refrigeration. We then diversified through our technical capability to address the demands of commercial and industrial real estate. In 2011, TCFM entered the Indian sector as a partner for Nokia. In 2016, the Embassy Group acquired the firm and integrated soft services and other components to its offerings, thus becoming a future-ready IFM firm. Today, TCFM is among the fastest-growing IFM organisations a PAN India presence and 8000+ professionals carrying strong expertise in the Soft and Technical services domains. Currently, our focus is on building a technologically empowered workforce, skilled and equipped to deliver global standards of IFM.
The availability of skilled manpower and their retention have been the major challenge for the sector. Please share your views.
Yes, it is sadly a fact. Often, the IFM industry is perceived as having a tough and rudimentary nature of work. Therefore, not many look at it as a career nurturing industry. This is despite it being among the biggest employment providers in the country. As an industry thought leader, one of our goals is to change this. We want IFM to become a career choice for our youth. As a first step, we have started our own FM skilling programme that provides the Embassy Group CSR sponsored students an opportunity to pursue an NSDP certified course. Upon completion, they can land themselves well-paying jobs at TCFM. Over 30 students have already benefited of this. The end goal is to create a career path; train and skill these individuals to deliver supervisory roles. They will become the success stories that inspire others to seek careers in FM.
As a leader, brief us on your initiatives for bringing DEI into the IFM space.
DEI is a core component of our ethos and vision. Whether it is gender diversity, opportunities for PWD, or social equity in our rural communities; we have a genuine focus on DEI. It is also delightful that our clients actively pursue their DEI goals and require our support to enable them. We have employed many women as part of our workforce across diverse verticals. We also have a few individuals with challenges working in MIS and technology-related functions. In terms of HR and policymaking, as part of their KRAs, the talent acquisition team needs to ensure every department has a female to male gender ratio of 1:5. It will also increase with time.
How do you see the future growth of TCFM and the IFM sector?
TCFM is growing fast, rated the 'fastest growing FM company' at InFHRA 2020. We are building our talent pool and bettering our processes to match the competencies required for ISO. We will soon be certified for globally acceptable standards of IFM. Also, with our focus on reliability engineering and technology innovation, our clients would engage with us in a scientific and data-centric system of FM operations. We are also aligning our policies and values to meet the wants of Gen Z, poised to take FM to the next level. We currently serve over 80 Million Sft of area across 11 states in India. We recently added Goa to our map and look to cover the West and North regions. Our capabilities in the South have created a foundation to expand into new markets. We have a total workforce strength of 8000+ people comprising housekeeping, technical, landscaping and allied service staff, trained and equipped to deliver best practices in IFM. We also have an advantage over our competitors through our expertise across all verticals of real estate in commercial, residential, industrial, warehousing, education, healthcare, retail, hospitality, energy, co-working and infrastructure sectors.
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