3 Reasons Why Large Congregations Should Outsource Facility Management

Outsourcing, strategies, and technology innovations hold immense potential for congregations seeking to improve productivity in church facilities management.

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For large congregational and church facilities especially, making the decision to outsource some or all facilities management functions is a monumental consideration. Large congregations have thousands of congregants and a sizeable, bustling team of pastoral and support staff.

Large Congregation Stakeholders May Include

• pastoral leadership
• board leadership
• facility management oversight team
• denominational and accountability governance groups
• congregants
• visitors
• guests/attendees of annual large-scale, events
• education/school leadership
• teachers
• students
• food service leadership
• volunteers

An array of stakeholder expectations coupled with thousands of key activities which fuel ever-changing occupancy rates over the course of a year creates a unique situation. This dynamic intersection of demands is not found in other commercial environments.

Beyond the intricacy of all the moving parts, overseeing the facility management, sanctuary cleaning, and church janitorial demands tends to be the responsibility of the key leaders. That can take away precious time from other important matters.

Overseeing Internal Facility Management has its Challenges

Supervising the cleaning and maintenance of internal facilities management teams is not an easy task. There is a large investment of time that goes into continually interviewing, hiring, training, scheduling, and monitoring teams. There is the expense of performing background checks and providing all the supplies, tools, and personal protective equipment. It also involves mitigating the potential risk of workers' compensation and unemployment claims.

Since large congregations have multiple facilities wherein many activities are scheduled throughout the day, supervision can be continuous. It can mean that cleaning and maintenance during operating hours can impede upon space or cause disruptions for the congregation.

There is the issue of scheduling for important events. If a wedding is scheduled for an evening ceremony, the sanctuary, main auditorium, foyer, vestibules, entrances, and corridors of the chapel or church facilities will need to be cleaned, disinfected, and ready for church services. That can mean some late nights.

Additionally, many large congregations have multiple campuses, and scaling best janitorial practices to these distinct, vibrant environments requires a high level of competence. There needs to be an individualized, customized solution for each campus while creating an umbrella of uniformity for the church as a whole.

How External Experts Can Help

So, exactly how can a larger congregation benefit from outsourcing facility management in such a complex environment?

1. Implementation of Best Practices

   Outsourcing can enable the church to gain access to resources not available internally so current, best practices can be continually implemented.

   As a pastor, board member, or director of facilities, keeping an eye on the horizon to spot new, emerging procedures and technology in the facilities management arena can be challenging.

   Likewise, anticipating the rapid advancement of facility management improvements, such as infection control, IoT, robotics, and keeping up with the latest, effective trends in janitorial employee acquisition can be challenging.

   Having a seasoned, proven partner and change agent constantly scanning the horizon and implementing best practices for church cleaning, church school cleaning, and church facility maintenance can be a big win.

2. Predicting and Stabilizing Capital Planning Budgets

   Although specific verticals (such as church janitorial and disinfection services) can be implemented, there is also the option of implementing integrated facility management. This option can scale services from the curb to the roof.

   Integrated facility management provides a reliable, predictive financial model based on the specific inventory and condition of capital assets for each campus. It can be an invaluable tool to help predict and stabilize capital planning budgets.

3. Allows Church Leadership to Focus on What is Most Important

   Having an integrated, interconnected facilities management partner scaled to the needs of the church will provide more time for leadership to control and manage functions that are difficult or challenging.

   Beyond that, the right kind of partnership will create a diverse facility management system with multiple pathways and redundancies. This provides greater stability and less vulnerability to external shock than a uniform system with little diversity.

Church Facility Experience Matters

Although outsourcing can deliver the continual implementation of best practices, stabilize capital planning budgets, and optimize the control and management functions of leadership; it can only be realized if the partner has substantial experience managing facilities for congregations.

A larger congregation or an elementary or high school of a congregation requires a unique confluence of multi-industry cleaning strategies implemented into a single streaming solution. There should also be a proven history in this unique environment.

Most importantly, the values of a potential partner must align with the values embraced by your congregation and school.

How do they support and value their frontline staff? Do they offer benefits and employee assistance? Do they demonstrate integrity, accountability, and a caring history?