With 2024 quickly drawing to a close, let’s take a moment and reflect on what has been another successful year for us here at Programmed Facility Management (PFM).
Guided by our Mid-Term Business Plan (MTBP) and executed through the outstanding efforts and dedication of our people, we have continued to expand our business.
I’m proud to say we’ve achieved this level of success by living the Programmed values each and every day, which is incredibly important to me personally.
I’m pleased to witness many teams embracing Work and Smile and in particular hearing individuals share their WHY.
It’s impossible to condense all this year’s achievements into just one update, thus I’ll reflect on just a few of the major highlights that have made 2024 truly special.
A year of continued growth and outstanding performance
Our recent all-company Facility Management Town Hall – another one of this year’s major milestones – was an opportunity to celebrate our wins and build excitement for the success yet to come.
The presentation allowed us to reflect on the achievements that have made our exceptional growth rate the envy of the industry.
Just this year, we have expanded our New Zealand footprint with our Transpower partnership, strengthened our capabilities in the housing sector with our Homes New South Wales partnership, and welcomed the HousingFirst contract. These new partnerships are a significant part of our MTBP ambitions to strengthen our capabilities and partner with culturally aligned organisations.
In addition to these new wins, we were proud to maintain our strong customer relationships with the renewal of our Victorian School Building Authority (VSBA) contract, our Department of Finance, Maintenance Service Arrangement (MSA) contract, and our Wadjemup Rottnest Island contract. Over in New Zealand, we were pleased to extend our contract with Auckland Council, Amenities and Infrastructure Maintenance Services (AIMS) for the maximum term.
Left – Salvation Army, top centre – VSBA, bottom centre – MSA, top right – Wadjemup Rottnest Island, bottom right - AIMS
These wins have been a testament to the strength of our relationships with our customers, built upon a foundation of trust, commitment and dedication that makes Customer Service one of our core values. With the addition of these new partnerships and 626 new team members across the business, our lived values will continue to flourish.
As we continue to grow, our focus on our technology and digital systems goals are all important. Hence, this year saw us planning our migration into an upgraded version of our current Work & Asset Management solution (Maximo), with D365 to be used in the back end as the Financial Solution.
This platform is exciting as it will form the nucleus of the future stack for our business, allowing a far more streamlined, efficient, and cost-effective solution across our operations.
We know that our people are our most important asset, and the most critical component in supporting our current and future growth and ambition. We also know that it’s important we invest in our people just like any other part of our business. In the last year and a half, we’ve established a mentoring program with over 60 connections, and our Learning and Development team has delivered over 199 sessions to more than 1,996 participants, in addition to the completion of over 8,787 training modules by our employees.
We’re continuing to nurture and inspire future leaders of the business through programs like Leadership Essentials and Project Management, as well as budding young talent with our Graduate Program.
We’re proud of these programs, and as we move into 2025, I’m looking forward to sharing the new ways we’re continuing to invest in the development and recognition of our people and the great work that we do.
Hearing your voice and guiding our future with our Engagement Survey
Stay tuned for an in-depth look at our Engagement Survey, coming February 2025!
The engagement of our team members is integral to our success as a business, with your feedback helping us to drive improvements and ensure Programmed remains a great place to work.
With an incredible participation rate of 80%, I want to give my utmost thanks to the 1,664 employees who took the time to have a say in our 2024 Engagement Survey. Having received an enormous 3,611 comments from Facility Management team members, we have been given plenty of highly valuable feedback to inform our way forward.
Our survey revealed an engagement score of 69%, a 2% increase on our last all-company survey in 2022, and placing us above the external benchmark.
We’ll be sharing more about our strengths and more importantly our focus areas for improvement revealed through your Engagement Survey feedback through an in-depth look early in the new year. With the survey also indicating a strong preference for email communications, you’ll see this update in your inbox in the coming weeks.
Of course, we all know that one area our business truly shines in is our support for the communities we operate in – and through your survey participation, I’m so proud to share that your 1,664 responses have resulted in our donation of $8,320 to Lifeline.
Our community and the strength of our Programmed culture
Our Lifeline donation is the perfect segway into a reflection on another year of our proud community support.
Team celebrate Wear It Purple Day 2024
In 2024, our business recognised a wide range of international and local days and observances, and encouraging our teams’ involvement, such as International Women’s Day, Harmony Day & Race Relations Day, World Water Day, ANZAC Day, World FM Day, Wear It Purple Day, and Movember.
In this year’s iteration of Safe Work Month, we demonstrated the strength of both our values of Personal Safety Leadership and Care and Empathy through our focus on mental health and wellbeing. The month also featured team members across Programmed getting involved in our Community Activity Competition, resulting in some deeply inspiring stories directly from our team members making a real impact in their local communities.
Graeme and Lynette Graham, National Social Inclusion Manager, at our 2024 NAIDOC Week morning tea
Our identity as a business has always been built on Diversity, Inclusion and Equality across the regions in which we operate, and our support for First Nations and Māori communities is a particular point of pride.
We drew attention to our recent essential work in supporting these communities on National Reconciliation Week and NAIDOC Week in Australia, and Matariki & Māori New Year and Māori Language Week in New Zealand, as well as sharing various important initiatives throughout the year.
We’re proud of the work that we’ve done and acknowledge the breadth of work there still is to do – which is why we’re outlining our commitment and pathway forward through our Reconciliation Action Plan, due for launch in 2025. I look forward to sharing more on this soon.
Up next, we’ll be kicking off the new year with our second appearance at Midsumma Festival in Melbourne, a vibrant celebration of diversity and inclusion in support of the LGBTQIA+ community. Keep an eye out for the Programmed stand at the festival on 19 January – we hope to see you there.
You would have also seen the recently launched Programmed ad, where in partnership with Programmed Property Services (PPS) we provided a showcase of the PFM and PPS Divisions using our very own talent. Watch out, Hollywood awaits!
I’d like to express my utmost thanks for all your hard work and dedication.
Your efforts continue to make this business special.
For those getting ready for a very well-deserved break over the festive season, I wish you a fun and safe holiday break. Personally, I’m looking forward to celebrating the year that’s been. Firstly, by spending some invaluable time with my immediate and extended family. Their love and support have allowed me the time and bandwidth to do my role, for which I’m incredibly grateful for. I also intend to catch-up with some lifelong friends and enjoy some Test Cricket at the MCG. My intention for the break, is to relax, recuperate and refresh so that I can hit the ground running in 2025.
I also want to give an extra big shoutout and thank you to our frontline teams keeping everything running and continuing to deliver services over this period, getting us ready for another exciting year in 2025.
Take care and stay safe,
Graeme Hurn
Chief Executive Officer
Programmed Facility Management