Both IFMA and the facility management industry are on the right path. After facing possibly the most challenging period for our association and our profession, we have emerged more confident in our capacity to overcome adversity, more open to change, better prepared for the next big shift and better equipped to manage it.

Thanks to the responsive and creative leadership of our chair and global board, the ingenuity and hard work of our staff and components, and the loyalty and support of our members, IFMA was able to springboard out of the COVID-19 pandemic, returning to a trajectory of growth.

We recently broke the 22,000 mark globally across all membership categories, including Discovery, our newest offering for those interested in facility management, who may work in other professions and want to learn more about FM and how IFMA supports and advances the industry. Discovery membership reflects and responds to the new age of strategic cross-functional teamwork ushered in by broad transformation created by the pandemic and intensified by new viewpoints on optimizing space to improve the human experience.

Awareness that everything that defines conditions for productive work are no longer independent components, but built into the complete experience, opened the door to vital collaboration between FM, HR, IT, AV, HVAC, design, custodial, construction, engineering and other workplace professionals. Embracing this multidisciplined, holistic approach has created a truly global, synergistic built environment community — one that is focused on global standards and best practices, education, research and knowledge-exchange; one that shares the same commitment to a sustainable, equitable future.

Last year, we broadened and deepened mutually beneficial partnerships with other well-respected and influential professional organizations to provide a training program that covers the entire operational life cycle of the built environment. Used in conjunction with IFMA’s globally recognized, ANSI-accredited credential programs and professional development courses, training and certification programs available from our partners allow FMs to upskill in disciplines that fall under the FM umbrella, bringing improved efficiency to their responsibilities and elevated marketability to themselves.

Another resulting benefit of wide-ranging change is that both the private and public sectors have discovered value in a continual, rather than annual, performance assessment process. Demand for IFMA benchmarking data is at an all-time high, and we have expanded our catalog of benchmarking reports regionally. Surveys for forthcoming operations and maintenance (O&M) benchmarking studies have been sent to FMs in North America, the European Union, Africa and the Middle East. In March 2022, we released our first-ever Asia-focused O&M Benchmarking Report, made available in English and Simplified Chinese.