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Building a culture of thriving

By Charles Hammersla, Key Account Director, ISS Pacific and Sarah Peebles, P&C Director, ISS Pacific


Facilities management (FM) has always been a people-first, systems-driven business. But in 2025, FM leaders are navigating more complexity than ever: from hybrid work and tighter regulations, to cost scrutiny and growing expectations around wellbeing. For FM leaders, the challenge is not just to deliver results but to do so in a way that helps their people thrive.

For FM teams supporting diverse regions and complex clients such as banks, this balance between performance and wellbeing isn’t just operational, it’s cultural.

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Leaders in crisis management

At ISS, we’ve seen that when teams are clear on their priorities, equipped with the right tools, and connected to the impact of their work, they perform at their best. While these six focus areas may seem simple, implementing them can be complex when balancing customer and business expectations and requirements. 

This is the kind of work our frontline teams, known as Placemakers, do every day. Whether supporting airports, hospitals, schools or corporate spaces, they help create environments where people and businesses can thrive. This approach reflects our broader commitment to meaningful work, strong support, and a clear connection to purpose.

 

Melbourne Airport Placemakers

Here are some practical ways FM teams can apply each area effectively.

1. Clarity – clear standards and priorities
  • Daily huddles: Start shifts with short stand-ups to confirm site priorities, safety risks and customer updates.
  • Visible dashboards: Use noticeboards or digital apps to help teams track KPIs, customer feedback and timelines, and see what good looks like.
  • Role alignment: Review tasks, responsibilities or scope creep to ensure people understand where they contribute and add value.

At ISS, our Team Boards facilitate these activities and share best practices, helping our teams deliver the right support for our customers in this area. 

 

2. Capacity – workload matches resources
  • Labour planning: Use real time and historical data, to match staffing with demand, helping to prevent burnout.
  • Cross-skilling: Train Placemakers across multiple roles so colleagues can support peak Periods while also boosting role engagement.
  • Escalation channels: Establish clear processes where Placemakers can flag resourcing gaps early, enabling leaders to respond quickly.

Insight@ISS is our purpose-built intelligence portal, providing transparent, timely data insights to our Placemakers and our customers, ensuring we can forecast a need proactively, adjusting our service delivery as required.

 

3. Control – tools, autonomy and training
  • Right tools for the job: Check equipment, technology and supplies regularly to ensure they are fit for purpose. Broken tools or outdated tech can quickly erode morale.
  • Empower decision-making: Give frontline leaders authority to make immediate customer-facing decisions, such as minor repairs or resource allocation without waiting for approvals.
  • Continuous development: Combine technical training with soft skills to build confident, capable teams.

ISS works closely with customers to define scope and ensure our Placemakers are trained in global best practice processes, such as our Pure Space methodology. 

 

4. Connection – belonging across shifts and sites
  • Shift handovers: Use structured handover notes or short overlaps to keep day/ and night teams connected.
  • Site rotations: Give Placemakers opportunities to work across different customer sites, to broaden skills and relationships.
  • Celebrate: Acknowledge milestones, birthdays, or customer wins in simple but visible ways to reinforce team spirit across dispersed locations.

ISS’ Team Boards give Placemakers visibility of daily risks, wins and concerns helping maintain consistent service delivery across shifts.

 

5. Contribution – visible link to client outcomes
  • Share customer feedback: From service scores to thank yous and success stories, we regularly pass on customer feedback so Placemakers can see the real impact of their work.
  • Customer site tours: By encouraging Placemakers join walkarounds with customers, they experience first-hand how their efforts support workplace safety, sustainability or employee wellbeing.
  • Recognition programs: Recognition programs go beyond internal metrics by inviting customers to spotlight Placemakers who deliver above-and-beyond service.

These practices are supported nationally and globally through our reward and recognition programs, including GEM and Apple Awards, which celebrate contributions that exceed both customer and team expectations.

 

6. Continuity – safety and resilience built into routines
  • Safety rituals: Safety thrives on consistency. Daily toolbox talks, visible safety leadership, hazard and incident reporting, and empowering Placemakers to stop work if conditions become unsafe all help embed safety into everyday routines.
  • Resilience planning: Clear backup and emergency plans, trained relief Placemakers and supply chain contingencies, ensure teams feel supported when challenges arise.
  • Wellbeing check-ins: Regular leader check-ins on Placemaker workload, stress and wellbeing reinforce that resilience depends on both people and operations – helping our teams to perform safely and confidently, even when the unexpected happens.

ISS works closely with customers to keep employees safe at work and informed, especially about high-risk activities. This approach ensures safety, compliance, and efficiency are built into the fabric of everyday work and not just applied as separate procedures.

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Prioritising employee experience strengthens the entire workplace ecosystem – connecting people, processes, physical spaces and customers. When these elements align, we create environments where individuals thrive, customers benefit and business outcomes improve.” 

Sarah Peebles, People & Culture Director, ISS Pacific 

Thriving by design

In a market where office demand is stabilising but is increasingly selective, and where engagement is declining while regulatory pressure grows, thriving cultures are being built deliberately. 

When FM leaders design for clarity, capacity, connection, and continuity, they don’t have to choose between wellbeing and performance. Teams thrive, customers experience it through uptime and trust, and regulators see it in the operational delivery evidence. 

At ISS, each of our Placemakers plays a key part in connecting people and places to make the world work better. That’s why we believe in our values: unity, honesty, responsibility, entrepreneurship and quality and live by them every day.

That’s the culture of thriving. At ISS, we connect people and places to make the world work better, and it’s the edge ISS provides our customers in 2025.
 

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