When most people think about facility management, they picture building maintenance or safety checks. But the reality is that today’s facility managers are responsible for much more.
They oversee complex facility operations, connect departments, manage costs, and even handle logistics like internal shipping. In other words, the duties and responsibilities of facility manager roles now extend far beyond the physical building.
In this blog, we will explore what facility management is and the key responsibilities that define the role of a facility manager today. We’ll also discuss different types of facility management, how to build a unified facilities strategy, and the top trends shaping modern facilities management operations.
Table of Contents:
- What is Facility Management?
- What are the Duties and Responsibilities of a Facility Manager?
- What are the Main Types of Facility Management?
- Why is Logistics Important in Facility Management Operations?
- Building a Facilities Management Strategy That Includes Logistics
- What are the Top Trends in Facilities Management Today?
- Key Takeaways
- Conclusion: Building a Strong Facilities Management Strategy
- Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
What is Facility Management?
Facility management refers to the coordination of physical spaces, services, and processes that support an organization's daily operations. A facility manager is the professional responsible for overseeing these operations, which include everything from maintenance and safety to workforce support and logistics.
At its core, facility management supports day-to-day operations by creating environments where employees can focus on their work. Whether in offices, hospitals, schools, or industrial sites, facility managers integrate services, optimize resources, and balance costs to keep organizations running smoothly.
What are the Duties and Responsibilities of a Facility Manager?
Modern facility managers wear many hats. Their core mission is to create an environment that encourages productivity, is safe for occupants, meets regulatory mandates, and operates efficiently.
This means balancing both big-picture planning and hands-on operational tasks. Below are some of the key duties and responsibilities of facility manager role today:
- Building and Equipment Maintenance: Overseeing HVAC, electrical, plumbing, elevators, and preventive upkeep.
- Health, Safety, and Compliance: Enforcing regulations, fire safety, emergency plans, and workplace standards.
- Space Planning: allocate office space, coordinate desk layouts or moves, and support hybrid work arrangements (like hot-desking)
- Budgeting and Asset Management: Controlling facility costs, vendor contracts, and asset lifecycles.
- Project Management: Planning and executing facilities projects such as renovations, office relocations, or new construction.
- Business Continuity & Emergency Response: Preparing for and responding to emergencies or disruptions.
- Internal Parcel Shipping and Mailroom Management: Manage incoming and outgoing mail and packages, coordinating office supply deliveries, and supply flows so packages and materials reach staff on time.
As you can see, today’s facility managers handle not only building operations but also mail and logistics management as part of their daily responsibilities. To understand how these duties relate, it’s helpful to categorize them by the primary areas of facility management services.
What are the Main Types of Facility Management?
In the industry, it’s common to distinguish between Hard, Soft, and Integrated Facility Management.
- Hard Facility Management: Managing physical assets like buildings, utilities, and infrastructure.
- Soft Facility Management: Overseeing services like cleaning, landscaping, internal parcel shipping, catering, or security.
- Integrated Facility Management (IFM): A holistic approach that combines both hard and soft services into one streamlined system.
These categories show how facility roles can be organized, but in practice, the real test lies in day-to-day facility operations. Beyond maintenance and soft services, the flow of supplies, mail, and parcels within a facility plays a critical role in keeping everything running smoothly.
Why is Logistics Important in Facility Management Operations?
While facility upkeep is essential, the logistics side of the role is often underestimated. Logistics, specifically internal shipping, is easy to overlook if you’re not the one dealing with it. Still, it can quickly become a huge headache for facilities staff.
This daily frustration with these issues is clear, but the true cost goes far beyond that. That said, let’s break down a few of the common pain points and why they matter to a facility manager’s duties:
- Tracking challenges: Lack of real-time tracking leads to “black holes” where nobody knows if a package has been delivered, picked up, or who handled it, resulting in accountability issues.
- Scattered Carrier Accounts: In many companies, different departments or individuals manage their own shipping accounts with carriers (FedEx, UPS, DHL, etc.) to send out packages, resulting in unauthorized shipments, a mess of separate bills, and no centralized oversight.
- Hidden Costs and Budget Waste: Scattered shipping creates redundant expenses. Departments often pay retail rates, miss volume discounts, and generate untracked spend, directly straining facility budgets. In fact, studies show that up to 30% of parcel spend is lost annually due to preventable errors, surcharges, and inefficiencies. To dive deeper into these hidden leaks, we created a short guide with the key stats and solutions. Download the guide here.
- Inefficient Use of Time: Staff in administrative roles may spend hours preparing labels, arranging pickups, or chasing tracking numbers. Instead of focusing on higher-value tasks, they’re bogged down in manual shipping chores that could be streamlined.
These pain points make it clear that logistics has a bigger impact on workplace operations than it may seem at first glance. Addressing them isn’t just about fixing daily headaches; it’s about weaving logistics into the broader fabric of facilities management to gain real control over costs and efficiency.
Building a Facilities Management Strategy That Includes Logistics
Facility managers oversee a wide scope of responsibilities, from maintenance and safety to workforce support. With logistics now part of the equation, a strong facilities management strategy should explicitly include parcel operations.
A strong strategy starts with clarity of scope. Facility managers need to map out all the services under their responsibility. This map becomes the foundation of the plan, a clear picture of everything that must be coordinated to keep the workplace productive.
The next step is consistency. Preventive maintenance schedules, safety protocols, and service-level agreements for cleaning or security should be documented and tracked. A reliable facilities management strategy ensures that both hard and soft services align with organizational goals.
Logistics is the next critical layer. Inter-office shipments, supply deliveries, and sending equipment to remote staff are often managed informally. To close this gap, the strategy should:
- Define how shipments are requested, approved, and billed.
- Consolidate carrier accounts to reduce costs and eliminate unauthorized use.
- Establish clear accountability for parcel shipping as part of facilities management operations.
This is where the Airpals Parcel Management Platform fits. Airpals centralizes internal parcel requests, connects existing FedEx/UPS/USPS accounts under one roof, enforces role-based access, and provides full visibility into spend.
Our platform, backed by Google, integrates seamlessly into a broader plan, helping facility teams cut annual parcel costs by up to 20%, improve compliance, and manage parcel operations with confidence.
With a comprehensive strategy that encompasses building services, safety, workforce support, and logistics, facility managers transition from reacting to daily problems to driving long-term efficiency and value throughout the organization.
What are the Top Trends in Facilities Management Today?
The facility management industry is evolving rapidly, and several trends affect how facility managers approach their duties:
- Sustainability: There’s a growing focus on energy efficiency, green certifications, and reducing waste. Facility managers are adopting software to monitor water usage, energy consumption, and carbon emissions.
- Data & AI: Facility managers are leveraging real‑time data, predictive analytics, and AI to optimize operations. AI helps forecast maintenance needs and identify cost‑saving opportunities.
- Visibility and automation in shipping: As supply chains grow more complex, facility managers need real-time visibility into parcel flows across offices and departments. Instead of relying on scattered carrier accounts or manual tracking, many are adopting parcel management software that centralizes shipments, automates notifications, and provides audit-ready records.
- Hybrid Workplaces and Flexible Office Operations: Companies are now adopting flexible office solutions like hot-desking, co-working areas, and multi-purpose spaces. This shift demands smarter space management, occupancy sensors, desk booking tools, and scalable services for cleaning, logistics, and employee comfort.
Key Takeaways
- The duties and responsibilities of facility manager roles now go far beyond maintenance, covering safety, compliance, workforce support, and logistics.
- Facility managers can structure their work using Hard FM, Soft FM, and Integrated FM, but real success comes from focusing on daily facility operations.
- Facility logistics services are often overlooked but have a direct impact on costs, accountability, and employee satisfaction.
- A strong facilities management strategy should map responsibilities, standardize processes, and include parcel operations as a core component.
- Airpals Parcel Management Platform not only centralizes shipping but also helps facility managers enforce policies, consolidate carrier accounts, audit costs, and align logistics with broader facility management operations.
- Top trends shaping facilities management operations include sustainability, AI and predictive analytics, hybrid workplaces, and parcel visibility.
Conclusion: Building a Strong Facilities Management Strategy
In conclusion, the contemporary facility manager’s role is expansive, covering everything from core operations to logistics. To build a truly effective facilities management strategy, one must look holistically at all the duties and responsibilities of a facility manager, not only maintaining the physical infrastructure, but also enabling the smooth flow of people, information, and packages.
Including logistics is no longer optional. Integrating facility logistics services like inter-office shipping into the wider plan is essential for efficiency, cost control, and employee satisfaction.
Ready to centralize internal parcel shipping, consolidate carrier accounts, and cut parcel spend by up to 20%? Request a demo of Airpals Parcel Management Software to see how our platform can become the missing piece in your facilities management strategy.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
What is a facility manager?
A facility manager is the professional responsible for overseeing facility operations, including maintenance, safety, workforce support, and logistics. Their role ensures that buildings run efficiently, comply with regulations, and provide a productive environment for employees.
What are the duties and responsibilities of a facility manager?
The duties and responsibilities of facility manager roles cover building maintenance, health and safety compliance, budgeting, space planning, project management, and increasingly, facility logistics services like inter-office shipping.
What is the meaning of facility management?
Facility management refers to the coordination of physical spaces, services, and processes that support an organization’s daily operations. It includes hard services (e.g., maintenance, utilities), soft services (e.g., cleaning, catering, security), and logistics (e.g., parcel management).
Why is logistics important in facility management?
Logistics, including internal parcel shipping, is a critical part of facilities management operations. Without it, organizations face higher costs, scattered carrier accounts, and delays in delivering essential equipment or documents between offices.
What are the main types of facility management?
The three main categories are:
- Hard FM: physical assets such as buildings and infrastructure.
- Soft FM: people-focused services such as cleaning, security, and mail handling.
- Integrated Facility Management (IFM): combining both hard and soft FM into one unified system.
