WISAG Facility Service

WISAG Facility Service
Annual report 2010
Facility Management
Building Engineering
Commercial Cleaning
Security and Service
Catering
Garden and Landscaping Services
Consulting and Management
2
Contents
Preface
Impressing and inspiring people .....................................................................................4
It all starts with esteem
Respect and trust are at the heart of our actions ...........................................................6
Staff development
An invaluable offer: brighter future prospects ...............................................................8
Industry focus
Facility management is still a growing market
… if the potential is tapped ..............................................................................................14
WISAG Facility Service:
presenting the service divisions
Facility Management
Facility management – moving towards a strategic partnership ..................................
20
Building Engineering
Quality: an important factor for the future ......................................................................
25
Commercial Cleaning
Investing in staff means investing in the future .............................................................
28
Security and Service
An intelligent combination of security and service ........................................................
32
Catering
A delight for all the senses ...............................................................................................
36
Garden and Landscaping Services
Skilled care for all things green .......................................................................................
40
2COM Property Specialists Consulting & Management
A competence centre for eco-sustainable property consultancy ..................................
45
European Customer Services
Take a new approach in Europe .......................................................................................
49
WISAG Facility Service in figures – 2010 .........................................................50
Acknowledgements ..................................................................................................51
3
PREFACE
Impressing and inspiring
­people
Dear reader,
There are days you will remember all your life –
moments which are associated with particular
emotions. 2 October 2010 was just such a day for me.
It was both a beginning and an end: the end of an
intense process of identifying what makes WISAG
special in conjunction with staff, customers and
industry specialists. Based on this, we estab­lished
our company values; defined and formu­lated our
brand concept. The outcome of this process also
forms the beginning of a successful future for our
company.
On Saturday 2 October 2010, we presented the
re­sults of almost three years’ work to WISAG
mana­gers for the very first time. At 4.50 p. m., I was
still unsure how everything would be received –
the altered logo, our targets and vision, our ideas
for implementation, and ultimately the company
values we had developed. But once the event
started at 6.00 p. m., there was no going back. The
executives were open, curious and positive when I
explained the course all of us at WISAG will take.
And right at the end, when the new logo was
revealed, symbolising our new path and WISAG’s
identity, there was a great sense of being swept
along, an atmosphere of enthusiasm and pride that
we are part of a dynamic company which is moving
forwards as one.
The highlight of the event was a staff performance
which symbolically showed what WISAG stands for.
4
It conveyed what has defined WISAG since the
com­pany was established in 1965 by my father,
Claus Wisser – and what has since grown cons­tant­ly
along with the company and makes us unique:
we have a culture of esteem, we show dedication
and we are colourful!
These three values form the foundations of the
WISAG brand. They act as guidelines for our
em­ployees and pillars which our customers can
rely on. They are the basis on which our family
com­pany will be able to keep developing successfully and achieve the targets we have set ourselves
by 2020: day in, day out, we want to win the hearts
of our staff and customers as a strong brand.
We will set an example as regards environmental
protection and predominantly use ecological
products and processes. And, by 2020, we aim to
primarily promote staff from within the company to
any managerial positions which become available,
thereby giving our employees a wide range of
opportunities and prospects.
In the future, our values and mission statement will
strengthen WISAG’s distinctive identity as a great
German service brand. To achieve this, we had to
adjust WISAG’s look too, so we completely
reworked our brand image in 2010. It is now fresher
and more transparent with a single green logo.
This new look corresponds to our understanding of
an innovative, reliable, eco-minded service pro­
It is infinitely better to enjoy people’s
respect all the time than to have their
admiration only once in a while.
Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712 – 1778)
vider which is hallmarked by a warm, friendly
attitude and makes for an attractive and responsible
employer.
We now face the great challenge of communicating
our brand concept, mission statement and values to
a wider audience. We must ensure that every single
member of staff internalises even more strongly
the philosophy they have been following for years
and make this even more visible, especially in their
dealings with customers. We want to impress
people with our services; we want to inspire them
and give the WISAG brand an unmistakeable
character by means of our day-to-day actions.
However, that is far from being the only challenge
we faced in 2010. Although other industries have
experienced an upturn, this has not yet reached
most of the real estate sector. Our customers are
still struggling with vacancies and financial
­squeezes. As a consequence, we have experienced
service cutbacks and a sharp rise in tendering.
Thanks to a high level of flexibility and adaptability,
we were able to work with our clients to overcome
this situation. The year got off to a successful start
due to our employees’ dedication, our company
philosophy and our values. We capitalised on the
opportunities presented by the consequences
of the crisis by further optimising our processes,
constantly improving the quality of our services,
and identifying new savings potential.
Despite setting ourselves economic targets, we are
still very aware of our social and ecological responsibility. This means that WISAG is constantly
expanding its staff development programme, for
instance. We offer our employees career prospects
and actively ensure that their work is valued and
that they receive commensurate pay at the end of
the month. We have also stepped up our ecological
activities. Together with staff and clients, we are
currently working on initiatives and ideas which,
step by step, will take us closer to achieving our
goal of becoming the industry forerunner as re­gards
environmental protection.
WISAG’s plans for the next few years may be
am­bitious. However, we will pursue our targets with
dedication and motivation, never losing sight of our
customers’ wishes and needs or our compassion.
We will be guided primarily by our values: “esteem”,
“dedication” and “colourful”. This report shows
you what esteem means to us.
I hope you find it an enjoyable and informative read.
Best regards,
Michael C. Wisser
5
IT ALL STARTS WITH ESTEEM
Respect and trust
are at the heart of our actions
Respecting people – their individuality, their
achieve­ments and their work – is absolutely crucial
for companies or individuals who want to succeed.
This respect for people – be they clients, employees,
suppliers or business partners – is reflected in
our company value esteem. It is all about friendly
openness, respect and trust, and it shapes the way
we behave every day.
So how exactly does WISAG express esteem? We
are open to new input and ideas. We are curious
about different, better solutions and approaches.
We respond to new ideas with interest and create a
climate where ideas can flourish. We cultivate
respectful interpersonal relationships; we are polite
and friendly. We each give our all to create a
pleasant, open working environment and inspire
our customers with our services. We acknowledge
each individual’s achievements and pay attention to
their needs. We speak to one another – and our
clients – as equals. Within WISAG, we trust one
another. With this trust at the heart of the company,
our thousands of staff can successfully serve
thousands of customers every day. Esteem works
both ways: those who are courteous are treated
with courtesy; those who treat others with respect
are respected in turn.
Our work is done by people, for people. As a service
provider, our clients’ esteem is important. We offer
them reasonable prices and maintain a fair relation­
ship founded on partnership. Together with our
cus­tomers, we develop creative solutions and adopt
6
new approaches – even and especially in economically challenging times. We value our clients and
our clients value us, which is why so many companies choose WISAG and keep coming back.
Esteem also defines daily dealings with our staff –
at all levels of the organisation’s hierarchy. Every
day, some of them provide services which may
be simple but are also essential. We believe that
their work should therefore be valued as a matter of
course and rewarded with fair pay. This is why
WISAG has been calling for a minimum wage for
years. Our employees also enjoy our trust and are
given a large degree of autonomy. Such scope is
crucial as it allows them to provide an optimum
service at our customers’ premises, enabling them
to react flexibly to circumstances and therefore
offer excellent service. For this reason, esteem also
means openness – if you expect enthusiasm, you
have to be open to new ideas.
Last but not least, we show esteem by investing
heavily in our employees’ training and continuing
professional development (CPD). We do not see this
as a one-way commitment: our staff also have to
demonstrate a degree of initiative and esteem in
order to utilise the opportunities and prospects we
offer them and to get involved. In this way, the
esteem we show our employees strengthens their
identification with the company, their level of
commitment and therefore – ultimately – the value
added generated by our company and our customers’ satisfaction.
WISAG is all about esteem.
WISAG is all about dedication.
WISAG is all about being colourful.
PROTECTION AND SECURITY SPECIALISTO
ADMINISTRATOROFFICE COMMUNICATION
ASSISTANTSERVICE, PROTECTION AND SE
SPECIALISTMECHATRONICS ENGINEERELE
ENGINEER FOR ENERGY AND BUILDING EN
ELECTRONICS ENGINEER FOR PROCESS EN
ELECTRONICS ENGINEER FOR AUTOMATIO
TECHNOLOGYREFRIGERATION PLANT ENG
PLANT FITTER FOR SANITARY, HEATING AN
AIR-CONDITIONING TECHNOLOGYMECHAT
ENGINEER FOR REFRIGERATION TECHNOLO
PLANT FITTERDRAUGHTSMANINDUSTRIAL
CLERKGLASS AND COMMERCIAL CLEANER
COOKEVENTS SPECIALISTGARDENER: HOR
AND LANDSCAPINGGARDENER: HORTICUL
SPORTS
PITCHESRESTAURANT
SPECIALIST
An invaluable offer:
brighter future prospects
WISAG performs a wide range of services for its
clients. Our dedicated staff advise, manage, repair,
service, clean, provide security, cook, plant and
much more. They contribute to our success and that
of our customers. They breathe life into the WISAG
brand and share our special company culture. As a
family company, we hold our staff in high esteem –
and that includes offering them a wide range of
attractive training, continuing professional development and qualification schemes. All of these stimulate junior employees at WISAG, improve the quality
of our services, strengthen our managers’ skills,
and take us a step closer to achieving our goal of
filling the majority of open managerial positions
from within the company by 2020. This makes us an
attractive employer and a preferred service provider.
Our staff development activities help us to prepare
our company for tomorrow’s challenges.
It is our belief that good training forms the foundation
for a successful career and we consistently follow
8
this philosophy. Last year, we employed 164 new
apprentices working towards vocational qualifi­cations
in 12 different professions. Spanning everything
from plant fitters to security specialists and commercial cleaners to cooks, they can be found in all
divisions of WISAG Facility Service Holding. So what
happens once they have completed their apprenticeships? Then they can expect a stimulating, varied
job at WISAG plus an extensive staff development
programme for all groups of employees – both
at organisational and divisional level. Our training
schemes are always geared towards business
operations and actual needs. They offer all committed and competent employees the opportunity to
advance their careers at the company. We take a
holistic approach to staff development: our measures
do not only focus on specific tasks, personal
and professional skills; they also incorporate cultural
requirements arising from our special company
philo­sophy and values.
OFFICE
NS
ECURITY
ECTRONICS
NGINEERING
NGINEERING
ON
GINEER
ND
TRONICS
OGY
L
R
RTICULTURE
LTURE AND
T
STAFF DEVELOPMENT
The package of measures for the whole company
comprises targeted training modules and a series of
management programmes. For example, the
so-called “Goldfish Pond” concept has now been
established for over 15 years. This scheme prepares
high-potential employees to take on their first
leader­ship responsibilities. While the first year
focuses on topics such as communication, presen­
tation, motivation and project management, the
second year deepens participants’ theoretical know­
ledge by means of concrete project tasks and planning games. More than 200 WISAG employees have
already completed the programme swimmingly –
and many of them have gone on to have impressive
careers at our company.
The second organisational-level development
pro­gramme is called “Scaling New Heights”. It was
launched in 2009 and prepares managers to take
on more complex roles and greater responsibility
such as managing an office. During the two-year
scheme which runs parallel to their existing pro­
fessional duties, staff learn about new leadership,
sales, customer and property management tasks. At
the same time, they improve their social skills and
knowledge of management methods and work
on specific projects. The aim of the programme is to
continuously strengthen middle management and
promote network thinking. Throughout this demanding programme, each participant is mentored by an
experienced executive.
In conjunction with its consultancy subsidiary 2COM,
WISAG also offers a highly varied trainee
­programme designed to give graduates in particular
an attractive start to their careers at WISAG.
The Group-wide measures stimulate employees’
development and dialogue throughout the company.
To complement the organisational schemes, there
are relevant modules in all company divisions which
deal with the specifics of our service divisions and
open up a wide range of training opportunities in the
respective field.
For instance, WISAG Building Engineering and
WISAG Facility Management offer service engineers
a wide range of educational courses covering
everything from further professional qualifications
to personal presentation and customer focus.
Managers can opt into the “Knowledge Pool” scheme,
which teaches them how to negotiate and give
presentations. It also deals with leadership, resolving
conflicts, developing strategies and keeping calm
in order to gain the trust of employees, customers
and suppliers. This requires extensive expertise,
which managers are taught within a year as part of
the “Knowledge Pool” scheme. The curriculum
covers everything from labour law and business
management to professional dealings with clients
and staff plus in-depth knowledge in all areas the
company operates in. This ensures that programme
participants are thoroughly prepared to face future
challenges.
WISAG Commercial Cleaning, meanwhile, offers an
extensive training programme by the name of
TOPfit – the only of its kind in this sector. TOPfit was
launched in 2007 as a training scheme for cleaning
staff and now ensures that all full and part-time
commercial cleaning operatives receive systematic
training. The basic programme is made up of 23
teaching modules. It enhances employees’ cleaning
techniques, strengthens their communication skills
and provides training on legal and administrative
issues. This results in improved service quality and
higher productivity. It is easy to see why: employees
feel valued, extend their knowledge, are more
9
Personalentwicklung
motivated and – thanks to TOPfit – take less time off
sick. Some 6,500 people – more than half our cleaning
staff – participated in TOPfit in 2010.
Good training gives people a secure future. Security
plays a major role in WISAG’s training programmes
in a number of different ways. Good training
and continuing professional development secures
em­ployees’ futures, furthers their subsequent careers
and ensures that they interface with customers
professionally. Training of this kind is also offered at
WISAG Security and Service, where the ultimate
aim is perfect protection. As you would expect,
anyone hoping to become a protection and security
specialist or operative therefore receives in-depth
training. And once they have gained their vocational
qualifications, staff are offered a wide-ranging CPD
package covering classic security topics, the law,
professional practice and psychological aspects to
ensure that they stay safe and secure whenever they
are on duty. In addition to this, management training
is provided for all section heads at WISAG Security
and Service.
Stimulating our staff harmonises with our values and
our company philosophy – but so does demanding
their complete commitment. We want them to
serve our customers with motivation and dedication,
go the extra mile for our clients, and come up with
pleasant surprises every single day.
Inspiring customers calls for both professional skills
and creativity – especially when it comes to inno­
vative catering and service. That is why the training
10
currently offered by WISAG Catering is as varied
as the meals prepared at WISAG company canteens.
From the latest gastronomic trends to display
cooking and service offensives – the CPD packages
are invaluable. This is borne out by the fact that
WISAG Catering has been named Caterer of the Year
several times by the industry magazine “Catering
Inside”, gaining this accolade for example in 2007,
when the “Caring about service” concept won
WISAG the award in the category “Management and
staff”.
The training programme “GREEN to the Max” for
supervisors at WISAG Garden and Landscaping
Services covers a wide range of gardening topics and
providing a customer-oriented service (see page 43).
Regular CPD courses for section heads and office
managers round off the training available for WISAG’s
green-fingered staff.
WISAG is one of Germany’s leading service providers – and not by chance. Our company’s success is
primarily attributable to highly qualified staff with
the right attitude to service. Our organisation stands
for quality – and this can only be maintained day
after day if our employees are well trained and
motivated. That is why we make them an invaluable
offer: good opportunities when they first join the
company, positions of responsibility with the
necessary autonomy, and regular development. In
doing so, we give our employees trust and respect and
create an attractive environment in which their
careers can flourish. Our staff appreciate that – and
so do we.
“What did I gain from two years of ‘Scaling
New Heights’? A skills assessment, development,
a different perspective, a clear path, motivation
and confirmation that I had made the right decision.”
Oliver Schleicher, employee at WISAG Commercial Cleaning
and participant in the “Scaling New Heights” programme
“Interlinking the different divisions is one of the
key elements of the ‘Goldfish Pond’ – this makes
subsequent collaboration much easier. All in all,
I think WISAG’s staff development provisions
are outstanding!”
Tobias Hemschak, employee at WISAG Commercial Cleaning
and participant in the “Goldfish Pond” programme
“My experience at WISAG has been thoroughly positive.
If you’re willing and demonstrate commitment, you are
stimulated and supported – both by means of concrete staff
development opportunities and in your day-to-day work.”
Sabine Gzella, employee at WISAG Catering and participant in the “Goldfish Pond” programme
“The seminar was fantastic – in terms of the content,
the coach and the group of participants. It has already
made a lasting improvement to the way I work and
­thereby increased my productivity.”
Horst Madloch, employee at WISAG Security and Service
and participant in the “Time and self-management” seminar
11
INDUSTRY FOCUS
Facility management
is still a growing market
… if the potential is tapped
How quickly things can change. Just four years ago,
Germany was a headache for the European economy – now the country is considered the powerhouse of the crisis-hit continent. The financial market
collapse and recession prompted many domestic
companies to adjust their internal processes and
external ties with both customers and suppliers.
Thanks to this – coupled with worldwide demand for
products and services made in Germany – the country
bounced back faster than economies elsewhere in
the EU.
While sales and profits at German banks, insurance
companies and manufacturing firms have been
rising again since 2010, the service sector has only
experienced a slight recovery. Facility management
(FM) companies have faced a tough test over the
past two and a half years: most clients cut back on
services, and lucrative extras were also slashed in
many places. Nevertheless, FM firms weathered the
crisis better than other service providers. This is
because the FM sector is typically post-cyclical due to
multi-year contracts. However, services and conditions are being re-discussed as part of subsequent
negotiations and new tenders in 2010 and 2011 – and
negotiated in the light of the new circumstances.
This situation is prompting moderate growth in the
FM industry. Although sales posted by the 25 leading
companies in the Lünendonk® facility management
14
list rose by a double-digit percentage each year up
to 2008, they grew by “just” 5.1 per cent on average
in 2009 financial year. But at least they grew!
Providers remained a long way from recording
double-figure sales growth again in 2010. So what
does that mean for FM companies? Will this
­moderate trend persist?
Flexibility is obviously the key to successfully
overcoming a crisis. Sometimes, customer firms set
savings targets; sometimes clients and providers
sit down together to identify new potential. Either
way, those who can currently position themselves as
offering intelligent, flexible solutions will lay the
cornerstone for a successful future in tandem with
their clients.
In the future, secondary processes which do not form
part of a customer’s core line of business will
increasingly be outsourced. This includes facility
management services. Although many property and
plant services are already completed by external
firms in some sectors, there is still huge potential for
growth. The German FM market is a mature market,
but not a saturated one.
In recent years, FM providers’ services have slowly
but surely evolved into end-to-end support and
secondary processes. To make the most of this offer,
By Jörg Hossenfelder,
Managing Partner
at Lünendonk GmbH
companies must first recognise the opportunities
presented by outsourcing FM services. However,
this way of thinking is not yet established at all client
firms. As the Lünendonk® study “Facility Management 2010” shows, many customers’ procurement
departments are gradually becoming more professio­
nal. Word has spread that it is not the lowest price
that counts, but the best value for money as regards
service quality. Clients are increasingly realising
that FM can make a significant contribution towards
enhancing quality and efficiency on the one hand
and heightening flexibility on the other. Following
the crisis, the general trend towards outsourcing and
contracting services out is also working in favour of
FM providers.
In the current financial period and the years that follow,
facility management will regain its old strength.
As well as identifying new service offerings and
industry sectors, this will be due in part to closer
dovetailing with client firms as FM providers assume
responsibility for entire secondary processes.
Daring to take a look at the future is no easy thing to
do. Who would have guessed five years ago that one
of Germany’s states would have a Green Party
governor in 2011? Just two years ago, who would
have predicted the widespread political uprisings in
North Africa and the Middle East? Who can make
a reliable forecast given the major fluctuations in the
euro and US dollar exchange rates?
Whatever strategic plans companies make, they have
to allow for surprises in the future as well as opportunities. As part of the forward-looking Lünendonk®
study “Facility Management 2020”, we asked
major service providers from the industry how they
thought the market and companies would develop.
One thing is for sure: the meaning of “facility
management” will have changed by 2020. Firstly, we
are already seeing a clear distinction between FM
and other service types. Secondly, the importance of
FM will increase massively. In 2020, a facility
manager will be a solutions partner, a systems
provider and even more of an enabler than is
currently the case. It will be an interesting decade.
However, the current market situation will prompt
further consolidation among FM providers – a trend
which began before the financial markets collapsed
and the recession set in. Companies will emerge
from the crisis stronger if they have specialised in a
specific service or niche, or if they can cover complete value chains for their clients.
15
FACILITY MANAGEMENT
BUILDING ENGINEERING
COMMERCIAL CLEANING
SECURITY AND SERVICE
CATERING
GARDEN AND LANDSCAPING SERVICES
2COM PROPERTY SPECIALISTS
CONSULTING & MANAGEMENT
17
To date, the hard-working staff
from WISAG ­Building Engineering
have replaced approximately
300,000
faulty
bulbs in
­properties under their management.
Every year, our fully qualified
cleaning staff leave an area of some
3,200
square kilometres spick
and span. That is about
six times the area of Lake Constance.
On average, a site patrolman from
WISAG Security and Service takes some
18,081
steps – covering
more than
12 kilometres – per nightly patrol. That adds
up to around 2,880 kilometres every year.
18
WISAG Catering has treated its
customers at company canteens to
1,327,200
cups of fair-trade coffee.
Our gardeners have maintained green spaces spanning
14,600,000
square metres.
That is almost the
same size as the North Sea island of Juist.
164
young people have started
training towards one of about 12 vocational
qualifications at WISAG.
19
FACILITY MANAGEMENT
Facility management –
­moving towards a
strategic partnership
For many years, WISAG has been successfully
ensuring that properties are managed economically
and to a high standard by optimally dovetailing
individual trades and services. 2010 was a particularly challenging year, however. Although the
majority of the economy profited from the upswing,
the real estate sector felt the delayed impact of
the crisis due to the system in place. Customer cost
cutting translated into new tenders and service
cutbacks and dominated our work. We had anticipated this trend and prepared by developing customeroriented, flexible solutions. This enabled us to
retain major contracts, gain attractive new clients
and thereby achieve our own targets. In another
ongoing trend, customers are increasingly enquiring
about larger-scale service packages for several
sites. We now provide services on a nationwide scale
for more than half of our clients. This means that
tenders are gaining in complexity. At the same time,
customer procurement departments are becoming
more professional and there is a growing understanding of our work: the goal is increasingly to
es­tablish long-term strategic partnerships. This
com­pensates to some extent for the fact that we have
reached the minimum price for our services, and
enables us to plan with confidence.
The further consolidation of the facility management
sector proved to be less extensive than anticipated.
There were no large-scale takeovers. Nevertheless,
firms which were once dedicated to classic con­
struction jobs are becoming increasingly involved
in property management and strengthening their
market position by means of acquisitions. At the
20
opposite end of the spectrum are companies with a
long tradition of providing services, which are
also further extending their expertise. Given this
development, the market will continue to con­
centrate on a few large providers and small specialist niche companies.
WISAG Facility Management is confident about the
future. We are sure that the market is settling
down and that the growing importance of ecological
considerations in facility management, for
example, will open up new opportunities. We are
well prepared for the increased pooling of contracts
with our extended key account management and
our wide-ranging portfolio spanning building
engineering, commercial cleaning, security and
service, catering, garden and landscaping services,
consulting and management. The above-mentioned
strategic partnerships will open up new prospects
and we are seeing a growing appreciation for
our work. In this context, it is important for us to
position ourselves even more clearly as a pro­
fessional full service provider for facility management with the in-house capabilities to provide a
large percentage of these services. By revising the
image of the company and the WISAG brand,
we took an important step towards achieving this in
2010.
Integrated WISAG services
Process optimisation
Quality control
Outsourcing
Optimising operating costs
“Deka Immobilien GmbH belongs to the DekaBank
Group, the central asset manager of the SparkassenFinanzgruppe. We are responsible for sales and
purchases of real estate, asset management and all
other property services. We develop holistic solutions
for our customers and are a flexible partner with
strong liquidity. Competent facility management
partners form an important part of these solutions for
us. We have been working with WISAG successfully
for ten years now – the company is a strategic service
provider for our real estate throughout Germany.
As well as completing traditional FM tasks, WISAG
performs a number of special services. We particularly value their staff continuity, which gives WISAG
employees a great deal of experience, enabling
them to offer us optimum support. The key account
management system which has been established
gives us a competent contact person who deals with
our wishes reliably and actively supports us.”
Wolfgang Frisch
Head of Real Estate Management Germany, Deka Immobilien GmbH
21
Sabine Walter, Gerrit Egg and
Sylvia Hartung (left to right) are on a
complex mission
FACILITY MANAGEMENT
195 in one go
Every company is pleased to gain new clients, new
properties, new tasks – including us! But rarely do
we, WISAG’s facility management specialist, acquire
195 interesting properties in one go. And yet that
is precisely what happened at the beginning of 2010
when we took on the infrastructural and technical
management of 195 properties throughout Germany,
including operating responsibility. The properties
belong to IC Immobilien Service GmbH (ICIS), part of
the IC Immobilien Group. This new contract covers
both a wide geographical area and a broad range of
services. We provide everything from cleaning to
garden and landscaping services, and from snow
clearance and gritting to security and building
engineering for our new client. To put it another way:
“We do everything for ICIS – except catering,” as
Gerrit Egg, WISAG Key Account Manager, says.
Originally from Tyrol, Egg is one of the project interfaces along with the ICIS team in Berlin. The success
of the overall project is managed in Berlin. “And
that,” adds Project Manager Sabine Walter, “is a huge
challenge.” This contract adds up to a complex
mission. Firstly, it involves a highly fragmented area
of 1.1 million square metres. Secondly, the team
has to manage some 1,400 old contracts – some of
them several years old – with former service providers.
The properties are also rented by countless tenants
with a wide range of requirements and needs.
While WISAG may only be required to sweep the
pavement at one property, some other premises have
numerous tenants with numerous wishes regarding
security, cleanliness and service. Some are happy
with a response time of two hours for snow clearance
and gritting, while others stipulate a maximum of
30 minutes. In other words, no two ICIS properties
are the same. This means there are no identical
­solutions for all the premises – instead, there are
individual arrangements in place for each address.
For this reason, WISAG has to start by collating all
the relevant information and finding out who is
responsible for what on site, and who should be
contacted about the various matters. This is a timeconsuming – and at times tedious – job, which is
being tackled in close collaboration with the client
and their main contact person, Ines von Müller.
Following a few initial adjustments, the two companies’ joint goal is now in sight. With WISAG, ICIS has
acquired a central FM service provider – a single
firm which delivers high quality across the board.
WISAG is a strategic partner who reliably documents
the properties held, maintains comprehensive
service records and helps ICIS to constantly further
develop its portfolios and identify synergies – twinned
with professional process management, ongoing
communication, extraordinary commitment and
maximum flexibility.
23
24
BUILDING ENGINEERING
Quality: an important factor
for the future
What else can the market offer us? A lot of service
providers’ customers seem to have asked themselves
this question. Due to the pressure on costs brought
about by the economic crisis, many customers wanted
to check whether their existing service contracts
were offering value for money. This triggered a wave
of tendering, which in turn posed a great deal of
challenges for the sector. As high-quality services
make a long-term contribution towards maintaining
properties’ value, standards were an important
consideration when awarding contracts. WISAG
Building Engineering succeeded in mastering this
challenge, primarily thanks to a further improvement
in our service quality in 2010 and the additional
enhancement of our standards and quality assurance
measures. The latter including extending the “Knowledge Pool”, a training programme for property
managers, and improving our internal Best Practice
Portal and our Trouble Ticket System (TTS). As
contracts are increasingly being awarded for a range
of services nationwide, it is important that customers
receive the same service quality wherever they are –
regardless of whether WISAG Building Engineering
is performing services in Hamburg, Frankfurt or
Munich.
The TTS is ideal for clients who entrust us with the
entire technical facility management of their properties. They can see online at a glance which premises
have registered additional requirements or complaints and check the current ticket processing status.
Various escalation levels ensure that issues are
dealt with quickly and reliably.
In addition to this, the WISAG Building Engineering
Best Practice Portal provides suitable solutions and
tried and tested approaches to catering for our
customers’ requirements. The new, revised version
of the portal now supports company-wide dialogue
and knowledge transfer between our employees
even more effectively.
Last but not least, we would like to further optimise
the quality of our work by increasing the percentage
of services we can deliver using in-house capabilities. To achieve this, we are stepping up our CPD
activities as well as proactively recruiting new staff.
We offer our dedicated employees exciting prospects – not just because WISAG hopes to predominantly appoint managers from within its own
workforce in the future.
In the light of climate change and the finite availability
of fossil resources, the industry will face a major
challenge in the years to come. According to the
German government’s energy concept, properties
account for some 40 per cent of energy consumption.
Intelligent energy management and optimised
technical equipment hold a great deal of potential
for our clients. With our expertise and specialist
staff, we at WISAG Building Engineering are ideally
placed to tap this potential.
Facility management
Maintenance
Energy management
Conversions and extensions
24/7 service hotline
BUILDING ENGINEERING
Dedication
our clients appreciate
Problems are usually mentioned pretty quickly.
But what role does praise play in day-to-day work?
People rarely write letters when a job has been
done satisfactorily or exceeded expectations. For
this reason, WISAG Building Engineering BerlinBrandenburg was all the more delighted when it
received a customer e-mail one day saying:
“We recently held the Bright Tradeshow for fashion,
but we never could have done it without the
selfless dedication of Hanjo Fengler and his team.
Mr Fengler’s expertise and active support were a
real help – he made things happen which seemed
almost impossible.”
Mr Fengler, you earn your daily bread by ensuring
that heating, air-conditioning, ventilation, lifts
and other technical equipment work perfectly
around the clock. But how often have you received
this kind of customer feedback?
Thankfully, customers are satisfied far more often
than they tell us in writing. But we get nice letters and
e-mails every so often. Receiving praise like that
really motivates us to keep giving our all.
How do you achieve this kind of customer satis­
faction?
You always have to be a step ahead. Develop a feel
for what the client wants and offer him just that.
For instance, for the Bright Tradeshow – which
focused on skateboarding fashion and street wear
– we managed to get the technical equipment at
the former Lichtenberger Congress Center ready
for a trendy trade show for 13,000 visitors, although
it had been closed down for over ten years.
26
That sounds like quite a challenge.
Yes, it was. The venue was only rented for two
months before the trade show began, which didn’t
give us much time to set the property up in such a
way that the building control office, the technical
safety agency (TÜV) and the fire brigade would all
grant their approval. There were also lots of other
things which we were able to sort out without
any problems thanks to our good WISAG network.
So it was a case of perfect service. How would you
define that?
The client has to feel that they are in safe hands
with us. They need to have the security of knowing
that we will always come up with a plan and
attractive ideas, whatever the technical scenario.
And that we’ll be as proactive as possible.
How do you convey this attitude to your staff?
You have to love and live service – just like in our
company philosophy and WISAG’s values. We pay
a great deal of attention to good interpersonal
relationships, openness and respect, but we also
encourage dedication and initiative. For example,
in the past I personally never would have clocked
off for the day if even a single light bulb at my
customer’s premises wasn’t working.
The 44-year-old WISAG employee started his career
20 years ago in overalls as a chief fitter for the
maintenance of electrical systems. He was subsequently promoted to Service Manager and Site
Manager, and has been Office Manager with
responsibility for 100 employees for the past four
years. His motto is: strive for perfect service at all
times.
Hanjo Fengler (bottom right)
and his team always focus on
customer satisfaction
27
COMMERCIAL CLEANING
Investing in staff
means investing
in the future
In 2010, the economic crisis made itself felt with
some­thing of a delay at WISAG Commercial Cleaning
as customers cut back on services and issued a
large number of tenders. Pressure on prices was
already high, but it rose even further, partly because
the sector’s new minimum wage had to be implemen­
ted at the same time. We promptly reacted to the
new requirements and quickly developed alternative
solutions for our clients. Products such as t.op.
Rei­nigung® – a cleaning service which is optimised
every day – and the integrated service Integrierte
Reinigung by WISAG® respond to customers’
de­mands for greater flexibility. Thanks to our
partnership-based approach to customer relations
and the commitment of our staff, we succeeded in
weathering this tough year. WISAG Commercial
Cleaning achieved its target and experienced further
organic growth. For instance, we extended our
business with branch network customers and were
awarded a contract by a major pharmacy chain with
some 1,000 stores throughout Germany.
Above all, service quality means well-trained staff
with qualifications that make sense to customers.
This is what our TOPfit programme is all about.
In 2010, we trained some 6,500 cleaning operatives
and 200 supervisors. We methodically invest in
the people who work for us as a means of safeguarding quality for our clients across the board.
We have seen a sharp rise in quotations since the end
of 2010, with a clear trend towards large-scale
projects as customers invite tenders for their whole
nationwide portfolio. This poses specific logistical
challenges as staff and resources have to be available
at the different premises precisely when they are
needed.
Preparing our team for these challenges is therefore
right at the top of our agenda for 2011. By launching
the TOPfit programme for customer advisors,
we will ensure that universal training is provided
for all staff involved in operations. Based on the
Group’s vision, we also want to fill managerial
positions predominantly from our own workforce.
In the light of these developments, quality is and
remains critical to success, which is why we are
focussing strongly on business excellence – safeguar­
ding uniform quality standards throughout Germany.
Our efforts are bearing fruit: in 2010, the EFQM
ranking (European Foundation for Quality Management) placed us in the superior four-star category
“Recognised for Excellence”.
28
Our employees are also grateful for this, as indicated
by their positive responses to our staff survey, for
example, and a fluctuation rate of less than 20 per
cent – a relatively low figure for this sector. This is a
clear sign that we are becoming an employer of
choice for cleaning operatives.
Training programmes and staff loyalty will remain
priorities in the future, partly because cleaning
services are becoming increasingly complex and the
demands placed on workforce organisation are
growing. This means there is a greater need for
graduates as well as skilled workers.
Maintenance cleaning
Glass and façade cleaning
Thorough cleaning and special services
Clean room cleaning
Food hygiene
“We make a lot of people in Hesse very happy.
That’s because we’re responsible for the technical
side of various lottery draws – the LOTTO, the
football pools, ODDSET, Spiel 77, Super 6, BINGO
and KENO, instant-prize scratch cards and the
Glücksspirale. Every week, we process some
1.6 million lottery tickets. Maximum security,
relia­bility and trust are absolutely essential for our
sensitive business. Our customers rightly expect
this of us and we choose our service providers on
this basis too. We have found an extremely profes-
sional partner in WISAG Commercial Cleaning.
The company’s dedicated staff have reliably been
keeping our head office in Wiesbaden clean since
1995. If any adjustments are needed, WISAG
comes up with solutions quickly and flexibly. It is a
working relationship based on partnership which
we value very highly.”
Wolfgang Wilbert
Commercial Manager, Lotterie-Treuhandgesellschaft mbH Hesse
29
A well-coordinated team and a high
level of flexibility are important success
­factors for Michael Suske (bottom left)
30
COMMERCIAL CLEANING
Reliable cleanliness –
even at a dizzy height
Leipzig as far as the eye can see. Fantastic views from
the roof of Löhrs Carré. The zoo on one side;
Europe’s largest terminus station on the other. From
a height of 65 metres, it all looks a bit like a miniature version of Leipzig. But Alexander Krause and
Torsten Geißler aren’t interested in the panoramic
views. They carefully examine their ten kilos of
equipment, check the safety harness and the rope,
test the carabiners and scrutinise the straps. Then
they make sure they’ve got buckets, water, squeegees,
chamois leathers, microfibre cloths and detergent.
A quick nod – then the two muscular men step off the
parapet without a moment’s hesitation and abseil
down the building on their 100-metre-long ropes.
17 storeys of gleaming glass await them below.
Just before he surrenders to the pull of gravity,
Torsten Geißler says: “You couldn’t do this job if you
were afraid of heights or suffered from vertigo.”
The two men are commercial cleaners who have
completed certified additional training and now
eliminate dirt from windows and façades as highaltitude workers for WISAG Commercial Cleaning.
They work on all the areas which cranes, ground lifts
and ladders cannot reach. Today, they are at the
Löhrs Carré complex, the head office of Sachsenbank
and Sparkasse Leipzig in the heart of Leipzig.
The office block’s windows cover an area of some
15,000 square metres and are cleaned three times a
year. However, they are just part of the extensive
cleaning contract which WISAG has for this prestigious property with Pro Carré Facility Management
GmbH. Every single day, 13 well-trained cleaning
operatives spread out throughout the premises to
make an area averaging around 23,000 square
metres shine. That adds up to half a million square
metres every month. Both the client and the banking
centre’s staff are thoroughly satisfied with their
work. Security is a priority at the complex, where
WISAG has been providing a professional cleaning
service since 1998. In addition to offices, corridors,
foyers and conference rooms, this spans the
centre’s outdoor areas and underground car park.
The cleaning crew uses eco-friendly detergents and
conserves resources. Office Manager Michael Suske
is proud of the company’s performance. “With our
hand-picked team, we offer a flexible service that
caters for the client’s exacting requirements.” This is
a crucial success factor – but it is far from being the
only one. 13 years of cleaning have brought WISAG
and its client together in a very real partnership,
given rise to constant contact persons with minimal
fluctuation, and ensured that both sides communicate with one another as equals. “That makes us a
reliable partner,” says Supervisor Anette Meinel, just
as her phone rings. A coffee pot has just fallen over
in the foyer. She walks towards the door, turns
around again briefly and adds: “Fast responses are
an essential part of that.”
31
SECURITY AND SERVICE
An intelligent combination
of security and service
The multi-talented employees from WISAG Security
and Service monitor buildings, check tickets,
­welcome visitors and much more – reliably providing
security around the clock, whatever the weather.
They are often responsible for protecting sizeable
assets. It is a valuable service for which a fair wage
should be paid. This is why WISAG championed
fair pay for its employees again in 2010 – by campaigning for the introduction of a minimum wage and
the implementation of regional increases in standard
wages. We are pleased that the majority of clients
sympathised with our cause. However, conveying the
value of the work done by our conscientious, dedi­
cated specialist staff will remain a challenge in the
future. This is partly because pressure on prices
remains high on the market. 2010 was therefore a
challenging year, but we are satisfied with the course
of business overall: we attracted new clients and
grew our sales again.
We are delighted with this outcome – but we have no
intention of resting on our laurels. We will continue
to invest in training our staff and expanding our
quality management system, and we will keep
developing high-quality services at reasonable prices.
Our MeTeOr concept is just one example which
shows that this is possible. Centring on a judicious
combination of people, modern technology and
organisation, it is tailored to the specific customer’s
needs until it fits like a glove. Another example is
“Safe & Secure”, which works with needs-based
rosters. In addition to this, there is room for improvement in a number of areas, such as reception and –
in particular – post room services. For instance, the
intelligent combination of post orders can generate
quantity savings. We have acknowledged the
expansion of our portfolio by changing our name from
WISAG Security Services to WISAG Security and
Service.
This was made possible largely by the high quality of
our services, which is primarily shaped by our
qualified staff. We are well aware of this and extended
our range of training programmes in 2010. As well
as proactively expanding our employees’ expertise,
this boosts their motivation and offers them brighter
career prospects.
In 2011, we will concentrate on consistently acting on
the results of our customer survey. Further increases
in standard wages are also due. We need a statutory
minimum wage to counteract so-called “wage
dumping” – the practice of forcing down wages – and
safeguard jobs in Germany. We are therefore
delighted that the German cabinet has resolved to
introduce a minimum wage for the surveillance and
security trade as of 1 June 2011.
It is a successful strategy, as borne out by the results
of the customer survey we conducted in conjunction
with the market research institute infas at the end
of 2010. 73 per cent of our clients are currently very
satisfied with the security and service they receive
from WISAG, while a further 23 per cent are satisfied.
32
Protection and prevention
Security consultancy and technology
Emergency hotline and service centre
Reception and post room services
Trade show and event services
“MAN Diesel & Turbo is a leading global supplier of
large diesel engines and turbomachinery for
maritime and stationary applications. The company
employs around 12,500 people at more than 100
international sites. Approximately 3,300 members
of staff currently work in administration and pro­
duction at the company’s headquarters in Augs­burg,
where we have been working with WISAG as a
reliable partner for site protection and security since
1989. The 20 WISAG employees at the site are
responsible for checking people and vehicles
entering the plant, car park surveillance, patrols,
the alarm control centre, providing assistance in
emergencies and security services for special
events at the plant site. As a company with largescale production operations, we have been bene­
fiting hugely from the WISAG Group’s expertise
and professionalism for more than 20 years.”
Klaus Pudel
Manager of Plant Security, MAN Diesel & Turbo SE
33
SECURITY AND SERVICE
A high flier
in the security sector
Sometimes a golden opportunity comes along.
Julia-Anna Schwark, 24, certainly made the most of
hers. In September 2007, she started an appren­
ticeship at WISAG, training to become a protection and
security specialist. Even as an apprentice, she liaised
with ­clients, produced rosters and assisted with
job interviews. As soon as she finished her appren­
ticeship, she became Property Manager at Hanover’s
Kaufland Center. Soon afterwards, on 1 December
2010, Julia-Anna Schwark was named Section Head
of WISAG Security and Service in Hanover – a position
in which she line manages around 50 members of
staff.
Ms Schwark, your career has got off to a perfect
start. Did you plan it all that way?
No, not really. If you had told me in my first year as an
apprentice that I’d be Section Head in two years’
time, I would have shaken my head in disbelief. But
the more was asked of me, the greater my motivation
became. I just really enjoy it.
Many other people of your age have a lot more free
time than you with your responsibilities as Section
Head. Are you sometimes jealous?
Maybe occasionally when I’m called into work at night,
but never for very long. I love my job, my clients
and co-workers accept me, and I thrive on the work.
And I’m proud to have made it to this position at
the age of 24. I can enjoy more free time when I retire.
34
You are line manager for some 50 members of staff.
What do you look for most of all in the people you
work with?
Reliability, support, honesty and trust are what I
expect from my staff. And I offer them the same in
return. All of them can talk to me about anything and
come to me with their questions and problems.
It’s all about reciprocal esteem.
Many people think of your job as being traditionally
male-dominated. What makes women better
security experts?
I don’t think women are better – they’re different.
You have to find a happy medium between being
friendly, human and assertive. Women can be a bit
more sensitive to that.
How much security do your customers need
and how much protection and service can you really
offer them?
It’s impossible to make a general statement about
that. We deal with a lot of people with different needs
every day. You have to be able to assess a situation;
we always have to check every scenario. We help
people whenever possible – and that includes going
beyond the call of duty. That’s what I think being a
service provider means.
There must sometimes be critical situations at a
property like the Kaufland Center where there
are a lot of visitors coming and going. How do you
handle them?
Good teamwork is absolutely essential. We also train
for these kind of situations regularly. It is important
for both the head of operations and the whole team
to keep calm and dedicate their full attention and
concentration to the situation in hand. And there’s no
doubt we can do that.
Julia-Anna Schwark
sets great store
by good teamwork
35
CATERING
A delight
for all the senses
A delicious meal, appetising presentation, and service
with a smile – food appeals to all of our senses.
However, for people to really enjoy a meal and go
away satisfied, every part of their dining experience
has to be high quality. In other words, the atmosphere and the presentation of the food have to be
right as well as the meal itself. This comprehensive
concept of catering is important to WISAG.
In 2009, we were named Caterer of the Year for our
“Caring about cooking” scheme, which plays an
important role in helping us to deliver all-round
quality. The concept centres on good food, freshly
prepared by highly skilled staff. Last year, we
implemented the programme at 25 companies and
we plan to roll it out at the remaining company
canteens by 2012. Feedback from our customers to
diner surveys shows that they have developed a real
taste for the new scheme.
Our aim is to constantly treat our customers to
delicious food. Once the right standard has been
reached, it is quite a challenge to maintain it.
However, in 2010 we launched a quality drive which
ensures that standards do not slip. The campaign
focuses primarily on providing ongoing training
for our staff because their cooking skills and creativity
are the key to impressing our customers day after
day. This is why we have further enhanced our already
extensive training programme, for example by
adding courses on kitchen techniques and current
trends such as finger food, and by building on our
“Caring about service” concept. But that is not all:
we also support our kitchen teams with purchasing
36
recommendations, recipe ideas and information on
organic and fair-trade products, for instance.
Our training courses define the standards for tho­
roughly successful catering but also leave sufficient scope for creativity and individuality. As well as
being appreciated by our customers, this motivates our staff to contribute their own ideas and
con­tinuously maintain and build on our quality standards. This is important because we want to offer
more than other providers in the future by giving our
service a personal touch.
On the whole, the 2010 financial year developed
positively for WISAG Catering. Despite the tense
economic situation, the company was able to record
further organic growth. Thanks to this growth and
the new restaurants which were opened as a result,
we were able to further professionalise our pre-­
opening management. This is something we will
continue to focus on in 2011, alongside further
qualifications for our employees. We also want to
further boost the quality improvements we have
initiated with the aid of software and set up “digital
operating centres” which compile all the relevant
information and key figures and enable site managers to work even more efficiently.
Consultancy and conceptualisation
Corporate catering
Services for patients and senior citizens
Catering for nurseries and schools
Event catering
37
CATERING
A canteen with
green credentials
The staff restaurant at Werner & Mertz in Mainz is
somewhere people can come to relax. Light-flooded
rooms, modern furnishings in appealing colours
and a colourful selection of freshly prepared meals.
The canteen forms part of the new office complex
which was officially opened in September 2010 and
is an impressive expression of the company’s
sustainability ethos. Using wind power, photovoltaics
and geothermal energy, the new-build generates
more power than it needs to operate. The interior of
the staff restaurant also complies with the sustaina­
bility philosophy of this family company, which is
best known for its Frosch, Erdal and emsal brands.
A “green wall” made up of 2,350 plants connected to
a circulating water system increases the atmospheric
humidity. This makes it possible to achieve a room
temperature which feels just right with less heating.
On top of that, the wall is a feast for the eyes.
The restaurant is operated by WISAG Catering.
Bernd Orio and his team also took their customer’s
sustainability requirements into account when
planning the kitchen, which is fitted with state-of-theart, high-tech appliances with the best energy
efficiency ratings possible. For example, the dishwasher uses reverse osmosis, which makes the
water used for dishwashing softer and means it uses
much less detergent. Heat is also extracted from
38
the dishwashing water for use in the subsequent
drying process, which saves more energy.
Bernd Orio is also flexible when it comes to selecting
sustainable produce for the restaurant. Fresh,
top-quality ingredients are his number one priority.
He only buys products which are free of additives
and flavour enhancers. All the salad dressings and
desserts are homemade. He has switched entirely to
organic dairy produce and only uses fair-trade
coffee. What’s more, the restaurant manager has
promptly stopped using suppliers who do not have a
sustainable code of practice.
As well as providing meals for staff, Bernd Orio and
his seven-strong team provide a conference service
and cater for five or six large-scale events each
month. A completely organic conference service may
sound daunting, but the WISAG employees take it
all in their stride.
The catering manager has not even had to adjust his
method of cooking. His team was one of the first
to test “Caring about cooking”, so he has no trouble
treating Werner & Mertz staff and visitors to low-­
calorie menus, a vegetarian buffet and a different wok
dish every day. In such pleasant surroundings,
everything he serves tastes twice as good.
Bernd Orio and his team are consistent
yet flexible in implementing a
­sustainable restaurant concept
39
GARDEN AND LANDSCAPING SERVICES
Skilled care
for all things green
If you ask WISAG’s garden and landscape maintenance staff what sticks in their minds most about
2010, it is unlikely to be colourful flowerbeds or rich
green lawns. Snow was the most memorable
aspect of last year – one which pushed both our staff
and our machinery to the limits. The teams seemed
to be permanently out clearing snow and ice to
ensure that approach roads and paths were safe for
vehicles and pedestrians. Thanks to WISAG’s
flexible structure, we were able to react to the
situation quickly and procure additional machinery.
Thanks to our teams’ dedication, reliability and
speed, numerous additional customers signed up
for our snow clearance and gritting service and we
recorded a sharp rise in sales.
The positive trends in sales and earnings in 2010
were attributable to market developments and new
tenders in the housing industry. Customers were
evidently impressed by our green-fingered specialists’ expertise – as well as attracting additional
service contracts, we were able to sign new maintenance agreements worth some EUR 1.6 million.
With the increase in queries, we are also seeing
another trend which we began preparing for some
time ago: nationwide tendering for complex service
packages. Clients are looking for a single expert
who they can call on to reliably maintain their green
spaces, clear snow and grit, clean areas of hard
standing, prune trees, complete safety inspections
and – if necessary – distribute post too. Clients from
the housing industry are particularly keen for this
kind of service. WISAG can handle all these aspects
because we are not only a family-run specialist
firm – we are also part of a large network of service
providers. We are therefore ideally placed to cater
40
for these needs with our qualified and enthusiastic
gardeners, our nationwide presence in Germany
and our ability to tap synergies with other WISAG
divisions.
In order to step up our regional presence, we
opened our seventh office in Munich in January
2010 and established our own sites in Kassel and
Gießen. As we grow, we are committed to main­
taining our high service quality, which is why
we are ensuring our teams are fit for this task by
means of specially developed training measures.
In April 2010, we launched our programme
“GREEN to the Max” for our supervisors, which
covers gardening, leadership and management
aspects. WISAG is one of just a few companies in
the garden maintenance sector to fulfil the
international standards ISO 9001 and ISO 14001.
Both certifications were renewed in 2010.
2011 got off to a good start for WISAG Garden and
Landscaping Services. We want to keep growing
and are adjusting our organisational structure to
the new situation. For example, we have extended
our sales activities for all nationwide operations.
At the same time, we will maintain the flexibility of
our local offices to enable us to cater for customers’ needs quickly and individually.
Green space maintenance
Open space management
Tree care
New sites
Snow clearance and gritting
41
Jan Tholema (bottom
right) shares the view that:
“Continuing professional
development boosts
­customer focus”
42
GARDEN AND LANDSCAPING SERVICES
The future is all about
“GREEN to the Max”
“GREEN to the Max” is not only good for nature –
it is also the name of a new training programme at
WISAG. The scheme has been flourishing since
April 2010 and will gradually be completed by all
supervisors at WISAG Garden and Landscaping
Services. There are two good reasons for launching
“GREEN to the Max”: well-trained staff ensure
our ongoing success and that of our clients. Esteem
is therefore at the heart of the CPD scheme in
several ways. Supervisors are given an opportunity
to develop, which has a knock-on effect on clients
and ultimately also on WISAG. This is because
WISAG Garden and Landscaping Services can now
meet its growth-driven demand for supervisors
almost entirely by recruiting and developing existing
employees thanks to such high-quality training
activities.
The “GREEN to the Max” programme is made up of
ten modules and lasts one year. Supervisors
complete one module each month, followed by a
revision session to consolidate what they have
learned and a final unit. The programme is constantly
being adjusted and extended. So what is the
purpose of customer-oriented modules such as
“Documentation and reporting”, “Code of conduct”,
“Special services” and “Familiarisation with new
properties”? What are the aims of practical units
like “Securing loads”, “Preventing accidents”,
“Servicing machinery” and “Power saw certificate”?
“Ultimately, it is all about ensuring that supervisors put customers first, catering fully for our clients’
needs and maintaining a safe working environment,” explains Jan Tholema, landscape engineer,
Section Head at WISAG Garden and Landscaping
Services and one of the programme’s coaches.
One year into the scheme, he is extremely positive
about its success to date: the programme has
been well received overall and staff have participated in it enthusiastically, especially the practical
gardening modules. His experience of the “staff
train staff” concept has also been very positive.
Tholema adds: “As a line manager, I know the
supervisors. This means I can offer them better
support and tailored training.” With its approach of
rectifying deficits and consolidating strengths,
staff are aware that the programme has been
“developed by us for them”. As a result they are
more motivated and more committed. They are
also given a more professional set of skills which
enables them to provide friendly, value-oriented
and active customer service. On top of all this, the
employees gain excellent prospects of promotion
in a company which thinks green and grows all
year round, not just in spring.
43
44
2COM PROPERTY SPECIALISTS CONSULTING & MANAGEMENT
A competence centre for
­eco-sustainable
property consultancy
For 13 years now, 2COM Property Specialists Con­
sul­ting & Management has been helping compa­
nies to optimise their real estate, both by tapping the
potential to increase value and by means of efficient
process management. We take a holistic view and
consider the property’s entire life cycle. Our great
strength is being able to draw on WISAG’s comprehensive set of data and more than 45 years of facility
and property management. This enables us to put
together specialist teams for a wide range of requirements when necessary and thereby combine the
expertise of experienced hands-on staff with professional consulting and management services.
For some time now, sustainability has been a core
part of optimum property operations. Ecology is
increasingly becoming a megatrend, even in the FM
industry. So it should come as no surprise that
energy certificates in particular – and certification in
line with the German Sustainable Building Council
(DGNB) or the LEED system developed by the Green
Building Council, which we are now licensed to
accompany as auditors – played a major role in driving
sales in 2010. We produced some 200 energy
certificates for a major international investment
company alone.
Ecology is gaining in importance within WISAG too.
By 2020, the company aims to primarily utilise
environmentally friendly products and processes and
to be regarded as a pioneer and role model as
regards environmental protection. We are helping
WISAG to achieve this – for instance by running staff
and client workshops and by developing and
implementing specific projects. By doing this, we are
also increasingly becoming the organisation’s
internal competence centre for ecology. The focus
for us is not on coming up with new services.
Instead, we want to raise client and staff awareness
of ecological issues in their day-to-day lives and
capitalise on opportunities here which have not yet
been utilised.
All in all, the past financial year was a good one. Our
sales – which are generated by a growing number
of products and services – came in exactly on target.
Although demand for new-build consulting was
very restrained in 2010, it has been rising noticeably
since the start of the new year. In conjunction with
the issue of sustainability, we expect this trend
to continue, due partly to the fact that – in both new-­
builds and existing properties – the holistic optimi­
sation of operating costs offers significant potential
for savings.
As demand for our services grows, recruiting the
necessary skilled staff is also becoming increasingly
important. This is a huge challenge because wellqualified staff are extremely sought after on the
market. For this reason, WISAG launched a trainee
programme in 2009 enabling us to turn out our own
next generation of staff. Three trainees started the
demanding programme in the first year, and another
four joined the scheme in 2010.
FM during construction
Green consulting
Certifications
Optimising operating costs
CAFM software tools
45
2COM PROPERTY SPECIALISTS CONSULTING & MANAGEMENT
WISAGed from A to Z
A traineeship at WISAG is an interesting springboard
into the world of facility management and consultancy. Although it is an attractive profession, we –
like the rest of the sector – are finding it increasingly
difficult to hire skilled staff with the necessary
qualifications. 2COM and WISAG are responding to
this by actively training the next generation of staff
within the Group. A comprehensive, attractive
trainee programme has been launched which teaches
an in-depth knowledge of all areas of FM and offers
young people plenty of development opportunities.
Carsten Booms is already on the demanding trainee
programme. The 29-year-old has a degree in
business engineering. He submitted an impressive
application and was lucky enough to be chosen.
Demand for the traineeships is high – to be precise,
the company received 180 applications for four
places. Three of these traineeships were for WISAG
Facility Service Holding, while the remaining one
was the first traineeship at WISAG Aviation Service
Holding. Carsten Booms has never regretted his
decision for a moment. Quite the opposite: “I was
welcomed with open arms, have found out about a
lot of interesting projects, and have had the oppor­
tunity to develop.” This is thanks in part to the
cleverly devised trainee programme and the wide
range of tasks he has tackled in recent months. His
traineeship started with the production of energy
certificates at 2COM in Berlin. Then he moved on to
WISAG Building Engineering, where he became
familiar with day-to-day operations, for example at
the almost 110-metre-high Westhafen Tower in
Frankfurt. What makes this property so special is
that: “WISAG Building Engineering and Security and
Service work together there, which means I gained
46
an insight into interdisciplinary working as well as
learning about special technology, such as absorption-­
type refrigerating machines and a recooling system
which uses water from the River Main.”
Most trainees who complete a postgraduate traineeship at WISAG and 2COM are highly ambitious.
The trainee programme lasts 24 months. In their first
year, the trainees rotate through the different
divisions at WISAG – i. e. Commercial Cleaning,
Building Engineering, Security and Service, Catering,
Garden and Landscaping Services, Facility Management and 2COM. They go on night patrols and
vehicular site patrols as well as being given a taste of
life in the kitchens and logistics. Then they spend
their second year deepening their knowledge.
Benjamin Kübler has completed the programme and
– like all trainees to date – was given a permanent
position at one of WISAG’s divisions before his
two-year traineeship was over. The 31-year-old also
has a business degree and is now a project manager.
He has a simple formula for success at WISAG:
“Initiative + determination + dedication = stimulation.”
To put it differently, those who contribute and
demonstrate commitment are given responsibility at
WISAG and the chance to push themselves, play
an active role and achieve something by working
with others. Whatever important FM issue is in hand,
from sustainable business operations to greater
energy efficiency, economy and optimising costs:
“As a trainee, you’re close to the action throughout
the organisation and you get thoroughly WISAGed,”
Benjamin Kübler and Carsten Booms say in unison.
By that, they mean: “You learn a lot and are always
held in high esteem.”
Carsten Booms (left) and
­Benjamin Kübler (right) are in no
doubt that those who are willing
are supported and stimulated
47
WISAG
Foreign subsidiaries of WISAG
Represented by ECS partnerships
48
EUROPEAN CUSTOMER SERVICES
Taking a new approach
in Europe
“Do you operate abroad too?” WISAG often enters
into international projects via existing clients
who want to pool services throughout Europe. For
over ten years, projects of this kind have been
managed via the ECS alliance (European Customer
Services).
In 2010, WISAG adopted a new approach to sales to
ensure it will be considered as a service provider
for Europe-wide tenders, attract international
contracts and safeguard existing portfolios. This
strategy led to a partnership with the leading
service company Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL), which is
in direct contact with international clients and
manages services on their behalf.
Jones Lang LaSalle has some 185 offices around
the world and works in more than 1,000 towns and
cities in 60 different countries. With annual sales
(2010) of US $ 2.9 billion and a portfolio covering
167 million square metres around the world, the
company is an industry leader in the field of property
and corporate facility management services.
WISAG recognised the potential of collaborating
with a global leader like JLL. Following successful
completion of a project in 2010, the company
therefore strove to be included in the list of preferred
suppliers, meaning it would receive queries about
similar projects in the future. After a lengthy
prequalification phase, JLL finally confirmed that
WISAG had been listed as a premium supplier in
conjunction with ECS.
The first large-scale project soon came along. In
collaboration with ECS, WISAG produced a quotation for FM services for one of JLL’s clients with
44 premises spanning 29 countries. Projects are
organised solely in English, making clear communication difficult at times. As well as linguistic
barriers, international business poses new challenges in the shape of cultural hurdles, different ways
of working and – above all – contractual issues.
However, the project team overcame all these
prob­lems with ease. As well as winning the contract,
they succeeded in proving to JLL that WISAG and
ECS are a reliable partner.
Kerry-Anne Dilley, Project Manager at JLL, said:
“At this stage I would like to thank you for the
excellent relationship management, dedication and
management of this request for proposal to ensure
WISAG’s success and deliver a solution for FM
services which has positioned WISAG as a strategic
partner to JLL. This is the start of a strong relation­
ship and we are looking for the same relationships
[…]”.
Successfully attracting a contract of this size and
satisfying the client confirm that WISAG is on the
right track with this partnership. There are further
large-scale projects in the pipeline, which will
open up new opportunities on the international
market.
We are delighted that we will be able to offer our
clients even better assistance and support with their
Europe-wide service pooling in the future.
49
WISAG FACILITY SERVICE
Figures for 2010
Sales
2010
2009
Year-on-year change
Facility Management
In EUR thousand
167,622
154,373
13,249
8.6 %
Building Engineering
In EUR thousand
180,744
167,448
13,296
7.9 %
Commercial Cleaning In EUR thousand
209,503
200,355
9,148
4.6 %
Security and Service
In EUR thousand
135,092
129,321
5,771
4.5 %
Catering In EUR thousand
37,889
33,502
4,387
13.1 %
Garden and Landscaping Services
In EUR thousand
28,401
20,764
7,637
36.8 %
Other services In EUR thousand
35,696
35,752
– 56
– 0.2 %
Subtotal
In EUR thousand
794,947
741,515
53,432
7.2 %
Consolidation In EUR thousand
185,396
166,605
18,791
11.3 %
Total
In EUR thousand
609,551
574,910
34,641
6.0 %
In EUR thousand
26,796
25,412
1,384
5.4 %
3–5 %
3–5 %
12.76 %
12.80 %
20,896
20,050
846
4.2 %
2,034
2,220
– 186
– 8.4 %
332
330
2
0.6 %
23,262
22,600
662
2.9 %
Foreign contribution EBIT margin range
In % of turnover
Subcontractors’ share
0.04 percentage points
Employees, annual average
Blue-collar workers
White-collar workers
Trainees
Total
50
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
We would like to thank all of our partners for their kind support.
Published and implemented by: WISAG Facility Service Holding GmbH & Co. KG
Kennedyallee 76, 60596 Frankfurt am Main, Germany
Editor: Christina Moral Hellermann, Head of Marketing & Communication
Text: Tamara Schreiber and Patricia Schaad, PR consultants
Image credits:Christian Schlüter
Printed by:Unterleider Medien GmbH, Rödermark
Frankfurt am Main, May 2011
51
Service hotline
WISAG Facility Service Holding:
Tel. +49 800 4480007
Germany
Headquarters in
Frankfurt am Main
120 offices
24-hour service hotline
Emergency number and service centre:
23,300 employees
The company also has its
Tel. +49 800 4480008
own foreign subsidiaries in
www.wisag.de
Austria,
Luxembourg,
Poland and
Switzerland
And it is represented
through the ECS alliance in
11 countries
With approx. 52,000
­employees