Assistant Workplace Services Manager

The Government Property Agency is changing the way the Civil Service works and is at the forefront of the Government’s transformation agenda; reshaping the relationship civil servants have with their place of work. The Agency is central to the delivery of key Government policies including moving 22,000 Civil Service roles out of London by 2030 and tackling climate change by contributing to the Net Zero agenda. To do this we are delivering a major change programme across the UK and consolidating our portfolio in order to save £1.4 Bn over 10 years. 

Beyond the bricks and mortar, the GPA is about providing great workplaces for our people. Through programmes like Hubs, Whitehall Campus and Smart Working you will be in the vanguard of creating model working environments and promoting flexible working practices. 

This is an ambitious and exciting task, for which we need innovative people, with strong commercial acumen, who are passionate about visualising and implementing customer needs. Launched as an Executive Agency of the Cabinet Office in 2018, we’re a relatively new department and we are growing fast so we also need people who thrive in ambiguity, can adapt quickly to change and are comfortable stepping outside of their remit to drive outcomes.

The GPA is committed to representing the communities we serve by making Diversity, Equality and Inclusion part of everything we do.
To ensure that we are always recruiting and retaining a diverse mix of talent, we are particularly inviting applications from candidates who are disabled, ethnically or gender diverse, and people who identify as being part of the LGBTQ+ community.

The Assistant Workplace Manager is a pivotal position within the Workplace Service Delivery Team.  Reporting to and supporting the Workplace Management. The post holder will be the face of Workplace Services to the customers, suppliers and GPA stakeholders across their designated  sites within one of four GPA operational regions (North, Central, South and London).  The role is based at Apex Court in Nottingham and it is anticipated that it will support GPA activities at nearby sites in Nottingham, Leicester and Coventry.

The Assistant Workplace Manager is responsible for first line engagement with workplace service supplier’s contractor delivery, and customer/stakeholder relationships in the everyday BAU management of workplace services throughout your designated  properties.  The role is the daily face to customers, and our supplier partners.  The post holder  will be responsible for resolving customer issues and complaints from client organisations or those arising from the helpdesk,  escalating as necessary to the workplace manager and wider GPA directorates to ensure timely action. The role may also oversee the delivery of low value resource projects and provide information to help define and deliver capital projects. Effectively manages the supplier partners to ensure service delivery standards and performance is in line with the expected standards, ultimately driving our great places to work agenda from the front.

Key Responsibilities:

Responsible for understanding and delivering operational processes required to manage the delivery of services, payments and audit regime.

• Responsible for the effective management of all delegated spend within agreed internal governance procedures.
• Responsible for ensuring appropriate internal governance procedures are implemented in procuring and authorising spend to ensure appropriate value for money and contract delivery.
• Responsible for BAU  day to day management of workplace suppliers service delivery and ensuring agreed delivery standards are met, alongside business requirements/H&S/value for money and procurement guidelines.  Ensuring that remedial action is taken where this is not the case.
• Undertaking supplier audits including but not limited to performance audits, cleaning and work orders
• Undertaking site visits required to manage service as required, completing a full site audit of each premise under their responsibility once a year, resolving issues where possible.
• Resolving customer issues and complaints, escalating when appropriate to Workplace Manager
• Ensuring suppliers provide proposals for lifecycle replacement and planned maintenance work at a property level and retain oversight of any agreed actions . 
• Managing rechargeable works i.e. work that is requested by the customer that is outside the fixed price element of the Workplace Services contract, reactive work, and new works, cost management and reporting to the WS Service Lead.
• Actively maintains trackers and information repositories to support auditable trains and reconciliation processes
• Liaising with the wider GPA stakeholders as required to seek advice / guidance.
• Monitoring of reactive and project spends and reporting against budget.
• Reviewing and updating, as required, contractual service details for each property via agreed variation/scheduling and commercial process; ensuring data accurately reflected on relevant systems.
• Utilise management information for audit, assurance and validation of service purposes and to direct physical checks and as leverage with suppliers to focus any improvement in processes, specifications or services. 
• Supports the provision of information to enable responses to FOIs and PQs within the set timescales
• Responsible for incident management and reporting for sites within scope
• Implements change initiatives at sites within remit on time and to the expected quality standards, this includes managing suppliers to deliver these where required.
• Deputise for the Workplace Manager where required
• Any other reasonable and authorised request to support business needs
• Must be willing and able to travel within the geography of the Region (and occasionally nationally) to deliver the duties and attend management meetings visiting sites not easily accessible by public transport

External Interfaces

• Managing external interfaces e.g. landlords services provided under a service charge in conjunction with GPA Asset Management, and internal interfaces, with Security, IT etc.
• Managing delivery of minor works and churn projects (lower value / less complex projects) and escalation of higher value / more complex projects to Workplace Services Projects.  Ensuring all relevant stakeholders have been identified and liaising accordingly to ensure local customer requirements for works/small projects are fed into project definition.
• Providing local knowledge to GPA Asset management in their liaison with landlords / managing agents on service deficiencies and other matters.
• Identify opportunities to deliver portfolio strategic and individual property efficiency, sustainability and environmental savings.
• Provide support to Workplace Services Projects in obtaining landlords’ approval for projects delegated to the regional teams.

This is an excellent time to join GPA, and play a crucial role in contributing to a priority agenda.

Experience & technical skills

Essential

• An experienced property and/or workplace service management professional with knowledge of asset management, maintenance, customer service and supplier management.

•  Analytical mind-set with the ability to assimilate a wide range of data sources to inform decision making.

• Good interpersonal, communication and presentational and team working skills.

• Persuasive influencer who is able to confidently and articulately make an argument in support of a position.

• Must be willing and able to travel within the geography of the Region (and occasionally nationally) to deliver the duties and attend management meetings visiting sites not easily accessible by public transport

Desirable

• Innovative mind-set with the ability to see opportunities and how to exploit them to deliver best value.
• Experience of working in cross-functional teams and in a matrix management structure.
• A basic understanding of leading and/or supporting workplace-related services (hard and soft FM, operational security, ICT services, hospitality, community engagement) ideally with a basic level of commercial understanding in industry and the ability to get the best out of all stakeholders.

Qualifications & accreditations

Essential criteria

• An appropriate professional qualification or ability to demonstrate equivalent experience that would facilitate admission to a professional body (e.g. RICS, IET, IWFM, CIBSE etc.).
• Able to demonstrate personal development through continued professional development in property and FM related field.

Desirable criteria

• Commercial contract management Awareness trained

We’ll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:

• Seeing the Big Picture
• Communicating and Influencing
• Delivering at Pace

We’ll assess you against these technical skills during the selection process:

• Customer Perspective
• Commercial Acumen
• Property Market Knowledge
• Innovation

• Learning and development tailored to your role
• An environment with flexible working options
• A culture encouraging inclusion and diversity
• A Civil Service pension with an average employer contribution of 27%
• Generous annual leave

Job contact :

• Name : Mike Feakins
• Email : mike.feakins@gpa.gov.uk

Recruitment team

• Email : gparecruitment.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk