While facility managers may not agree on a lot of the major issues that they deal with daily, one area of their jobs they can all agree on is the need to keep, find and retain quality employees.
JT Troesch, the facilities director for the Ascension Sacred Heart System in Florida and a 2023 Facility Champion, can relate to this challenge. His ability to build a maintenance team for the Pensacola, Florida, based system helped him reach his current position at the system, which includes four hospitals totaling 2.6 million square feet of space in addition to eight other off-site locations.
Training and recruiting are two of the most important aspects of a job as an FM.
“I believe one of the bigger challenges we face today is around recruiting and training associates,” says Troesch, a Navy veteran who served six years after high school. “We continue to find innovative ways to recruit employees that are waiting to learn a trade and create training programs that help them become more well-rounded as an associate and as a person.”
Troesch has made training a vital part of the hospital’s facilities mission.
“It is a vital part of our mission which leads to increased productivity, decreases turnover, increases job effectiveness, and shows our teams we have a vested interest in their future,” he says. “This is even more important today as facilities management has an aging workforce.”
Troesch’s training program involves two parts: orientation and bi-weekly training. Managers work with employees to compile a list of common and critical tasks that facilities employees need to execute. Employees then work with peers during a 13-week orientation training that includes working with different associates for the first 12 weeks with the final week spent doing administrative duties and a talk with leadership.
A second training opportunity is a bi-weekly program for employees dedicated to safety training which includes subject matter experts being brought in to discuss real-life obstacles and certifications in addition to another week of specific training in a trade.
“I believe it is very important for all trades to be well-rounded, which helps us become a better department,” he says.
Keeping those trained employees is also an important part of Troesch’s plan. His succession strategy is designed to keep workers happy and motivated to want to stay and improve.
“We need to show our employees their success is important to us, and we are obligated to help them find a career direction on how to succeed,” says Joshua Ruth, a colleague who nominated Troesch for the Facility Champion award. “JT will mention this is one of his proudest accomplishments. He has had the opportunity to build and mold many associates into better versions of themselves. His former employees include five former technicians that are now either facility supervisors, managers or directors.”
Like the doctors who serve patients in his facilities, Troesch is known to make the rounds to his facility employees, having coffee and daily morning huddles to keep the lines of communication open.
“This builds trust, shows you care, and allows you to address any critical concerns immediately and listen to the leaders’ concerns firsthand,” Ruth wrote in his nomination email. “In his trainings, he speaks of this as a vital part of our mission. This how we succeed and let the teams know they matter, and that we are listening.”
Dave Lubach is executive editor of the facility market.
