IFMA Survey Ranks Top 10 Office Complaints

Some like the office hot and some like it cold. In a workplace of 100 employees or more, you can’t please everyone, although facility management professionals certainly try. For the third time, the International Facility Management Association (IFMA) has surveyed its members to determine the top 10 office complaints and, once again, disagreements about office temperature rank at the top of the list. “It’s too cold” and “It’s too hot” ranked one and two respectively, followed by, in order: (3) poor janitorial service; (4) not enough conference rooms; (5) not enough storage/filing space in workstation; (6) poor indoor air quality; (7) no privacy in workstation/office; (8) inadequate parking; (9) computer problems; and (10) noise level/too noisy.

When the same survey was conducted in 1991, “too hot” ranked first and “too cold” ranked second, while in 1997, these two complaints reversed positions on the list. All of the other complaints have surfaced on previous surveys in different positions, but this year’s survey marks the first time the noise-level complaint has made the top 10.

The 2003 Corporate Facility Monitor survey, sent to 2,400 IFMA members in early May, yielded a 14.2 percent response rate. The largest percentage of respondents (86 percent) manage facilities where more than 100 employees work.

The most common complaint facility professionals report hearing from upper management is the cost of facility operations. Lack of space, the cleanliness and image of the facility, and the time required to complete construction and renovation projects were also cited. A few respondents indicated that upper management can be more demanding than the general workforce by insisting “you need to fix my problem immediately,” no matter how trivial the matter might be.

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