The Centers for Families and Children (“The Centers”) is an organization that assists in-need Cuyahoga County families and children in becoming healthier, more educated, and independent through health and wellness, early learning, and workforce development programs. The Centers owns and operates 18 properties around Northeast Ohio, including offices, medical offices, childcare centers, and a 90,000 sq. ft. headquarters.
The Centers had previously outsourced facilities management, but the executive team and staff encountered many challenges and obstacles with an outsourced solution. They faced communication and leadership issues that were having a negative impact on employees. Additionally, there was no efficient system for tracking and reporting, making it difficult to prove the provider’s value to the organization.
At the time, The Centers had an existing relationship with Allegro centered on brokerage and consulting work. This relationship expanded in June 2016, when Allegro was retained for in-house facilities management by the Center’s new in-house Director of Real Estate and Facilities.
Allegro became The Centers’ in-house facilities management and maintenance team. Allegro currently employs five team members stationed full-time at The Centers corporate headquarters, including three maintenance technicians who respond to facility requests.
This change created a better working relationship between The Centers’ staff and the facilities team. The Allegro team operates with a “say yes to anything” attitude when it comes to maintenance and repair requests. This attitude-shift, coupled with the user-friendly work order management system implemented by Allegro, ensures that staff feels comfortable placing work orders and has confidence that they will be completed in a timely manner. Every six months, Allegro sends out a satisfaction survey to staff that interact with the facilities team, oftentimes yielding a 100% satisfaction rating.
As part of a more proactive approach to facilities management, Allegro implemented a number of periodic maintenance programs at The Centers, including a new PM for the HVAC systems at all The Centers-owned buildings that will extend the life of the heating and cooling systems and, in many cases, prevent system breakdowns by identifying aging or worn out parts and making preemptive repairs.
Since becoming The Centers’ in-house facilities team, Allegro created a more streamlined budgeting process and utilizes reporting data from the work order management system to prove the team’s value. Key performance indicators were identified and progress is presented to the executive team quarterly.
Allegro will continue to work with The Centers as they grow in facilities and staff, remaining consistent in their offerings and level of service.