Facility Management, Supervision, and Staff Administration
This domain tests supervisory judgment: how you staff, assign, train, document, and communicate in a facility department. Expect scenarios on shift coverage, work-order prioritization, labor rules, performance management, and safety culture.
Core supervisory rules
- Staff to productive hours: paid hours minus vacation, sick, training, holidays, and breaks. Do not promise 24/7 coverage from a headcount that only works 40 paid hours.
- Prioritize work by risk: life-safety and code deficiencies first, then critical equipment, then comfort and deferred work. Publish the rule so technicians apply it consistently.
- Use CMMS metrics: backlog, first-time fix, mean time to repair, PM compliance, and overtime percentage. A growing backlog with high PM compliance usually means understaffing or poor planning, not lazy technicians.
- Match licenses to tasks: elevator maintenance, electrical work, asbestos abatement, and fire-safety duties have legal qualifications. Discipline is documented, progressive, and consistent.
- Train and verify: LOTO, confined space, PPE, hazard communication, and fire-safety roles require records, not just a toolbox talk.
Worked example
A site needs one technician on duty 24/7, or 8,760 hours/year. A technician is paid 2,080 hours, but after 15% leave and training, productive time is 2,080 × 0.85 = 1,768 hours. 8,760 ÷ 1,768 = 4.95, so five FTE are needed for bare coverage. Because shifts overlap and absences happen, budget a relief factor or overtime; four people cannot cover the post reliably.
Traps that cost marks
- Budgeting paid hours as available hours.
- Using overtime as a permanent staffing plan.
- Disciplining without documentation or inconsistent treatment.
- Confusing response time with repair completion time.
- Assigning licensed work to unlicensed staff.