Six Benefits of Online Continuing Education for Facilities Management and Maintenance

Training is important, but an organization benefits most when it supports not only training but all facets of a learning culture (see our articles on What Is a Learning Organization? and Becoming a Learning Organization for more on that). That's why Vector Solutions offers not only online job training courses for facilities maintenance but also accredited online continuing education courses and management solutions for FMM. 

In this article, we'll list just a few of the benefits your organization stands to gain by partnering with Vector Solutions to provide online continuing education to your FMM workforce.

The Need for Continuing Education in Facilities Management & Maintenance 

Job training, including onboarding, compliance, OJT, reskilling and upskilling, and cross-training, are essential aspects of the workplace learning equation. But many workers in FMM have professional licenses and certifications, too, and need to complete additional continuing education requirements on a recurrent basis to keep those active. 

For example, facilities managers may hold certifications from professional organizations such as the International Facilities Management Association, or IFMA, such as the CFM or FMP, or perhaps from the Building Owners and Management Institute, also known as BOMI, such as the RPA, FMA, or SMA. 

Likewise, facilities maintenance technicians and building engineers may hold any number of professional licenses and may also hold certifications from agencies such as BOMI, including the SMT. 

And it doesn't even stop there. Perhaps your organization has safety professionals who'd benefit from accredited training from the Board of Certified Safety Professionals (BCSP), or HR professionals who'd benefit from accredited continuing education from the Society of Human Resources Management (SHRM), or even project managers who need to keep those Project Management Institute (PMI) certifications up-to-date. 

So FMM organizations can benefit greatly from continuing education throughout the entire organization. 

1. It's a Great Employee Benefit 

Employees (and potential future employees) appreciate when an organization makes an investment in their continuing education and career growth. In a time when most organizations are struggling to hire enough employees and are experiencing skills gaps, why not make a small investment in your employees' future and in your organization's success? 

2. Employees Don't Have to Leave Work to Attend a Conference

Often, continuing education is handled by sending employees off to a conference. Add in the travel dates and this might mean the employee is gone for an entire work week. 

By providing online continuing education that the employee can take from the workplace or his or her own home, FMM organizations can greatly reduce the amount of time the worker is away from the actual work, while still getting all the learning benefits. 

3. Online CE Reduces Expenses of Travel (and Lodging, and Eating…)

And it's not just the problems caused because the worker going off to a conference isn't at work. All that travel is expensive. There's the travel itself, the hotel rooms, the daily meal per-diems, and so on.

For just one worker, this all becomes very expensive very quickly. But once you total these travel expenses up for many workers, it's a really significant outlay of funds.

You can reduce these expenses-and also make them easier to anticipate and budget for-by providing online CE.  

4. Increased Visibility into Upcoming Renewal Deadlines

A learning management system (LMS) that can manage continuing education also will provide notifications when licenses and certifications are nearing their expiration date. This is true for each individual employee, so he or she can see those individual deadlines, but it's also true for the organization's LMS administrators, allowing them insight into approaching CE deadlines for the entire organization. 

5. Reduced Risk of Having a License or Certification Expire 

Of course, making it easier to keep track of upcoming CE deadlines also reduces the risks that a worker's license or certification will expire, which could lead to significant and costly fines, penalties, or other risks for the individual as well as the FMM organization. 

Conclusion: Let Vector Solutions Help Your FMM Organization with Training AND Continuing Education

Vector Solutions would love to partner with you to help you update your current training & continuing education offerings for your workers. Contact us to set up a demo and see how we can help today.