Willis Towers Watson Facilities Services Manager Recruitment

Background

Willis Towers Watson, a global advisory, broking and solutions organisation, appointed Maxwell Stephens to recruit an experienced Facilities Services Manager for its Real Estate & Workplace Solutions (RE&WS) function.

The role was central to delivering the organisation's Workplace & Solutions Strategy and to keeping its offices safe, efficient and of a standard colleagues and visitors could rely on.

With responsibility spanning hard and soft FM services, hospitality, front of house, security, catering, workplace support, tenant relationships and project delivery, the appointment called for operational expertise alongside commercial awareness, leadership and stakeholder management.

The Challenge

Willis Towers Watson needed a Facilities Services Manager able to oversee a broad and highly visible range of workplace services while holding standards consistent across the operation.

The postholder would manage internal teams and external service providers, delivering against agreed KPIs, SLAs, budgets and compliance requirements.

The remit covered:

• Client hospitality and events. Hospitality and event services matching the standards expected by colleagues, clients and visitors.
• Catering and vending. Staff dining, catering and vending services, held to quality, efficiency and value for money.
• Accommodation services. Overnight accommodation operations and the coordination that goes with them.
• Facilities helpdesk and meeting room systems. Workplace-support processes, including Facilities Helpdesk operations and meeting-room booking systems.
• Front of house and concierge. Reception, concierge and front-of-house activity providing a professional and welcoming workplace experience.
• Post and print services. Post-room and print-room operations, kept reliable as everyday workplace support.
• Security. Security operations maintaining a safe environment for employees, visitors and assets.
• Cleaning, waste and recycling. Cleaning, waste-management and recycling services meeting required standards and supporting environmental objectives.
• Workplace amenities. Facilities such as the office gym, managed safely and effectively.
• Office moves. Workplace moves and changes coordinated with minimal disruption to business operations.

Soft-services-led remits of this breadth are deceptively demanding. Every line of the list is visible to the business: nobody notices a well-run chiller, but a poor lunch service, a cold reception or a badly handled move is discussed the same day. The manager is judged on perception as much as performance, and has to hold suppliers to standards while keeping goodwill with the people those suppliers serve.

The Candidate Profile

The role required an experienced Facilities Management professional with strong interpersonal, commercial and operational capability. Willis Towers Watson needed someone who could demonstrate:

• significant experience in a comparable FM role
• strong people-management and supervisory skills
• excellent communication and negotiation ability
• budget-management and financial-planning experience
• knowledge of health and safety and environmental requirements
• experience managing suppliers and service partners
• confidence developing relationships with senior stakeholders
• the ability to operate effectively in a fast-paced corporate environment

Cultural alignment mattered just as much. The successful candidate needed to reflect Willis Towers Watson's emphasis on integrity, innovation, excellence, teamwork, client service and continuous improvement.

Our Approach

Maxwell Stephens ran a targeted search for Facilities Management professionals with proven experience managing complex corporate workplace services, assessing operational competence and leadership style together rather than in sequence.

Candidates were evaluated on their ability to:

• manage a diverse range of hard and soft FM services
• lead Facilities and Security teams
• maintain effective supplier relationships and control operational budgets
• monitor KPIs and SLAs
• manage health and safety responsibilities
• communicate effectively with senior stakeholders
• identify opportunities to improve service quality and reduce costs

Following a detailed search and selection process, Maxwell Stephens placed a highly experienced Facilities Services Manager with Willis Towers Watson.

The Outcome

The successful candidate integrated into the RE&WS team and strengthened the management of workplace services across several areas:

• Team leadership. Clear direction across the Security and Facilities teams, improving coordination, accountability and consistency in day-to-day service delivery.
• Health and safety management. Strong knowledge of health and safety requirements, supporting a structured approach to workplace risk, compliance and safe service delivery.
• Financial control. Sound financial-management principles applied to Facilities operations, keeping services within agreed budget parameters.
• Cost efficiency. A proactive review of workplace services that identified more cost-effective methods of delivery without compromising quality.
• Service standards. Closer oversight of workplace services and supplier performance, strengthening service levels against agreed KPIs and SLAs.
• Stakeholder communication. Productive relationships with internal colleagues, service partners and other key stakeholders.
• Operational flexibility. Quick adaptation to the demands of a dynamic workplace, helping the RE&WS function respond to changing operational priorities.

Why This Placement Worked

The placement gave Willis Towers Watson a Facilities Services Manager able to balance workplace experience, operational performance, financial control, compliance and people leadership across a broad Facilities Management remit.

Searches for roles of this shape go wrong when they are run as hard-services appointments with hospitality attached, or as service-delivery appointments with compliance assumed. Treating the technical and the client-facing halves as equally weighted from the outset is what produced a shortlist that could genuinely cover both.

If you are recruiting a Facilities Services Manager to lead a corporate workplace operation of this breadth, Maxwell Stephens can help you define the brief and reach candidates who have run the whole service rather than part of it. Get in touch with our team.