Winner: Jack Flanagan, Pareto Facilities Management

Jack Flanagan is contract compliance manager for Pareto FM on the company’s ZSL account.

His story in FM starts with the end of his professional rugby career following injury. This jolt from his expected career trajectory was a terrible blow, but Flanagan soon found new work in the retail unit at Whipsnade Zoo. This occurred at the time Pareto FM was mobilising its contract with Whipsnade as part of its ZSL contract. It proved to be a life-changing connection.

Flanagan came to the attention of Alex Mills, associate director of Pareto FM, in the main because of his inquisitive nature and obvious natural enthusiasm.

He volunteered to help the Pareto maintenance team prepare for a visit by the Queen in 2017, and then joined the company in the role of helpdesk administrator and within a year was promoted to FM coordinator. Flanagan wanted to know all about FM, and has since made the most of the opportunities afforded by the sector.

Flanagan found himself inspired to take on the training opportunities afforded to him in FM, having initially thought his experience at school would be the limit of his education. At Pareto he has since completed both his IOSH Managing Safely and IWFM Level 4 training, and now aspires to IWFM Level 6 qualification. Add to that his IOSH and Alcumus training.

In his rapid development with Pareto Flanagan has organised charity evenings, raised £5,000 for a charity skydive and helped to deliver a mental health awareness programme which he personally researched, proposed and then implemented a training scheme or all 4 Pareto managers. Flanagan also arranged for eight Pareto managers to help feed the homeless, feeding 300 homeless people in one night.

Promotion to the role of FM compliance manager came in April of this year, at a time which also saw Flanagan stepping out to become Whipsnade site lead for the zoo’s Covid-19 response programme. He was immediately thrust into deputising for the site manager who, in a high-risk category, was forced to remain at home. Flanagan deputised for him and ran the site for two months.

Beyond Whipsnade, Flanagan has presented the capabilities of Pareto’s compliance system to five other UK Zoos, opening up further conversations around the implementation of better practices across UK Zoos.

The key to Flanagan’s success is, he believes, is the freedom he has been given to implement a host of new service delivery ideas.

This includes personally digitising around 6,000 documents and creating a range of statutory compliance templates which have since been deployed across other teams, as well as devising the ‘Pareto Starter Packs’ that are now given to every new Pareto team member. He also proposed creating 1,000 food care parcels to say thank you to ZSL zookeepers for their efforts when they were furloughed or forced to self-isolate.

The impact Flanagan has had on his employers is significant. who call him “the epitomisation of the future of the facilities management sector and the opportunities FM can provide to hungry, enthusiastic, hard-working talent.”

Key takeaways

  • Positive work ethic and the driver of the majority of improvements on regulatory and statutory requirements.
  • Has demonstrated a huge amount of professional development over the last couple of years.
  • A focused and determined individual who always strives to do his best.
  • Shows massive potential to be a future FM leader.

Succeeds by researching any subject with which he is not knowledgeable.

Twitter: @ParetoFM
Instagram: @ParetoFM