Facilities managers, especially women facilities managers need to be at the design table from day one.
When you manage and operate over 100,000 square-feet across three locations, you inherit enough “beautifully designed” spaces to know when facilities managers aren’t consulted early enough and then eventually someone has to retrofit functionality into form. I wonder who that would be?
As a woman in facilities management, and especially, in design, we may see and notice things that others may miss. Not because we have this magical superpower, but because our lived experiences inform us on how to evaluate spaces.
During a disability audit with an inclusive spaces consultant, I was not surprised by her findings. I'd already identified most of the issues during my regular site walks. I'd been working around that problem for months by updating our nursing moms' rooms or wellness spaces. The awareness of the harsh fluorescent lighting and constant noise was top of mind for neurodiverse employees.
What did surprise me was how preventable these issues were. Every single one could have been addressed during design if someone had asked the right questions. Questions that women facilities managers ask instinctively because we are used to thinking about diverse needs.
Some people need visual privacy for phone calls with aging parents. Others need acoustic privacy for confidential work. Nursing mothers need actual doors that lock, not frosted glass that still shows silhouettes. Employees observing religious practices need quiet spaces that aren't conference rooms someone might book.
When I converted an old finance auditor room into a multiple purpose driven space that included quiet rooms and wellness areas, I wasn't just checking boxes, I was creating options. Because inclusive design is not about one perfect solution. It is about acknowledging that different people need different things at different times.
Accessibility, in my opinion, goes deeper. What about employees with visual processing issues who can't work under certain lighting? What about people with hearing sensitivities who can't focus in open spaces prone to echo? What about mobility challenges that aren't wheelchair related but still make navigating poorly planned spaces a challenge?
This is where women facilities managers bring something essential to design conversations by paying attention to human details that make spaces actually function.
I think about the employee who needs to pump during her workday and wants dignity, not just technical compliance. I consider the team members whose cultural practices require a clean, quiet space for prayer. I remember that flexible work doesn't just mean a hot desk, it also means accommodating the parent who needs to take a private call about their child's school emergency.
When architects show me beautiful open plan concepts, I'm thinking about acoustics, temperature control, and where people put their belongings. When they propose glass walls everywhere, I'm calculating how many people will avoid using those spaces because they're too exposed.
Fluidity is the future of workplace design. Fluid spaces that adapt to different needs throughout the day. But fluid doesn't mean formless. It requires careful systems thinking about how people actually move through and use spaces. And that’s the beauty of facilities managers' keen sense of the how.
As facilities managers, we understand how spaces get used versus how designers intend them to be used. We know that beautiful benches become impromptu file storage. We've seen collaborative areas turned into quiet zones because employees had nowhere else to focus. We understand that inclusive design requires variety, not uniformity.
Women facilities managers, specifically, tend to bring inclusive perspectives that come from navigating spaces not designed for us. We understand barriers because we've encountered them. We anticipate needs because we've felt those needs ourselves or witnessed others struggle with them.
So here's what I'm asking architects, designers and organizational leaders, bring your facilities manager to the design table. Not after the renderings are complete, but during the conceptual phase when decisions are still marinating.
Ask us about operational realities. Let us identify potential accessibility barriers. Listen when we explain how your beautiful design creates maintenance nightmares or excludes certain users. Trust our expertise about how humans actually interact with built environments.
And to my fellow women facilities managers – be the seat at that table. Your perspective isn't just valuable, it's essential. The spaces you manage should reflect your expertise before they're built, not after you've spent months retrofitting function into form.
Because inclusive, fluid and functional workplaces don't happen by accident. They happen when the people who understand how spaces actually work are involved in designing them from the beginning.
Maria Ruiz is a Facilities Operations Manager at UNICEF USA with 15+ years of cross-sector expertise. Overseeing multiple national offices, she applies Lean Six Sigma methodologies to create sustainable, efficient workspaces supporting humanitarian missions. Her writing champions women in facilities management by blending technical knowledge with practical insights that empower professionals in this traditionally male-dominated field.
