Experiences have taken the commercial real estate (CRE) industry by storm. So much so, that a strong focus on personalized workplace experiences is the key behind modern property teams’ ability to attract and retain tenants, increase NOI, and differentiate their properties.
With tenant demands and hybrid work constantly evolving, providing unique experiences in the workplace is the most successful way to encourage individuals to return to the physical office. This truth begs the question: What can property teams invest in for their properties that will out-perform someone’s home work environment?
The answer: Services and offerings that focus on actively engaging the workforce, no matter where people choose to work.
This is due to the fact that only 36% of United States employees are engaged in their work and the workplace — a metric which is measured by tenant satisfaction around how enthusiastic and involved individuals feel about their workplace. This number drops to a shocking 20% when looking at global statistics.
Additionally, Gallup reports that in 2020, organizations with high employee engagement were “more resilient and able to weather the many challenges that came with a pandemic, an economic collapse, and societal unrest.” And, to ensure tenant and employee engagement is at an all-time high, property teams need to leverage technology to bridge the digital and physical work environments.
Complementary Strategies
Digital strategies are incredibly important when it comes to tenant engagement and supporting the hybrid workforce. After all, informative, interesting, and engaging content can not only connect tenants and their employees to each other regardless of where they work, but can strengthen the landlord-tenant relationship during times when building occupancy may be low.
To optimize these results, digital strategies should be taken a step further through the physical workplace environment.
Merging the best of both worlds, property teams can promote and host on-site events and launches through an easy-to-use workplace experience platform. This will allow them to complement on-site happenings with corresponding virtual programming all in a single place, making sure that workers at home can also feel included and involved with their workplace community in a more streamlined manner.
These tactics are so effective that on average, on-site events and launches planned in collaboration with HqO’s dedicated Engagement Experts team and technology see an average of 3x or more app adoption and engagement than those hosted without.
Engagement Tips and Tricks
Based on our experience with the world’s most innovative property teams, here are a few best practices every property team can follow to ensure high tenant engagement through on-site launches and events:
- Show a preview of the app: Before hosting your first on-site launch or event, make sure the people within your property understand how to use your building app. This can be achieved by meeting with a select group of tenant representatives beforehand to give them an exclusive preview and generate excitement around your investments.
- Leverage ambassadors: Having ambassadors for your platform and workplace initiatives really makes a difference. Select tenants can help with enticing downloads during the day of the launch or event, helping to bring more people around your planned activities and creating a crowd that invites more people to join.
- Keep it interesting: It’s common to have an on-site stand or booth that introduces your building app or event to your tenant population. However, it’s important to incorporate memorable activities and visuals to make sure tenants feel engaged and want to come back for more.
- Offer quality over quantity: Across the globe, we’ve seen that tenants are more interested in participating in contests and certain programming when the value of the price is larger, as opposed to offering many smaller prizes at a lower value.
- Use eco-friendly promotions: All marketing material for your launch or event can be made in a sustainable way. From going all-digital in your promotions, to using reusable banners made of recycled wood and even flyers you can plant, this will leave a responsible, lasting impression.
- Partner with the community: In order to build a strong community, you need to make sure your workplace is in sync with the businesses and offerings around it. Connect your technology with local retailers and vendors to bring perks and benefits directly to your workforce, while simultaneously supporting the local economy in a meaningful way.
Technology enablement is important for the workplace, and should be incorporated into your existing tenant engagement plans wherever possible. Want to learn more about enhancing your tenant engagement strategies? Download our latest guide, Engaging the Workplace, today.
