It’s widely recognised that tenant experience should be a top priority for commercial real estate owners.
As is true for many other sectors, making the customer the centre of a company’s offer, tailoring it so that it meets the client’s real needs and provides exceptional experiences, makes for a successful strategy.
This has been a powerful tactic for many years. The more a company understands its clients, the more the offer can be personalised, and therefore, become an effective tool in retaining and building loyalty.
By understanding the varied customer personas, businesses can create a clear and more accurate picture of their current and potential employee make-up. This type of knowledge strategy is important when trying to ensure a positive company culture and attract best in class employees.
Therefore, when it comes to retaining top talent, delivering a great employee experience is invaluable for companies as much as for property managers trying to attract new occupiers.
“The workplace that is more supports tenants in building
loyalty and resilience with their employees.”
Workers have become very demanding, with elements of the employee experience such as company culture, digital transformation and the physical space all being placed under scrutiny (read more about The Employee Experience Equation).
Tenant Experience in Real Estate: Before the Jump in the Unknown
In real estate, as more businesses have grown to understand that tenant experience is of paramount importance, capable of bringing in higher employee engagement and retention, the emergence of several in-building amenities as led to re-thinking the workplace and its offer.
Property managers initially sought to introduce or upgrade facilities, such as gyms or bike racks in order to appease employees. However, whilst this is one piece of the mix, employees’ engagement goes far beyond the physical amenities on offer.
There must be a marriage of the physical amenities, alongside a focus on the broader themes of employee wellbeing, efficiency as well as a deep understanding of what employees care about. Curating inviting and sustainable work environments and meeting these everchanging needs can only be achieved via continued learning and understanding about them and their true needs.
The tenant experience technology is engagement at 360-degrees
Prior to the pandemic, a tenant engagement app such as Smart Spaces was offering a solution for property managers and their occupiers whilst the office was being used. The app was aimed at providing an enhanced experience, as well as improved communication beyond the ‘workplace’. In this scenario, the value was in bringing tenants enhanced experience beyond the 9-to-5 to offer opportunities for social engagement and general better wellbeing, for an improved work-life balance.
By implementing IoT technology capabilities (sensors and smart devices) in the workplace, the Smart Spaces app was able to provide opportunities for management to bring value to the occupiers and initiate the process of having a real understanding of the end-user.
Benefits and features can span from:
- real-time direct communication- both from building managers to occupiers, and from occupiers to their employees
- delivery of tailored experiences and social opportunities
– booking of amenities
– group classes, social events and more
– access to in-building and nearby offers and discounts
– virtual concierge for quick sign-ins, interactive visitor information and automated arrival notification
– contactless tenant’s access and automated & temporary visitors pass - workplace focused on tenant’s health & wellbeing
– comfort first by providing control and improvement of the work environment. Occupiers can control their lighting and climate settings, manage directly room & desk booking and are helped to improved air quality thanks to centralised and localised monitoring - sustainability efforts at their maximum efficiency
– analysis and real-time feedback reveal the workplace energy consumption and insights regarding optimisation enable building managers and occupiers to action and report on their sustainability, making it more efficient - and much more
A smart tenant experience app combines solutions that both property managers and occupiers need, to make the difference in their retention strategy.
In this sense, the app provides invaluable support to the occupiers in building and managing their workplace culture, as well as helping to create an environment that resonates with employees. It simplifies their work-day and creates better work-life balance.
Actionable data to improve
With workplaces being hotspots of raw data, a solution to help collate and make something useful of that treasure-throve of information is an invaluable asset to have.
The analysis of this significant amount of data, coming from the various building systems and IoT sensors installed throughout the workplace, translates into actionable insights for property managers, and therefore, provides a better service for tenants.
Behavioural data helps improve the understanding of the tenants themselves as individuals which, in turn, makes it possible to give an additional level of personalisation to the experience.
From the constant influx of real-time data, insights ca become actionable quickly, creating a cost-effective and sustainable solution to improve operational efficiencies. Focusing on building use, for example, means unused areas can be ‘switched-off’, making energy-saving goals easier to achieve.
The pandemic challenges the end-users workplace needs
Whilst the current government advise to work from home has impacted office occupancy, now more than ever, property owners need a deeper understanding of what occupiers require from them and the workplace.
Clear communications and a safe and healthy office environment have become a cornerstone of tenant experience.
Companies now want to be kept in the know as to what is being done to make the workplace safe to get back to, both for their employees and visitors.
Effective communication and real-time updates on the safety measures and the health policies being implemented, as well as knowing cleaning procedures and having automated emergency notifications, are all features answering to current needs that a successful tenant experience app must provide.
The evolution of the Smart Spaces tenant app brings:
- real-time communications and updates on health policies and the safety measures being implemented
- contactless access throughout the workplace to reduce points of contact
- up-to-date cleaning calendar as well as automated scheduling of room cleaning integrated to meeting room & desk booking calendar
- automated emergency notifications
- air quality assessment and continuous monitoring
- social distancing management:
– workspace utilisation and space usage
– tracking space density and notifications on the distance between occupiers
– people tracking and management of spaces – desk & meeting room booking
– availability indicators/status flags - workplace community nurturing
On the workplace community side, the app can be the vehicle to nurture the relationships with employees, delivering empathy and human-centric support creatively.
The smart app becomes a bridge linking together colleagues who are miles away from each other, bringing human connection and social interaction, as well as delivering content targeted specifically to their interests.
Features encouraging peer to peer engagement, such as the Smart Spaces Social Wall, boost morale and create an active community. For example, virtual social or charity events can be great ways to bring the community together.
For those dealing with loneliness and mental health issues, motivational support and direct connection are a safe line. One-to-one and group messaging lets colleagues and workplace friends touch base and have private conversations through chat and call features.
An Entertainment directory helps employees take a break and enjoy some welcome time off work as well, to unwind and take their minds away from the daily tasks and responsibilities.
Achieving successful workplaces in the ‘new normal’
Authentic occupier engagement is vital when it comes to creating a streamlined home/work environment, allowing the user to regain control over their working life.
Smart Spaces workplace features can keep the workplace community connected, active and involved, whilst contributing towards supporting tenants’ wellbeing at home and in the office, once safely returned.
Creating a thriving workplace is hard work, but smart workplace features help create an environment for happier and more productive employees because of the improved work-life balance offered to them.
People are social by nature and offering a connected, active work environment means providing a space in which employees can feel inspired, experience a sense of belonging, build relationships that go beyond work and achieve wellbeing.
Request a free demo or get in touch to discover what Smart Spaces can do to help your workplace get ready for the new normal.
