Strengthening your office community goes beyond the four walls of your building. In today’s world, the best tenant experiences encompass every aspect of an employee’s day — from addressing commuting pain points to offering a diverse range of food services. Technology has supported these modern-day needs by further blending the physical and digital workplaces to meet tenants where they are, providing unique consumer-first experiences at every turn. In fact, a tenant engagement platform for landlords that connects and powers a hybrid workforce can also be leveraged to elevate local retailers and the surrounding community.
At HqO, many of our customers have used our Tenant Experience Platform to support local businesses and highlight corporate social responsibility (CSR) programming. Inspired by their success, we’re sharing real-world examples of what any property team can accomplish with the right approach.
Lending a Voice to Retail
“The [tenant engagement] app has been key to creating successful property experiences and driving community, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic. HqO has increased resiliency for us as the landlord and for our tenants, allowing us to effectively communicate and connect with tenants and enabling our tenants to digitally sustain sales when physical retail was shut down.”
— Michael Phillips, President, Jamestown
Many HqO customers have established a physical and digital tenant experience that creates a more engaging property for office tenants, local retailers, and visitors. At Ponce City Market in Atlanta, GA, Jamestown is one of them. The team at Ponce City Market sought to promote their local retailers and restaurants to the general population beyond their website, social channels, and paid media efforts. Additionally, they needed to enhance their landlord-to-tenant — as well as landlord-to-overall-community — communications to keep occupants updated on the latest health and safety regulations. Not only would placing this information directly in the hands of their customers help increase building occupancy safely, but it could also support the local community through driving sales to their retailers despite having fewer people on-site.
On the other side of the Atlantic, J.P. Morgan had similar needs for their popular U.K. destination, Spitalfields Market. By releasing their app to the general public, they were able to curate specific, retail-focused branding. As part of this initiative, mobile ordering is now in place for a number of the food trucks across the property. Tenants and visitors also have the ability to browse menus at leisure, avoid queues, pay via contactless methods such as Apple and Google Pay, and save time by receiving live order updates directly to their phone.
Using Technology for Philanthropy
“We have worked very hard to bring amenities and services to our buildings that support [our] priorities, while also developing creative platforms to engage our tenants and positively impact our local communities.”
— Jay Scholten, Vice President, Innovation and Asset Management, The Swig Company
A great tenant experience isn’t just about food delivery or reserving a conference room. Located in San Francisco, The Swig Company has championed using their tenant engagement platform to support and enhance their charitable endeavors. Using HqO’s Audiences feature, Swig promoted California wildfire relief posts to its own corporate and property employees across three of its office buildings. App users who opted in to push notifications received a highlight of local wildfire relief efforts and organizations, alongside a reminder about Swig’s internal match donation program. Additionally, Swig partnered with Life Learning Academy — a local charter school for at-risk children — to bring notice to their culinary program. The students, who are learning how to cook, routinely sell their creations through bake sales and a farmer’s market. Through the app, Swig promotes their bake sales to tenants and shares information about the school and ways to further support them.
In the same vein, National Development partnered with HqOS Marketplace partner Building Impact to offer unique, virtual volunteer opportunities through their tenant app. This partnership has led to successful events that deepened their connection with their surrounding community through promoting corporate social responsibility, such as: picking winter essentials and games for veterans on Veteran’s Day, and virtually assembling holiday gift baskets for families who escaped domestic violence.
Promoting an Eco-Friendly Community
“It’s a really exciting time for sustainability-focused programs in commercial real estate. Businesses and consumers are placing more value on clean-tech solutions, while clean technologies continue to improve and become more cost-effective. Solutions that were once nice-to-haves are now making sound business sense, further accelerating adoption and impact.”
— Alexander Esposito, Co-Founder, Circuit (A trusted HqOS Marketplace partner)
Over 70% of people are more likely to work for a company that has a strong green footprint. At Endurance Land’s London Wall Buildings and Regent Quarter estate locations, they support sustainable food offerings and carbon-free travel for all of their tenants. This includes in-app features that grant tenants access to restaurant food parcels that recreate restaurant food at home, as well as highlighting on-site free bike services that provide an environmentally-friendly mode of transportation to the office. Similarly, J.P. Morgan’s Spitalfields Market app offers tenants and visitors a 10% discount from all participating street food vendors when they bring their own reusable containers.
Creating Meaningful Connections
At the end of the day, the best app for tenants is one that creates real-world experiences that lead to meaningful connections with each other and the surrounding community. It’s now easier than ever to make an impact, and with younger generations (who are soon to make up the majority of the modern workforce) preferring to work at companies that “align with their moral values across environmental, social, and governance initiatives,” we know they’ll eagerly join in.
To learn more about how a tenant engagement platform for landlords can elevate your tenant experience and local community, schedule a free demo today.
