PM (Property Managers) Forum

Property Managers Forum Discusses Enhancing Social Value and Maximising Customer Experience in Property Management

Helix / Hines, Grainhouse, 6 Dryden Street

The following notes are a summary of the discussion that took place at the Remit Consulting Property Managers’ Forum, in June 2024. This was kindly hosted by Helix Property Management and Hines Asset Management.

Social Value: Impact and Challenges

Attendees emphasised the impact property management can have on local communities. One managing agent began the conversation with some of the initiatives they are a part of, and the impact that has had, targeting volunteering hours, fundraising and providing spaces to local communities. Another attendee raised the point that in managing property, much of what they do can fall under the “S” of ESG.

Corporate vs Client Initiatives

A key point of discussion was the balance between corporate and client initiatives in driving social value. One attendee, through their membership in Social Enterprise UK, has collaborated with enterprises like Glasshouse, which rehabilitates women in prison by involving them in horticulture. This can highlight the benefit of integrating social enterprises into the property management supply chain.

Safe Sick Campaign

Another corporate initiative discussed was the Safe Sick Pay campaign, aiming to create commitments with service partners to make sick pay available to all workers. This has been brought up in previous forums as it is championed by several different companies at the forum. It requires agreement from those paying service charges, but with good communication, attendees have rarely experienced push-back. Indeed, many customers assumed it to be in place already. An industry-wide adoption of this initiative would benefit the industry, and a unified approach from the heads of property management could have this implemented within a relatively short timeframe.

Find more information on the Safe Sick Pay campaign here.

Another easy way for property managers to affect change discussed is looking at working hours – often easy changes can be made, meaning that cleaners can work more sociable hours, thus potentially improving their quality of life.

Localisation of Social Value Campaigns

Social value is generally local, asset and client-specific, so one of the biggest issues lies in finding something that can be implemented nationally for country-wide organisations. Therefore, the choice is difficult in selecting initiatives as the level of impact and adoption on a local and large scale has to be assessed.

The client/tender demands can also vary drastically between client to client, so one initiative that might fulfil social value for one tender may not for another. Moreover, most clients don’t put any weight on social value at all, therefore the tender process would benefit by being more educational as companies would be more likely to place value in such initiatives.

Measurement

An issue agreed upon by everyone in the forum was that social value is very hard to report on, and an easier, more automated way to report on social impact is needed. Currently, there exist systems such as Achilles which helps collate information, and many firms are using the Social Value Portal (initially developed from the Social Value Act and subsequently adapted by private firms to fit their needs) to help report the information, but the data entry requires lots of manual input.

Often clients (particularly councils) will have defined metrics and tick boxes they want to see from their property managers, whereas others view social value as a more intangible thing, and just want to see there is thought and effort put into potential opportunities for improving social value.

Clients

The discussion turned to whether social value is an additional extra or expected within the original service. Clients often ask for evidence of the social value, however the general agreement in the room was that managing agents tend to hold themselves to higher social standards than clients seem to expect.

Future Trends in Social Value

The group moved on to discussing what could be expected over the next few years, including GRESB to start allocating points on social value. Also, if a new government came into power, then we could expect them to apply a different approach to many policies aimed at staff wellbeing, including zero-hour contracts and sick pay.

It was agreed that improving social value isn’t a commercial opportunity and would not be done to win more work but because it’s the right thing to do. However, you could see an increase in work opportunities such as helping attract more talent into your business as a result.

Customer Experience

A briefing was given to the room from Nick Ridley of HostScore about the current state of customer experience and how clients want to interact with their offices. Consumer sentiment remains low, influenced by political instability and economic crises such as Brexit and Covid. Improving customer satisfaction, which is at a decade-low, is crucial as it directly impacts profitability and retention rates. An increased retention rate of just 5% can lead to profit increases of 25-95%. Moreover, those with higher-than-average customer satisfaction generally outperform in areas such as profitability, revenue growth and productivity.

Occupier View vs Investor View

From the occupier perspective, there is a significant challenge with productivity and talent retention, with over 30% of employees feeling their workplaces are not conducive to productive work. For investors, high vacancy rates (a 30-year high) and declining transaction sizes are major concerns. The focus is shifting from mere financial returns to creating magnetic office spaces that attract and retain tenants – it is going beyond a “flight to quality”, but we are now seeing a “flight to experience”.

Discussion

The following discussion underscored the need for early engagement with occupiers to understand their service and experience needs. Training front-of-house staff and influencing occupier perceptions were identified as key strategies to enhance customer experience, even in older buildings. The industry’s traditional leasing structures also need to evolve to support the occupiers’ new demands.

It was noted by the group that surprisingly, few clients are asking for customer experience metrics. Despite the wave of interest for increased customer experience last year, this year it has been pushed more onto clients than the managing agents.

Some occupiers are beginning to expect good customer experience in their buildings, but managing agents are often finding this harder to implement in older buildings. Worse, the managing agents are often given buildings with no consideration for customer experience (e.g. not providing space for customer experience employees) but still expected to provide exceptional service. Regardless, there are ways to improve customer experience even in old buildings, as evidenced by better feedback from secondary assets than in the primary high-quality buildings.

Conclusion

This forum illuminated the role of social value and customer experience in modern property management. As the industry navigates to these evolving expectations, initiatives like the Safe Sick Pay campaign and innovative approaches to customer experience are steps towards a more sustainable and occupant-friendly future.