Talent tips from the tech titans
Millennials now account for one in three workers. What can the real estate sector learn from an industry with no problem relating to young professionals? Our colleagues at BOMA in the United States look at some lessons from the tech industry.
“The technology sector is leading the charge in renewed workplace design,” says JLL’s white paper, Forget the beanbags: Here are the real workplace trends to steal from tech.
“Tech has catered to the emerging collaborative workstyle and defined what the modern workplace looks likeThe idea that the workplace can and should evolve to better support employees is resonating across industries.”
Clearly, the beanbag reference alludes to the over-the-top, cushy approach to workplace design epitomised by Google. But not every real estate company has the culture, the room or the budget.
“Creating an energised and creative office environment does boost productivity,” says Nick Romito, CEO and co-founder of the rapidly growing real estate technology firm VTS, part of the burgeoning sector known as proptech. VTS has some 215 employees with an average age of 30.
“There is a reason Google and Apple spend tens of millions of dollars on their offices to make them places where your employees want to work. But, to attract young people, you do not have to go out and buy foosball tables.”
If it is not nap pods and ice cream carts, what does it mean to be a modern workplace?
“It means an environment where your people can do their best work and collaborate,” Romito explains. “And, collaboration is key.”
For instance, Romito says “we have 12 different whiteboard areas that are surrounded with comfortable couches and coffee tables where an eight- or 10-person team can brainstorm and whiteboard all sorts of issues. It puts you into a different frame of mind. You know you’re at work, but in a much more creative environment.”
By comparison, many real estate firms still fall way short of the new, collaborative ideal, at least in the eyes of the tech firms servicing them.
“A good portion of real estate operating firms are conservative when it comes to embracing technology,” notes Alex Stanton, commercial industry principal for real estate software giant Yardi Systems Inc., which has an employee roster of 5,0 with an average age of 40. For those legacy firms, “it is all about business as usual – leasing space and collecting rents with the same processes that are decades old. Those models and processes are due for upheaval”.
Firms that display both an affinity for tech and an understanding of new modes of working -and have spaces that showcase that understanding -will serve as magnets, not only for new talent geared to more collaboration and freedom of movement, but also for clients seeking the same.
Cushman & Wakefield is taking a page from the technology playbook.
“We have studied tech companies and developed models for attracting and retaining talent, no matter what age,” says Dan Pufunt, executive managing director of Asset Services in the Americas at Cushman & Wakefield.
“We have hired a new head of recruitment to spearhead those efforts. We are also expanding our college recruitment efforts to additional markets this year.”
Getting talent in the door with gee-whiz spaces is one thing. Keeping them there – retention – is another, and open offices and coffee bars are simply not enough. New mindsets also are part of the equation.
JLL, which counts some 46 percent of its 80,000 global workers as millennials, applies a technology and millennial focus to its own workspaces, those it develops for clients and to the real estate solutions it creates.
JLL recently launched a new venture called JLL Spark, headed by Co-CEOs Mihir Shah and Yishai Lerner, both of whom have deep roots in Silicon Valley. They are charged with launching “new technology-based products and, along the way, we might make some strategic investments in proptech companies,” Shah explains.
“What great tech companies do is figure out client pain points and use technology to reimagine new solutions,” he says.
“Real estate firms can follow this same approach by interpreting client wants to create unexpected, amazing, modern experiences. We need to think about our clients and how to define that experience specifically for them. We do that by enhancing our offerings with technology, rather than simply doing what we have always done.”
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: John Salustri is editor-in-chief of Salustri Content Solutions, a national editorial advisory firm based in East Northport, New York. He is best known as the founding editor of GlobeSt.com. Prior to launching GlobeSt.com, Salustri was editor of Real Estate Forum.
Reprinted with permission of Building Owners and Managers Association (BOMA) International. From BOMA Magazine. Learn more about BOMA International at www.boma.org.