ESG to grow bigger in 2024

Expect the growth of environment, social and governance (ESG) in 2024 as more landlords will realize that having the platform will attract more tenants particularly the multinational corporations when they establish their operations in the Philippines.

“I believe more and more landlords will embrace ESG moving forward as our customers are demanding and expecting more from landlords in ESG compliance and performance,” NEO chief executive officer Raymond Rufino told the BusinessMirror in an email interview.

“That said, we have so much work to do to promote more ESG commitments and priorities from landlords. Many are still at the very start of their journeys, we need to challenge and motivate them to have more ambitious goals and targets,” Rufino added.

According to Investopedia. Com, ESG refers “to a set of standards for a company’s behavior used by socially conscious investors to screen potential investments.”

Further, it pointed out that environmental criteria determine if a company safeguards the environment, including corporate policies addressing climate change, for example. Social criteria, meanwhile check how it manages relationships with employees, suppliers, customers, and the communities where it operates. Governance tackles a company’s leadership, executive pay, audits, internal controls, and shareholder rights.

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NEO and ESG

In the part two of the  article “Walking the talk: Office landlords as partners for sustainability, culture, and purpose” authored by Vincent Bisuña, Lira Moncada, and Kath Taburada of Colliers’ Meaningful Insights on the Global Occupier Outlook Report, Rufino emphasized the important role of the landlord in materializing ESG’s drivers to returning to office (RTO). He added community integration has also been a central tenet of NEO’s philosophy.

According to Rufino, NEO started an in-house events team to constantly be on the move to bring in that important sense of belonging to tenants, something that many believe is key to a successful RTO strategy, not to mention the benefits on workplace culture.

He said these various events are aligned with NEO’s philosophy—sportsfests, dance competitions, engaging seminars, workshops, and holiday-themed activities are just some of the ways they develop that sense of belonging within the NEO community.  NEO has partnered with the tenants in these events through its feedback system that allows them to give their inputs to suggest future activities and improve current ones.

Rufino said the  initiatives have become so successful that some employees would come to work at the NEO office buildings to attend the tenant events.

“To NEO, it is important that they are more than just a provider of walls, aircon, lights and floors.” They say, “Mr. Tenant, I am here to achieve your vision and mission and your goals; I am not just a physical space provider, I am literally your business partner…if I can improve the productivity of all your people by them being in this office, I’m helping you achieve your ambition and your goals,” Rufino said.

While implementing mandates looks easy on paper, the authors said “luring” employees back—without compromising their enthusiasm and retention—has become a big challenge for many office occupiers. In an effort to address this, many have focused on new initiatives related to ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance, DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion), and employee engagement, as well as refreshing their office spaces to entice employees to work in the office.

It is more important than ever for office landlords to take a more proactive approach in incentivizing RTO initiatives in partnership with their tenants.

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#TheNEOWAY

For NEO, creating a positive work environment aside from being a space provider has already been part and parcel to their total offering even before the pandemic, or as they call it, #theNEOway.

NEO believes that the solution for these challenges is not found in the polar extremes but in the middle. They say that hitting the right “balance” will be a unique journey for each company’s culture and acknowledge that both work-from-home and in-office work both serve different modes of work that afford employees more options for either deep, focused work or collaborative and social activities.

According to Rufino, “the base and foundation of what the company is doing is to ensure that first, tenants are entering a safe, secure, and resilient environment” further noting that, without this crucial first step, the game is already “over” as tenants will not come in the first place if they feel like they are at risk (i.e., in contracting illness, or may fall victim to fire hazards) every time they enter the building. “If you want to bring people back to the office, the first thing you need to get in all their heads is, ‘we’ve made an effort to make sure that your safety and your health are being prioritized,’ said Rufino.

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The article was originally published in Business Mirror and written by Rizal Raoul Reyes.

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