Customers and Community
1. Introduction
Dexus owns and manages a diverse property portfolio including office, industrial, retail and healthcare properties around Australia, comprising more than 4,900 customers. Dexus customers vary in size from small businesses to major corporate and government organisations including:
- Listed and privately held companies in the fields of banking, property management, insurance, legal, transport and logistics, retailing, telecommunications and mining
- State and federal government agencies that require minimum building performance standards
- Small to medium enterprises including accountants and consultants
- Major supermarkets and department stores
- Media and entertainment cinema operators
- Small independent retailers, cafes and restaurants
In addition to providing services for its customers, Dexus interacts with the broader community across its portfolio in the communities in which it operates.
Dexus’s most material customer-related issues are:
- Market volatility: Market volatility risks affecting retail, office and industrial leasing including balancing supply and demand and absorption of new spaces, which may affect leasing terms, rents and vacancy rates
- Customer attraction, satisfaction and retention: Engagement with customers and the quality of service they receive may impact Dexus’s ability to attract and retain customers, and influence the terms of their lease agreements
The boundary for these issues encompasses all Dexus customers within the Dexus group portfolio, with impacts felt across their businesses and their employees.
Dexus's most material community-related issues are:
- Health and safety, and wellness: Dexus has a duty of care to ensure its properties are safe and have healthy working and recreational environments. Dexus promotes community health and wellbeing through community programs and design, construction and property management.
- Community investment and wellness: Dexus is a major stakeholder in the communities in which it operates, Dexus invests in the community via corporate giving, community collaborations, community partnerships, local employment opportunities, providing spaces servicing the wider community and delivering on infrastructure for the benefit of communities.
The boundary for these issues encompasses charity and not-for-profit partners, and communities surrounding properties within the Dexus group portfolio with impacts felt across Dexus and the local communities in which we operate.
2. Management objectives and goals
Dexus addresses customer-related material issues through the following objectives:
- Track market volatility and underlying drivers through ongoing research and market analysis
- Adopt a forward leasing strategy designed to manage volatility and deliver stable investor returns
- Secure pre-commitment agreements from new customers and rent guarantees from developers in managing risk for new developments
- Maintain service excellence to attract and retain high quality customers through volatile periods
- Deliver the best customer experience in Australian real estate through the Dexus customer promise
- Provide safe and productive working and recreational environments
- Maximise building operational efficiency to reduce resource usage and waste, while maximising customer safety, comfort and amenity
Dexus addresses community-related material issues through the following objectives:
- Enhance community engagement through employee volunteering which assists charities supporting children and young families, animal welfare, the homeless and land care organisations
- Support charities and community organisations through facilitating events in its office foyers and within retail centres, and raise awareness through community portals
- Provide safe, productive work and recreation environments, with high standards of occupational, health and safety, security and indoor environment quality
- Encourage community wellness by providing access to wellbeing offerings through building amenities, community portals and fitness programs
2.1 Dexus’s commitments and targets
Each year Dexus sets, reviews and updates corporate commitments within its responsible investment framework following input from Dexus stakeholders. Commitments are defined under each of five Sustainability Approach objectives and approved by the Board.
Refer to the 2018 Annual Online Reporting Suite for details of FY18 achievements against current commitments and forward-looking FY19 commitments.
2.2 Dexus's customer promise
Dexus’s aspiration is to be a world leading property manager, renowned for customer centricity and consistently outperforming industry benchmarks.
To help deliver customer satisfaction and engagement and drive performance, Dexus has developed three customer promises.
Dexus’s customer promise is to:
- Listen, understand and respond to customer needs. Dexus seeks to understand its customers’ businesses to be able provide proactive solutions and become strategic partners.
- Make things ‘simple and easy’. Dexus’s continuous improvement stems from seeking feedback, being flexible and striving to make the everyday accessible, convenient and seamless.
- Innovate to enrich customer experience. Dexus is committed to investing in the development of its people, services and products to enrich the customer experience.
These customer promises drive the way in which Dexus operates, contributing to the goal to be a workspace partner of choice.
3. Management approach
Dexus takes a customer focused approach to attract and retain high quality customers for the long term. This enables Dexus to maintain stable returns through the property cycle.
Dexus applies the following structure and approach towards customers and the community:
| Customers and Community governance | ||
| Board | ||
| Group Management Committee | Property Executive Committee | |
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Delivery teams Customer and Marketing | Office and Industrial | Retail management | Sustainability | People and Communities | Risk and Compliance | Research |
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| Management approach | ||
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Policy and commitments Work Health, Safety and Liability Statement | Corporate Responsibility Community | Complaints Policy | Dexus Customer Promise |
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| Sustainability approach | ||
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Workspace Dexus Customer experience strategy |
Community investment | Active property management |
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| Monitor and measure | ||
4. Management framework
4.1 Sustainability Approach
Dexus's Sustainability Approach incorporates the UNPRI ‘six principles’ relating to responsible investment and active property management. The approach is aligned with Dexus’s corporate strategy through its overarching goal “to create Sustained Value by adopting an approach that embraces connectivity, liveability and resilience, and is integrated across its value chain.”
This framework incorporates five objectives which describe the goals of Dexus’s stakeholder groups, while the three themes are a frame of reference for initiatives and programs.
Key themes:
- Connectivity - using technology to enable connectivity between people and places and smart operations of Dexus's business and buildings
- Liveability - creating vibrant, inspiring and flexible work places which enhance productivity and foster the well-being of employees and customers
- Resilience - increasing resilience so that buildings and spaces are adaptive and customers and Dexus can prosper long term
Together, the three key themes and five objectives, form the basis from which sustainability commitments and targets are formed, and how achievement is measured.
Customers and community are central to our Sustainability Approach, represented within the Leading Cities, Future Enabled Customers and Strong Communities objectives.
These objectives are delivered through five implementation approaches:
- Partnering with customers to meet their needs and deliver exceptional customer service
- Community – creating a hub for building occupants and visitors through events, concierge services and sustainability initiatives facilitated by community managers and retail onsite centre management teams
- Products and services - providing a range of value added services at its properties to support comfort and productivity
- Customer insights – connecting with customers to collect and respond to their feedback, as well as provide them with relevant information and services
- Intelligent buildings – operating safe, efficient, connected, high-performing assets. For example, efficient lighting, security and accessibility
5. Implementing our management approach
5.1 Policies and procedures
Dexus policies guide employees through workplace and community-wide issues. These policies include:
- Work Health, Safety and Liability Statement Policy
- Corporate Responsibility Community
- Complaints Policy
Refer to the Dexus website for publicly available Board and Corporate policies.
These policies describe Dexus’s position and guide employees on their conduct and behaviour relating to health and safety, civic duty, community engagement, volunteering, philanthropy, process to dealing with a genuine grievance or complaint.
Dexus’s intranet provides additional guidance to employees about the use of policies, process workflows, escalation processes and governance structures Employees are periodically assessed for their knowledge of these policies.
5.2 Workspace Dexus
Workspace Dexus is a commitment to a better customer experience and the creation of sustainable communities where businesses choose to stay, and new customers want to be.
Dexus has used it’s understanding of customers' needs to create a suite of products and services that make Dexus buildings a great place to be.
Dexus’s products add value to its customers’ businesses beyond what other properties can offer by making their workspace more connected, easier and convenient, supported by products and services designed to make their workspace smarter.
Through Workspace Dexus, Dexus provides a coordinated, integrated and enhanced customer experience to maintain high levels of customer satisfaction. Dexus aims to exceed customer expectations and create brand loyalty that underpins superior asset and portfolio performance.
The integrated offering that is Workspace Dexus includes:
- Five-star service: Providing customers with a hotel-style concierge, onsite building management, 24/7 building security and 24/7 customer response centre
- Intelligent buildings: operating safe, efficient, connected, high-performing assets. For example, efficient lighting, security and accessibility
- Customer solutions: including:
- Parking solutions: Flexible car park options, including onsite GoGet vehicles and a DIVVY partnership that connects customers with secure car parking spaces in the CBD areas
- Wellplace: Enhances customer health and wellbeing by providing simple and easy access to a suite of health and wellbeing services, offerings and amenities within the buildings and across community portals. Offerings include end-of-trip facilities, bike servicing and maintenance, and fitness activities
- Childspace: A priority access to childcare in premium early childhood centres
- Building Community Portal: Delivers a leading customer experience by providing customers with a place to connect. The portal provides customers with hyper-local content with simple and easy access to amenity, exclusive discounts and offers, events and networking opportunities, access to health and wellness and building specific information
- Fit-outs: Supporting new customers to fit out their work place via customer fit out guides and access to preferred suppliers. Dexus has adopted the Better Building Partnerships fit out guides to increase reusability and decrease waste to landfill
- PLATFORM: Providing value adding services to deliver a positive experience for customers through health and well-being campaigns, and increased convenience and social networking activities
- Comfortable, sustainable buildings: Active management of building services including lighting, air conditioning, lifts and car parks to minimise resource use to deliver high performing buildings that create a more comfortable environment while reducing direct costs to customers
5.3 Occupant health, safety and wellbeing
Dexus implements a safety management system that is certified against OHSAS 18001 to address work health, safety and liability (WHS&L) property risks.
Customer involvement is critical for ensuring a safe and productive workplace environment. Dexus engages with customers to identify, assess and mitigate workplace hazards/impacts, review risk processes, introduce or change monitoring procedures and propose changes to premises, work systems, plant or substances used.
Dexus promotes occupant wellbeing by delivering healthy, productive working lifestyles and environments to employees, customers and communities.
Dexus actively manages building performance with regard to accessibility and vibrancy, indoor environment (internal temperature, humidity and air quality), acoustics, access to natural light etc to create comfortable indoor working environments while maximising health and productivity.
Dexus believes it has an important role in enhancing the health and wellbeing of its customers - both in communities and its value chain. A truly sustainable building integrates environmental and social elements by providing a healthy physical environment.
As such, Wellplace is an important inclusion within Dexus properties by increasing access to wellbeing opportunities to create healthy, enriched, productive communities. Through Wellplace customers have simple and easy access to a suite of health and wellbeing services, offerings and amenities within the buildings and via online community building portals.
Through customer online portals, Dexus interacts with over 36,000 building occupants to assess their needs and offer health and wellbeing services including end of trip facilities, health and fitness classes, and an online health and wellness library.
Dexus applies the following structure to Wellplace, the founding pillars informing the Wellplace offerings:
| Wellplace | ||
| Goal: healthy enriched, productive communities | ||
| Founding pillars | Key areas of focus | How Dexus implements |
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5.4 Leasing approach
Dexus takes an active leasing approach to drive portfolio performance and reduce forward lease expiry. Dexus takes a portfolio view on forward leasing, providing flexibility to accommodate customers’ needs within the group portfolio. This approach assists in customer retention and minimises downtime between leases.
Dexus played a leading role in developing the Better Building Partnership’s (BBP’s) green leasing standard and Gold Lease badge, which defines a best practice approach for building owners and occupants to collaborate on sustainability initiatives, encourages information sharing and cooperation and removes barriers to implementing mutually agreed improvements over time.
The green leasing standard is a world-first, aimed at helping building owners and occupants to benchmark their agreements against others and save on power and water bills. Dexus’s lease is GOLD rated under the BBP leasing standard, which is the highest level available. This enables an active partnership between Dexus and its customers and seeks to deliver better environmental outcomes and reduce outgoings.
5.5 Flexible space
Dexus continually develops workspace solutions that embrace customers’ demands for flexibility. Dexus customer solutions include:
- Dexus Place: Purpose built, state-of-the art meeting, training, conference and research facilities designed to be an extension of customers’ workspace and provide a more cost-effective way to connect
- Suite X: Provides greater flexibility in tenure and space with modular design enables reusability of the fit out and achieves cost efficiencies
5.6 Investing in local communities
Dexus’s community investment program aligns with the Group’s Sustainability Approach ‘Strong Communities’ objective. Dexus actively supports local communities through:
- Community engagement: Corporate giving including donations, sponsorships, event partnerships, in-kind support and volunteering
- Connecting with local communities: Connecting with customers and communities across Dexus retail centres, collaborating with local councils, chambers of commerce and industry groups on community issues
- Community hubs: Creating community hubs for work and recreation at Dexus’s sub-regional shopping centres and across the city retail precincts which are connected to CBD office properties
- Community safety: Interacting with local authorities and the community to proactively maintain safe precincts. Retail centre management works with at-risk youth through local youth groups and schools to take steps towards building safer communities
- Community investment: Consulting with the community on new developments and refurbishments to address community concerns, and for new developments incorporating features that benefit customers and the community
- Creating vibrant working environments: Connecting with customers at a property level to make their office and industrial buildings and the communities they serve vibrant and safe
- Activating public spaces: Creating vibrant spaces and experiences, using placemaking to bring the community together
- Supporting women: Empower women in the property industry through hosting events within the property community to raise awareness of gender equality and unconscious bias to urge action
5.7 Meeting customers’ sustainability needs through active property management
Dexus actively manages the environmental performance of its properties and targets continuous improvement to reduce energy and water consumption and carbon emissions and provide optimal working environments. This assists customers to meet their own sustainability objectives and priorities by providing workplaces that are designed and operate to the highest sustainability standards. Customers directly benefit via reduced costs from resource consumption efficiencies and productivity improvements from healthier working environments.
Dexus selectively rates new developments against the Green Building Council of Australia’s (GBCA) Green Star Design and As Built ratings and continues to present Green Star opportunities to all pre-lease construction opportunities.
Operational performance is benchmarked using NABERS and Green Star Performance sustainability ratings schemes. Specialist systems support the identification and rectification of issues in buildings’ mechanical systems to ensure that optimum building performance is maintained.
Refurbishments consider energy efficiency and environmental impacts of products and services. Dexus engages with customers on sustainability upgrades in buildings and how to best achieve efficiencies in their tenancies and provides fit out guides that consider the use of sustainable products and whole life costings.
5.8. Research
Sound investment decisions require an in-depth understanding of real estate markets. Dexus’s in-house research team is an integral part of the investment decision-making process. Research tracks economic conditions and forecasts real estate market performance in all major commercial, retail and industrial property markets nationwide.
Dexus publishes regular reports on market trends and risks/opportunities that may affect investment decisions. The sharing of views on market trends with stakeholders is a key point of differentiation in Dexus’s approach to responsible investment.
Further information regarding Dexus Research and copies of recent reports can be found at www.dexus.com/research
6. Stakeholder engagement
Dexus engages with stakeholders to evaluate the effectiveness of our facilities management services and identify areas of improvement.
| Key stakeholder | Engagement approach |
|---|---|
| Customers - service excellence |
Several engagement mechanisms are employed to provide regular and open customer feedback including:
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| Customers - relationship management and health and safety |
Dexus also interacts with customers through forums including:
Regular Risk Alerts notifications communicated via the Dexus Response Centre |
| Cities |
Dexus takes an active role in contributing to the Australian cities in which it operates, engaging with local councils and chambers of commerce to achieve the best outcomes for customers and the wider community, enhance the permeability and vibrancy of precincts through activation of retail areas, office lobbies and laneways, and connect people with places |
| Charities and not-for-profit organisations | Dexus engages with and support not-for-profit charities through in-kind volunteering and monetary donations; promoting them through building portals and donating space within lobbies for fundraising activities |
| Industry associations | Dexus is a member and key contributor to various industry associations including the Property Council of Australia, Shopping Centre Council of Australia, Green Building Council of Australia and the Sydney-based Better Buildings Partnership. Through these associations Dexus collaborates with peers and policy makers on industry reform and environmental and social sustainability topics |
| Suppliers | Dexus engages with like-minded suppliers on sustainability practices. Dexus works with preferred building services providers and equipment vendors to select best-of-breed products to meet environmental performance and quality expectations |
Feedback that becomes a formal grievance is addressed through Dexus’s Complaints Policy. Further details are available in the Governance Disclosure on Management Approach.
7. Evaluation and process improvement
Dexus uses the following key performance indicators to measure the performance of its customer service approach. Annual targets for customer satisfaction and retention drive leasing and engagement strategies.
| Material issue | Objective | KPI measure |
|---|---|---|
| Customer attraction, satisfaction and retention | Deliver exceptional customer service |
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| Building performance |
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| Portfolio customer retention rate |
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| Customer engagement on sustainability |
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| Market volatility | Active forward leasing |
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| Minimise building vacancy |
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The Corporate Responsibility, Inclusion & Diversity Committee (CRID) monitors and manages Dexus’s community engagement programs. CRID reports directly to the Board People and Remuneration Committee and comprises business-wide representatives.
The Committee annually reviews the community engagement strategy and maintains regular contact with charity partners and implementing the community approach across the business. The committee also sets and tracks performance against annual targets, collating the value and benefit to the community of the corporate responsibility program.
Dexus uses the following key performance indicators to measure the benefit of its community engagement program.
| Material issue | Objective | KPI measure |
|---|---|---|
| Community engagement | Corporate giving |
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| Donation of Dexus space to charitable organisations |
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| Encourage employee volunteering |
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7.1 Process improvement: customers and community
Dexus takes the following approach to drive process improvements:
- Sets annual commitments for the upcoming year based on Dexus’s material issues and Sustainability Approach priorities, which in turn drive improvements in processes
- Works collaboratively with industry associations, peers and specialist consultants to understand market trends and identify performance improvement opportunities
- Continuously reviews incidents and identifies changes in processes to prevent incidents from recurring
- Promotes ongoing innovation to enhance customer experience