One size doesn’t fit all: How Investa is prioritizing well-being at scale

What is it like to work for a company that prioritizes people-first strategies through their core offerings and day-to-day operations?

Investa, an Australian real estate firm that is pursuing WELL at scale, has a strong track record of putting people first in how their buildings are designed, built and operated, as evidenced by their achievement of WELL Certification and WELL Health-Safety Rating spanning residential and commercial properties.

Amy Wild, Group Executive and Head of Corporate Operations, and Megan Francis, WELL AP and Investa’s Business Project Manager for Real Estate Operations, sat down with IWBI to discuss the organization’s approach to health and well-being.

Can you tell us why your organization decided to pursue WELL?
Investa has a strong focus on employee and tenant customer health and wellbeing in our workplaces, and WELL provided us a great way to build on and demonstrate our commitment. We know WELL is a powerful tool for guiding, driving and verifying evidence-based strategies and tactics. Investa has been involved with WELL for many years, having even been fortunate enough to be able to offer an Australian perspective during its initial development. Having a window into how the standard is designed and localized, it only made sense for us to pursue WELL certification.

How are you using WELL achievements to advance your ESG strategy?
From enhancing the lives of our customers and tenants to delivering returns on sustainable investment for our partners, we’re focused on creating genuine human benefit in everything we do. As a manager of buildings that accommodate places to work and live, we are committed to creating connected, healthy and inclusive communities for positive social change. We use tools such as WELL and the WELL Health-Safety Rating to measure, track and demonstrate how the spaces we create can deliver the best outcomes for our occupants.

WELL principles provide us with a foundation on which to set our physical building operations as well. They shape how we engage with our employees and tenants. Our Occupant Experience programs have a range of health and wellbeing activations, including “Mindfulness May,” where our employees and tenants have access to the Resilience Project’s online tools for Gratitude, Empathy and Mindfulness, as well as in-building activations where people can practice mindfulness.

How have your real estate and organizational needs evolved as a result of changing expectations in the workplace?
The choices an organization makes when it comes to real estate are a way to communicate organizational values and demonstrate tangible impacts on culture and performance. This hasn’t changed. However, what people want out of a workplace has.

From our observations, the workplace has become more about connection, collaboration and creativity – how we create spaces where people can come together across teams to “make the magic happen.” When someone walks through that door, we want them to know their health and well-being are important to the organization, and that the space supports positive outcomes in those arenas. That’s about both the physical work environment and the culture, policies and practices that underpin the way we work.

Do you offer your employees remote working options?
Absolutely. Our people know when and where they do their best work, and empowering them with flexibility on that front has long been part of Investa’s culture.

Flexibility doesn’t just mean remote options, though. We offer hybrid working arrangements, and we believe strongly in the power of the physical workspace. A thoughtfully designed and operated shared workspace can do so much to support employee well-being and mental health, as well as to foster innovation, collaboration and connection. We encourage our people to find the right balance of in-office and remote work for them, considering the needs of their customers, team and individual circumstances.

How does your leadership on health and well-being provide a competitive advantage in the market?
Our leadership in health and wellbeing is important to us as the competition for talent among the workforce has changed - it’s no longer enough to offer a secure job and good pay. People want to work for organizations that genuinely care about their people, support their holistic health and well-being and enable them to integrate their work, family and personal responsibilities in a way that works for them. Many of our team members tell us it’s a big part of why they wanted to join Investa, and why they continue their careers with us for many years.

What are some of the health and well-being strategies your company is implementing across your portfolio? Can you talk about how those strategies are having an impact on your people?
One of the most important is Investa’s mental health and well-being strategy. We solicited feedback and identified the diverse needs of our people and their families – one size doesn’t fit all – and used that information to offer a range of support services and initiatives. These include: a digital well-being app offering bite-sized learning modules and on-demand psychological services and coaching, trained mental health first responders on site, and well-being leave, to name a few.

Our people tell us they feel seen, supported and safe to speak up about what they need and how we can help them. This is just so important to us, and we know it results in healthier, happier people who deliver their best work!

How does your organization foster a sense of purpose for employees?
Investa’s central aim is to create a legacy of positive impact. We have led the way for positive change in Australia’s workplaces for more than two decades, striving for spaces that put people, productivity and sustainability first. To do that, you need input and effort from the people who make up the organization.

Culture is a collaborative project. Creating the ideal workplace for the people in it is a team effort. We encourage our people to explore what a legacy of positive impact means to them, and how they can have one. We involve them directly in bringing our ESG strategy to life in their everyday work. That involvement helps them feel connected to a higher purpose beyond the bottom line.

Prioritizing health and well-being for your organization starts with WELL
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