Managing Staff and Tenant Concerns in IoT Deployments

Best Practice in Messaging and Risk Management in the Post-Covid-19 Business Environment

By Charles Paumelle, Barney Kinzer and Chris Leonard

Executive Summary

Installing Internet of Things (IoT) sensors brings an array of new insights on costs, safety, security and sustainability in a modern office environment. Like anything new, however, the appearance of these tiny sensors around an office without proper messaging can raise eyebrows. The COVID-19 outbreak threw a spotlight on the vital necessity of data to help understand building performance, cleaning efficiency, waste management and other metrics related to safety and wellness. Put simply: building owners, managers and investors need the kind of data that only a comprehensive IoT solution can bring. Tenants, staff and residents need reassurance on health, safety and wellness concerns that can only come from empirical, historical and auditable data. Yet tenants and employees may still ask questions about the motivation for such installations. IoT data is so new that little research exists on the reactions that can be expected among tenants and staff to such projects. Happily, though, the experiences of large organizations which have launched new initiatives, digital and otherwise, in office environments over the past decade has fed a burgeoning store of change management ‘lessons learned.’ Together with Microshare’s own experience pioneering IoT deployments, a store of best practices can be drawn upon to ensure that project goals and sensor capabilities are thoroughly understood before the first sensor appears in the workplace. Successful introduction of IoT sensors in workplace and other tenant environments should include three distinct phases of outreach:

  • Expressing a Vision for Change: Articulating to staff and/or tenants an overarching vision that these sensors advance, whether that is economic resiliency and cost savings; employee productivity and job satisfaction; occupant comfort and safety, or a broad effort at sustainability;
  • Identifying Stakeholders: Inviting leaders from various parts of the organization to help shape the project, set its goals and answer questions from tenants and/or staff.
  • Demonstrating Impact: Providing clear evidence of the benefits accruing from the new data streams, seeking quick wins early, all while providing clear channels for feedback from every tenant or employee they touch.

Introduction

“We are pleased to announce that some big changes are coming to the headquarters office.”

The enthusiasm implied in that statement may be genuine, but from the standpoint of tenants and employees, it may not be shared. For as long as there have been offices, the office has been changing. And just like family upheavals and economic downturns, change in this context is not always welcomed.

The past two decades has brought major change to the contemporary workplace and the concept of work generally. Over the past several decades, design changes aimed at making offices more collaborative and productive have eliminated many offices, downplayed 1980s-style cubicles and introduced “hot-desking” for many employees. More broadly, part-time and remote workers make up a larger part of the workforce today, and that has led to a feeling of insecurity among the rank-and-file. Each of these changes brought both positive impacts as well as greater stress. Losing your enclosed office in the name of open plan seating is not everyone’s idea of progress, after all. But throughout this period of evolution, a store of best practices for managing such changes has developed.

The introduction of IoT devices into the office or large residential environment is a very new phenomenon and it remains too soon to have historical data on likely employee reactions. In some ways, however, the COVID-19 outbreak, for all the sadness and stress it engendered, is a fantastic opportunity to abide by one of Winston Churchill’s most famous quotations: “Never let a good crisis go to waste.” This is not the time to stand pat; it’s a time to take proactive measures to reassure building occupants – as well as investors, asset managers and others – that you are leveraging every possible technology to make your properties safe, responsive, efficient and sustainable.

Microshare, in the vanguard of this movement, has led dozens of such installations over the past three years and has helped clients manage the concerns of staff, tenants and management. Working with some of the world’s largest corporations and facilities management firms, often in tandem with our partners at Microsoft, we have first-hand experience in addressing the questions, concerns and sometimes objections that may be raised.

A VISION FOR CHANGE

Change is most abrupt when it disrupts established routines without warning and absent a clear rationale. Decreeing that all employees will engage in yoga every morning for 15 minutes before getting down to business may have positive effects. But you can be sure it will be deeply resented by some and could even lead to litigation. From dress codes to vacation policies to what does or does not get stocked in the office fridge, a change in routine procedure always goes over better when a direct line can be drawn from the decision to a larger vision statement that defines corporate culture and worker expectations in a positive light.

Most companies define success something like this: revenue growth leads to profitability, and that financial success accrues to employees in the form of higher pay, promotions and perhaps equity grants. Residential properties stress comparative rents and amenities to retain tenants and bolster net operating income. These are a fine and time-tested approach for a shareholders’ meeting or investor communications. But current market and regulatory trends warrant an expansion of this definition and to include as goals employee and tenant satisfaction, staff diversity, occupant safety and the overall sustainability of the facility in question. In today’s business environment, a firm’s reputation and brand must align with the times. Additionally, today’s buoyant economy has its own effects. For corporations, the tight labor market that prevailed before the 2020 Coronavirus outbreak taught them that skilled jobs are more difficult to fill, and as such companies placed a greater premium than ever on employee retention. In the multifamily residential space, margins are squeezed and every good tenant is thus all the more valuable. This is only amplified by the COVID-19 uncertainties.

This is the context through which an IoT sensors and data deployment project must be viewed. For most employees, the workplace represents a significant slice of their lives. Some may spend more time at the office than they do at home; others view it as a significant social network and an important factor in their identity. And for residential tenants, of course, this is literally “home” and visceral reactions to sudden change are all the more likely.

For all these reasons, staff and/or tenants must be viewed as significant stakeholders when planning an IoT sensor deployment. Our experience suggests the following:

Express a clear vision for the deployment of IoT sensors before they begin appearing in workspaces and common areas. This will help win support and manage the concerns of those working, transiting or residing in a building.

This high-level vision should come from senior management and ideally will fit neatly into a larger, strategic goal pursued by the organization. For instance:

  • Building wellness – reducing infection risk through predictive cleaning solutions, monitoring air and water quality, providing anonymous feedback sensors for occupants to that they feel heard – are just some of the themes that will resonate as the world returns to dense working and living spaces after the worst of the COVID-19 outbreak has passed.
  • Any organization might stress the need to curb energy waste and improve sustainability within its property portfolio as part of a green building strategy.
  • A company with hot desking and/or a significant volume of meeting spaces, can improve employee productivity and satisfaction by providing real time availability information of desks and meeting spaces. Strategic decisions on square footage and rent informed by occupancy data can potentially save millions for corporate portfolio managers.
  • Hospital management can stress the goal of lowering internal infection rates when installing predictive cleaning and other sensors in restrooms and wards. (View a Microshare webinar on our how our solution worked in a large UK hospital).
  • Property managers can align such deployments with health, safety and productivity goals, whether the sensors are testing water for proper temperature characteristics to avoid Legionnaire’s Disease (Legionella), or the quality of indoor air to prevent concentrations of carbon monoxide or other elements.
  • Sensors that track assets, like luggage carts in a high-rise apartment building, wheelchairs in a large hospital, or expensive tools and cleaning equipment in any facility, keep overhead under control and make life safer and easier. Staff currently tasked to hunt these things down, for instance, can spend more time doing their real jobs.
  • Facilities management firms and other asset manager can point to rising pressure in the market from so-called “ESG” data – Environmental, Social, Governance – to explain the need to collect diverse performance data on offices and other buildings.
  • Sensors that provide a way to anonymously feedback or to report problems can rightly be associated with transparency and accountability initiatives.

‘What Is That Thing, Anyway?

In most workplaces, employees may have a say in their physical environment and the technologies deployed there, but at the end of the day these things are generally beyond their control. Similarly, residents of a large multifamily apartment complex feel they might be consulted or forewarned about changes to landscaping, fixtures or other amenities, but ultimately these decisions rest with property owners. This dynamic can be a source of insecurity and ultimately a drag on employee retention and/or lease renewals.

The unexplained appearance of sensors will invariably tap into these insecurities. Will that sensor be used to track my movements? Is it recording my voice? Am I being photographed or assessed against some consultant’s arbitrary productivity or desirability standard? Is building management trying to save money on energy at the expense of my comfort? These are not unreasonable questions, and they should be dealt with directly.

Each installation is unique, and indeed to goals of building owners who launch IoT data projects in offices or other facilities also differ. Microshare’s experience suggests that anonymization of data and a clear promise from building owners that no data is collected will be traced to a particular individual is the key to avoiding the most fraught concerns.

Abuses of data privacy by major technology companies, hackers and foreign governments are a major issue in most of the world’s more advanced economies. Privacy law itself is evolving, and companies generally choose to steer clear of IoT projects that attempt to leverage individual data as a substitute for traditional performance measurement systems.

In advancing an overarching vision for the project, senior management should consider grappling directly with some of the most common fears directly.

  • Stress the anonymization of any data collected.
  • Ensure staff that none of the sensors record audio or video.
  • Make it clear that the sensors are aimed at measuring the performance of physical plant, not human beings.
  • Highlight the positive safety, performance and sustainability goals of the project and how these directly benefit employees and/or tenants.

Such messaging will not entirely dissipate concern among a large corporate workforce, but it will go a long way toward establishing credibility with the new project will cement once it’s up and running.

OFFICE DEPLOYMENTS: STAKEHOLDER ENGAGEMENT, PLANNING AND MESSAGING

During multiple installations in large corporate environments around the world, Microshare has found that the engagement of internal stakeholders is best done during the planning, pre-installation phase. Every organization is slightly different and sometimes the list below can be streamlined. But, ideally, at least one person from each of the following areas of a corporation would be aware that an IoT Data Advisory Panel to assess and help communicate the goals and details of the installation has been formed. Remember, the new can be shocking, especially if it comes as a surprise. It is better in our estimation that the stakeholders below are fully aware of your plans.

  • Facilities Management (FM): A key stakeholder and a primary customer for the IoT data produced by the project, and possibly the department which will install the sensors. This department is often the Sponsor of the project, as well.
  • Human Resources (HR): Representing the voice of employees and their relationship with corporate management.
  • Marketing and Internal Communications: Responsible for developing an internal communications plan for the project as well as corporate reputational ­– and sometimes, sustainability issues.
  • Legal: Responsible for compliance or other issues including privacy and adjudication of employee contract grievances.
  • Information Technology (IT): Holding the general remit over digital technology; often partly or entirely responsible for cyber security. Because most IoT installations avoid interaction with sensitive corporate networks, IT should be engaged early to stress that such systems are effectively quarantined from the corporate networks they oversee.
  • Security: Responsible for the physical security of the building but in some companies this can include partial or full responsibility for cyber security, as well. Depending on the type of sensors installed, Security can also be a primary data customer.

 Convening an Advisory Group

 As in most corporate initiatives, the onus for organizing and convening an IoT Data Advisory Panel will fall to the sponsor of the project. In Microshare’s experience, this has tended to fall to Facilities Management, which has the greatest incentive to instrument a building and apply the resulting predictive and usage intelligence to day-to-day maintenance, cleaning, heating and cooling functions.

The group’s remit should be as follows:

  1. Review plans and timeline for IoT sensor installation;
  2. Discuss employee messaging and likely concerns that may need to be addressed at a second, follow up session;
  3. Implementing a Q&A system – possibly to include anonymization – to address any staff concerns post-installation; This should also include information about how to report a malfunctioning sensor or once which has fallen from or been moved from its bracket.
  4. Produce messaging to be distributed to the staff via the organization’s employee communications channels (e.g. email, Slack, Teams, etc.) as well as potentially signage in work and/or common areas.
  5. Issuing a short memorandum approving the project launch. This can often be done concurrently with Step 4.
  6. Be a lasting conduit for feedback from the larger staff and/or tenant population.

Often, it is useful to include in such sessions a representative of the vendor company handling the project (like Microshare) or at least to have prepared a detailed plan that stakeholders can review ahead of the first meeting. The plan should share and reinforce the Corporate vision for the installation, reinforce the anonymity of the data and its specific use cases, and describe any disruptions anticipated during the installation.

It is important, again, to remember that IoT installations are new and that one or more of the stakeholder group may have concerns or express a need to consult with department heads. It’s best to build a review period and feedback session into the process, reconvening if necessary, a few days after the initial meeting to deal with any issues.

Issues That May Arise: Stakeholder Preconceptions

 While IoT deployments are expanding rapidly, appreciation of the enormous value of IoT data for facilities management is less than five years old, and many corporate departments have yet to grapple with the issue such projects raise.

  • HR Departments likely will approach such projects warily, knowing that anything that touches on data privacy or that makes changes to the physical environment of an office will generate unhappiness if not handled carefully. At any given moment, HR often has an understanding of who within an organization has a propensity to resist new things and who tends to be receptive when it comes to changes of any kind, particularly technological changes.

The value of creating a formal channel for expressing such concerns will be very clear to HR professionals. Some employees will feel empowered to go straight to HR with their concerns; others may prefer an anonymous system. It is very important for HR to answer such concerns as quickly as possible after they are raised to assure the staff that the initial vision is being followed and that no ulterior motives exist for the project. The desire for greener operations will be a useful narrative in that regard.

Marketing Professionals also will quickly recognize the value to the corporation of any technology that allows them to demonstrate a commitment to stated Corporate goals, be it greener operations, technological savvy, attracting and retaining employees, etc. As communications professionals who generally have responsibility for internal communications, too, the advisory panel should rely on the marketing representative to draw up a plan for communicating the project’s details to staff.

This plan should stress the original Vision, details of any disruptions during installation, as well as a follow up phase in which staff will be informed about the performance of the new data flows and the kinds of changes, savings or improvements resulting from them.

Marketing may also have the remit to collect ESG data for the company, and will want to understand details about how department staff can access information on energy use, waste management, water safety and other metrics that are relevant to sustainability.

  • Legal Departments/General Counsel: Don’t be surprised if initial exposure to the project raises some eyebrows in the office of the General Counsel. As in any scenario, change will require a reassessment from legal about the liability exposure such a sensor array may raise, as well as a determination of its compliance with current employment agreements and public law. Another issue may involve assessments of whether such sensors somehow run afoul of new data protection legislation in the EU (the General Data Protection Regulation – GDPR) and California (California Consumer Privacy Act – CCPA).

The good news here is that anonymized data is widely regarded as compliant, even when sold on to a third party, by both of these regulatory regimes. Microshare has encountered delays in some projects due to concerns raised by legal departments, however none of them have ever cancelled a project. In the end, these systems, which do not bear a traceable individual’s data, are judged to be compliant.

IT Professionals: For good reason in an era of cybercrime and breaches, Information Technology teams want to fully understand of any digital applications that exist within the corporate walls.

Two important distinctions should be made early on, however.

  • At least in the cast of Microshare’s LoRaWAN / Azure deployments, the IoT sensors, the gateways that connect them and the data that they produce do not enter corporate networks that are the Crown Jewel of IT departments.
  • IT departments will not be expected to install or maintain the sensors or gateways, this generally being contracted to third parties or (in the case or replacing faulty sensors) FM teams.

Regardless, IT professionals will want to understand fully how such systems operate, who has access to them and how data produced from them will be shared internally and, if required, with third parties. IT should be engaged immediately upon launch of any such project and kept informed about progress and any problems during initial phases of the project.

Finally, IT may ask to certify the equipment involved in the installation. This can pose a delay to or even threaten a project. Internal Sponsors should urge that such projects be expedited and keep senior management informed if undue delays are imposed. However, it should always be remembered that IT feels responsible for any digital elements within the corporate umbrella and alienating or dismissing their concerns can threaten the success of your project unduly.

Security: Security teams sometimes but not always have some responsibility for cybersecurity issues, and their sign off – after the separate, quarantined nature of the IoT sensor network is made clear – may be required.

Certainly, certain types of sensors will be enormously relevant to Security teams. Air Quality or Water Quality sensors, for instance; Room or Desk occupancy sensors; sensors that indicate if fire doors are closed or if windows are left open.

A good security team will immediately see the value of the new streams of intelligence a properly instrumented building will produce and should become a primary customer of that data.

RESIDENTIAL AND TENANT OCCUPPANTS: PRIVACY, SECURITY AND QUALITY OF LIFE

The dynamics of large residential apartment buildings or a rented office space differ significantly from the worker/employer relationship of a corporate headquarters or other company-owned office space. However, these relationships generally shrivel and die without respect for the tenants’ privacy, their physical and digital security, and a keen eye on improving or at least maintaining the creature comforts promised when a lease is signed.

In a leased facility, the rights of tenants and landlords generally are spelled out in great detail in the lease itself, and examining these strictures is a good bit of due diligence before proceeding with an IoT sensor deployment. Knowing whether the landlord’s discretion extends beyond common areas and the building’s physical plant spaces will help define the potential scope of a project (for instance, if IoT sensors to detect leaking sinks or monitor restroom cleanliness in apartments or individual office spaces would be compliant with lease terms).

In some jurisdictions, notably the European Union (EU) and California, data of any kind derived from human interactions can be subject to evolving legal interpretations. Again, it is wise up front to understand the legal implications of any data project to ensure compliance with all local and national data privacy and protection laws.

Furthermore, some buildings and developments may have Homeowners Associations (HOAs), Coop or Condo Boards which will stand separately as essential stakeholders in and of themselves. These entities have varied powers to approve or disapprove modifications to the property which may or may not include such things as IoT sensors and also may have significant rights regarding the ownership of the data these systems produce. Such boards exist to represent the rights of residents and/or owners and have their own bylaws and procedures for considering and approving any initiatives within the bounds of the property.

As in office facilities, however, the anonymization of data collected from IoT sensors generally suffices to meet all relevant legal and regulatory obligations. As such, proceeding with IoT deployment in residential buildings requires a similar three step change management process:

  • Developing a Vision for Change that explains to both tenants and building management the over-arching goal of the sensor deployment;
  • Identifying and Engaging Stakeholders, including residents, HOAs, Condo and Coop Board representatives in a way that addresses concerns and reassures residents that goals will be met without undue inconvenience, security or privacy issues;
  • Devising a system to Demonstrate impact from the new data streams, while providing clear channels for feedback from every tenant or members of staff they touch.

DEMONSTRATING IMPACT

Too many change management efforts fail just on the cusp of victory: they forget to follow up. Victory in the deployment of IoT sensors is not the deployment itself, after all: it is the impact that newly discovered insights can have on staff wellness, building efficiency, safety, sustainability and the company’s bottom line.

For office installations, this can range from greater comfort, convenience and safety, cleaner restrooms, new avenues for feedback, down to the satisfaction of knowing the company takes its sustainability goals seriously. In residential buildings, convenience, improve quality of life, cleaner common areas, and the efficient and management of potentially expensive and disruptive maintenance problems like leaks that cause flooding or HVAC outages that not only pose safety issues but also can result in special assessments or rent increases.

Microshare recommends that an All-Points thank you memorandum be issued upon completion of the installation, with a promise of updates to come on a periodic basis. We suggest monthly for 3 months then quarterly thereafter. These updates should highlight new insights and any actions planned as result of the new data streams. These impacts may fall into some or all of the following buckets:

  • Energy Efficiency and Carbon Footprint: Spending less on energy is a universal good, and a Microshare Environment Monitoring solution captures data to allow this to happen in real-time with temperature and humidity monitors and sub-metering of rooms that lack thermostats.
  • Washroom/Bathroom Cleanliness: Smart Facilities Modules utilize motion sensors, active key fobs and user feedback panels to reduce infection risk throughout a building and to facilitate a more efficient cleaning schedule and respond to facilities users.
  • Water Use and Safety: From water usage and leak detection to sensors that will warn of the risk of tainted water supplies, these solutions can save money and protect your occupants from flooding and the risk of Legionnaire’s Disease (Legionella).
  • Air Quality and Environmental Monitoring: Not only will this lower cost and reduce wear-and-tear on physical plant; studies show that more granular control of temperatures and proper monitoring of CO2 levels reduces the stress level of your workforce and tenants, raising productivity and satisfaction levels.
  • Feedback panels: Push button sensors and key-fob activators empower facility managers to monitor public facing spaces for anonymized customer/tenant feedback.
  • Asset Tracking and Loss Prevention: Real-time location of assets improves user experience, staff productivity and prevents expensive losses. These solutions allow employees of any business, from nurses in a hospital to maintenance crews at a solar farm, to get back to the job they’re paid to do, as app-based data tracks wheelchairs, luggage carts, tools and cleaning equipment. These solutions can also produce alerts when mobile equipment leaves the premises.
  • Room and Desk Occupancy: Microshare supports a number of sensors designed to monitor desk, conference room and open-air spaces. Monitor and optimize the usage of desk space, common areas and conference rooms
  • Predictive Maintenance: Get real-time alerts on the health of onsite equipment and assets. Mechanical asset failures lead to massive disruption to passenger experience: furnaces/boilers, HVAC units, water heaters, escalators, luggage belts, lifts/elevators, automatic doors and more.

 

CONCLUSION

Transparency and responsiveness are good bywords for sound corporate management generally, but these are particularly important features when the initiative in question raises fears among staff about violations of their privacy, depersonalizing productivity metrics or other Orwellian issues that dwell just below the surface in many organizations.

By engaging key stakeholders at the start of an IoT deployment, explaining in real, human terms the value of the data being collected, the fact that it is anonymized and ultimately for the common good, a foundation for understanding and tolerance can be laid. Given the object lesson the whole world just received about the importance of clear messaging and reliable information on a rapidly evolving crisis like the COVID-19 outbreak, such efforts will only be more welcomed if they display a willingness to be candid about motives, goals and methods.

Opening clear channels, anonymous or otherwise, for addressing concerns and then acting on legitimate issues demonstrates a commitment to your people.

Feeding back on the results of the project, stressing the greater good of sustainability, safety, efficiency and a more secure financial position for the firm, will drive this all home. An IoT deployment that truly aims high will clear the inevitable hurdles thrown up by concerned staff. Aim high and you will soar above it all.

About Microshare: Microshare™ provides Digital Twinning solutions for the Commercial Real Estate, Health Care and Infrastructure sectors and the Facilities Management and REIT industries.  Our Data-as-a-Service approach leverages IoT metrics across multiple platforms, providing actionable insights with privacy, security, audit and confidentiality so that our clients can save money, rationalize strategic spending decisions and create new data sharing revenue streams.

More at www.microshare.io

This white paper was co-authored by Charles Paumelle, Co-Founder and Chief Product Officer at Microshare and leader of its London-based international practice; Barney Kinzer. Director of Strategic Operations, and Chris Leonard, Director of Business Development, North America.