Battling Blue Monday using the power of PropTech

Blue Monday doesn’t have to be all doom and gloom. Director of Strategy & Growth, Rob Maxwell, shares ways in which building teams can tackle the swirl of feeling low after the buzz of Christmas and New Year has ended.

In 2005, Sky Travel, a company in the U.K., began labeling the third Monday of January each year as “Blue Monday.” The company claimed that it’s the day when happiness levels fall to the lowest levels of the year. Regardless of whether you believe that or not, there is no doubt that there is a rising prevalence of chronic loneliness especially as we can now see long-term effects of the pandemic.

To help tackle this, it is vital that any building or portfolio has a strong occupier experience strategy that incorporates engaging occupier experiences and engaging communication. Offices are not grey buildings that people begrudgingly travel to every day, they are spaces for people to come together and can feel a real sense of belonging, community and camaraderie. So how can you make this happen in your building or portfolio? With Locale, there is a myriad of ways.

1. Start the conversation with your occupiers

With our Offers & Promotions module, you can build the bridge between local businesses and your occupiers on our platform or app to help create that endearing sense of community in the area.

Surveys and polls are also a great way to understand the thoughts, needs and requirements of your occupiers, and make them feel listened to, so you can adapt your services accordingly.

Once you find an appetite for a certain initiative, use our Groups module to gather people for a cycling group or book club etc. Our Announcements module is handy for reminding members of key dates and sending updates. Plus, our amenities booking module is a user-friendly way of booking rooms for the perfect meeting location.

2. Improve your communication

Did you know that Locale has its own team of designers which create tailored content? You can digitally display important information on screens of any size in areas which have a lot of foot traffic, such as a reception or waiting area. Dynamic content can also be created to incorporate building information or be seasonal depending on the time of year. Most importantly, occupiers can feel informed and information around an event or class could make all the difference when it comes to those that feel lonely.

3. Optimised operations for more time on what’s important

With our seamless solution, building operations can be optimised, so more hours of the day can be freed up for your staff to focus on what’s important – connecting with your occupiers.

Our Parcels & Deliveries module can transform post rooms so less time is spent in a back room sorting through boxes and more time is spent face-to-face with helping occupiers, having meaningful conversations.

The key management module can also help teams track and log who has different key access so less time is spent manual checking diaries, log books and spreadsheets.

The power of conversation and communication can make such a difference to occupiers. Often, we are not aware of problems or issues that many face, but a simple hello or event could make all the difference. And Blue Monday could become a notion of the past.