Altus Group

Stephen Muscat

Driving Engagement and Collaboration in a Flexible, Activity-Based Work Model

Did you ever think that having a competitive hybrid work model would be just as valuable as the compensation package you offer? That’s the era we’re in now as global talent acquisition leaders. Interacting with candidates on a regular basis, I hear how this is becoming a critical part of the overall experience we offer to employees and at Altus we’ve made a point of ensuring flexibility, partnered with meaningful connections, is a central part of our high trust, high performance culture.

Altus is a company where you come to build your skills in commercial real estate and make your mark on an industry experiencing unprecedented change. Alongside our industry’s evolution, we’ve reimagined our employee value proposition to reflect the dynamic nature of our work and embrace the change happening around us. We think this is a differentiator. The Altus Experience is built on collective success. We value and trust our people, rewarding them with employee programs that enable them to drive impact and support their well-being and performance.

Altus’ workplace environment encourages employees to balance their professional and personal responsibilities. Our comprehensive benefits package includes a global Take What You Need unlimited vacation policy, volunteer time off and an activity-based work model that empowers our people to choose workspaces that best suit the needs of their daily tasks.  

We believe that in-office time should be purposeful. That’s why we give our leaders the freedom to design in-office work schedules that maximize opportunities to collaborate, connect and strategize on priorities aligned with our company vision.  Employees then have the option to supplement in-office time with working wherever they focus best on tasks that support our teams’ strategic objectives. It’s working for us and providing our employees with meaningful and equitable opportunities.  

Surveying our people: Enhancing our culture to drive performance

An essential factor to our employee strategy is building forums for two-way communication. Annually we survey our people and welcome candid feedback, where they can anonymously share their sentiments on our business, culture and their Altus experience.

“As HR leaders, we need to partner with our organization to leverage key learnings from pandemic lockdowns and survey employees to understand what feeling engaged means to them.”

Since implementing our activity-based work model in 2022, we’ve seen consistently positive feedback toward work-life balance, alignment with business vision and strategy and trust in leadership. These metrics are essential indicators of employee satisfaction and the evidence we need to prove that despite the general growing preference that prioritize in-office hybrid models in corporate industries, we’re onto something. Our global organization is supportive of our hybrid framework and continues to feel that our leaders embrace flexibility and trust when introducing new initiatives into the Altus Experience.

Staying connected and recognizing success

Further to the point of keeping employees connected and fostering a sense of belonging regardless of work location, we’ve also invested in an innovative social communications platform to replace the standard intranet tool. As our main communication channel, complete with democratic engagement opportunities that enable employees to share their perspectives, build communities and network with colleagues across the globe, we have an impressive uptake with 94.7% of our employee profiles activated and above-benchmark monthly user activity. 

We’re not only leveraging this platform to keep employees informed; we regularly offer engagement opportunities to strengthen our global team’s bond. A standout example is our Altus Excellence Awards, a peer-nominated recognition program. Each quarter, we receive quality nominations uncovering global stories of employees who embody our values and make significant impacts on Altus’ business. I am inspired by all these stories and the individuals who come forward to highlight their peers’ achievements.

Our communications hub is also used to help employees build their skills and explore new paths. Through the Altus Intelligence Academy, an in-house learning and development platform that offers over 150,000 hours of learning resources, employees can delve into the knowledge and skills that will prepare them for the next level of their career. In many cases, Altus has been successful in retaining top talent – we had 300+ promotions in 2023, a record for us! – reflecting our employees’ dedication to growing at Altus.

Finding what works

Altus’ activity-based work model has proven effective in enhancing engagement, facilitating collaboration and driving high performance across our global teams through thoughtful investments that invite candid feedback. keep our people connected and provide support and recognition. By prioritizing flexibility and leveraging the right tools, we’ve created an environment where employees can thrive both personally and professionally.

Every organization is different and has unique needs, I understand that. For our global team at Altus, finding the right balance between flexibility, strategic alignment and employee engagement was an important factor in our success. As HR leaders, we need to partner with our organization to leverage key learnings from pandemic lockdowns and survey employees to understand what feeling engaged means to them. From there, making strategic decisions that support and empower employees can provide a meaningful outcome to your own employee experience strategy.