This article was originally published by Campbell Kwan, commercial property reporter for The Australian Financial Review.

Cooking classes, mental health seminars and networking drinks are just some of the initiatives to tackle loneliness in the workplace, which major landlord EG Funds has introduced in an effort to make its older office towers more appealing to workers.

It is those towers that emptied the most with the shift to hybrid working but EG is hopeful events for its tenants – such as cooking classes for banh mi, empanadas and arepas – will help reverse the trend. The property fund manager is also receiving feedback from workers directly, with their tenants’ consent, to better understand their needs and wants.

“We want to make sure that we’re doing our part and help people improve their connectedness and social interactions, which is going to be good for overall mental health,” EG managing director Roger Parker said. “Of course, ultimately, we’d love to see better connectedness, and therefore potentially better occupancy.”

The vacancy rate of secondary offices in Sydney’s core precinct has more than doubled since the pandemic, rising to 12.5 per cent last June from 5 per cent in January 2020, the latest Property Council of Australia data shows. That rate is expected to have further climbed as tenant moves picked up pace towards the end of last year.

The office initiatives are run by the Little BIG Foundation, a non-profit organisation funded by EG Funds, and modelled after its residential community program that received positive feedback.

Whitney Duan, Actuaries Institute’s partnerships manager who works at EG’s B-Grade tower at 50 Carrington Street is an early convert. She has felt more connected with her colleagues after participating in one of Little Big’s events.

One in three under 34 feels lonely

”I definitely feel like the events have brought about a more inviting environment in the building – there are now exciting and positive things to look forward to in the office,” she told The Australian Financial Review.

“One thing that hadn’t quite recovered after COVID, I think was workplace communities. We had lost the little joys of sharing a space with one another. We had stopped making time to seek out connection and belonging.”

Ms Duan, 29, has since doubled her time in the office to two days a week from one day.

She is not alone in thinking offices have grown colder since the pandemic battered the economy. A Little Big Foundation survey that polled some 300 workers in EG-managed offices showed that 62 per cent of women, and one in three people between 26-34 felt lonely at work.

EG Funds is hoping the increased worker satisfaction will translate to a rebound in vacancy rates for its older office stock. Like other B-grade offices, 50 Carrington Street has struggled to maintain its occupancy rates, with vacancy rates rising to 27.3 per cent from 14.6 per cent in mid-2022.

Translating to potential growth

The hits to 50 Carrington Street’s occupancy and vacancy rates follow the shift to hybrid work and various tenancies expiring, including that of WeWork. Some of that space has since been refitted to become community spaces for Little BIG’s initiatives.

It is too early to accurately measure the impact of the initiative to occupancy and the building’s mental health, but the early signs were promising, said Gemma Moulang, EG Funds asset management head.

“The connection with the landlord will be greater particularly when we attend these events because it’s more social as opposed to a formal meeting,” Ms Moulang said.

“We have had some really meaningful conversations at some of these events, which of course might then translate to, potential growth within the building.”

This article was originally published by Campbell Kwan, commercial property reporter for The Australian Financial Review.