Governance
The values expressed through our OneTeam foundations provide a framework for daily operations for which our commitment to goverance is a critical enabler.
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Company Governance
Ethics and compliance are fundamental to our business, guiding our day-to-day decision making and operations. Just as we hold ourselves to the highest ethical standards, customers expect us to operate with accountability, integrity and transparency. Our governance focuses on activities that facilitate ethical business practices and manage risks in accordance with the EQ Compliance Manual, while promoting transparent communications. Ultimately, our values and governance approach support our ambition to be the best office operating company for our customers.
The EQ Compliance Manual stipulates that we do not condone any conduct that is illegal, fraudulent, unethical or retaliatory. This applies to our own teams, contractors, suppliers, customers and other partners. Annual mandatory trainings reflecting key principles in the Compliance Manual further promotes safe and ethical environments.
Through an anonymous Ethics Helpline hosted by a third party, EQ employees can report possible ethics breaches, conflicts of interest, employment discrimination, harassment, retaliation or other potentially uncomfortable interpersonal workplace experiences. These concerns are routed to our People & Culture and Legal teams as appropriate.
We also encourage employees to contact their managers, senior leadership, the People & Culture team or the Legal team for guidance on reporting a potentially unethical situation. All reported concerns are investigated promptly. Additionally, EQ prohibits any form of discipline, reprisal, intimidation or retaliation for reporting, in good faith, a potential violation of this policy or cooperating in related investigations.
Sustainability and Social Impact Governance
Our Sustainability and Social Impact governance initiatives are overseen by our Senior Vice President, Social Impact and Sustainability, who reports directly to the Chief Executive Officer and works closely with other company leaders and functional experts, all of whom share our collective commitment. Specific programs are executed with the support of our Sustainability and Social Impact steering committee and experts throughout the company in key functions, such as People & Culture, Operations, Engineering and Construction.
Similarly, our DEI efforts are led at the executive level by our Chief Executive Officer and Chief Operating Officer, with strategic leads including our Senior Vice President People & Culture, Senior Vice President Sustainability and Social Impact, and Transformation Director responsible for overseeing the program.
Our People & Culture and Sustainability and Social Impact departments drive implementation of our DEI initiatives, supported by a DEI committee that works to increase awareness and culture improvements. As we
update our Sustainability and Social Impact strategy, we are also revisiting how we approach DEI to identify the most effective path forward.
Social, environmental and transparency considerations are integrated into our annual company-wide goal-setting and performance management processes. This also includes reviewing relevant sustainability, social impact and governance policies and procedures and updating or developing new ones to reflect emerging trends that could affect our customers and markets.
Cybersecurity and Data Privacy
We appreciate the trust our employees and customers place in us—to provide them with inspiring workspaces and experiences and of course to protect their private information. We are committed to safeguarding the privacy of data and to ensuring the cybersecurity of smart technologies in our buildings. The EQ Privacy Policy describes how we collect, protect and process personal information.
In addition, throughout our organization we apply a set of cybersecurity protocols designed to protect our networks, systems and applications:
• Require all EQ employees to complete annual cybersecurity training that underscores the importance of scrutinizing, questioning and reporting content, particularly from unknown parties, that comes in through electronic devices
• Require all third-party contractors to complete annual EQ cybersecurity training
• Ensure all connected devices in our buildings have protection from cyber risk, especially as we continue to implement additional smart technologies
Looking ahead, we are exploring solutions to further secure our building networks and devices, connect them to the cloud and roll out applications with the potential to enhance real-time security processing and optimization.
About Our Report
This annual Sustainability and Social Impact Report covers our properties and their associated buildings, except where otherwise noted, for the reporting period of January 1 through December 31, 2023. This includes our portfolio of 36 properties and 74 individual buildings with a gross floor area of over 20 million square feet.
Data Collection and Verification
We conduct quarterly data collection and performance monitoring through a consistent set of surveys provided to each property in our portfolio. To help ensure data accuracy, all survey data must be reviewed by each property’s leadership prior to submittal, with additional data validation completed by our Sustainability and Social Impact team.
This process provides us with social and environmental data that is comparable and consistent, enabling both quarterly and yearover-year assessments. Due to the complexity of energy and GHG emissions data, we engage a third party to support GHG emissions data analysis and verification.
Standards
Our Sustainability and Social Impact reporting is informed by the Global Real Estate Sustainability Benchmark (GRESB), to which we provide information for fund submissions each year. In the course of refining our Sustainability and Social Impact strategy and developing this report, we also reviewed applicable UN SDGs, the Global Reporting Initiative Standards and relevant Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB) Standards published by the International Sustainability Standards Board of the International Financial Reporting Standards Foundation—such as the SASB Real Estate Standard (2023). We regularly monitor emerging regulations, including potentially mandatory disclosures from the US Securities & Exchange Commission, that could affect our key stakeholders.