Dive Brief:
- Managed physical security company Kastle has partnered with Bilt, a loyalty and rewards firm, to offer employees benefits at businesses near where they work, the company said Tuesday.
- Using Bilt’s Neighborhood OS platform, the 60,000 businesses that use Kastle’s access systems will be able to offer employees neighborhood passes to use at nearby businesses.
- The partnership is Bilt’s first foray into commercial real estate and is intended to give employers a way to improve workplace experience and connect offices with the neighborhood around them, the company said.
Dive Insight:
Kastle customers will also be able to offer employee memberships that bring together workplace services, amenities and rewards from Bilt’s network of over 50,000 merchant partners, including restaurants, fitness studios, sports venues and retail shops. Employees will also be able to use a 24/7 AI concierge that is available through Bilt’s app and text to answer workplace Over 60% of organizations say enhancing employee experience to attract and retain talent is a top workplace strategy objective, according to CBRE’s 2026 Occupier Sentiment survey. As a priority among building operators, improving workers’ experience trails only space optimization and utilization as other goals, the report says.
At the same time, many occupiers seeking new space are looking to move to central business districts with walkable amenities, transit access and proximity to talent, according to other research.
The partnership between Kastle and Bilt aims to help owners make their buildings more attractive to tenants by connecting building access and workplace amenities with benefits at nearby businesses, according to the companies.
“Where you work shapes your daily routine … the coffee you pick up, where you take a client to lunch and the places you visit on your way home,” Ankur Jain, founder and CEO of Bilt, said in a statement. “With Kastle, we can connect those moments to an employee membership that makes the workday more rewarding. Employers gain a new way to take care of their teams, and neighborhood businesses gain more opportunities to welcome the people working nearby.”
The companies say employers can use the membership to recognize their teams and bring them together — for example, by rewarding regular office attendance with sports tickets or by hosting a team happy hour at a neighborhood restaurant. They say this arrangement can provide employees with more value from their workday, while providing employers another way to support attendance, recruitment and retention. An AI-powered concierge service will also enable users to ask questions, reserve tables, book travel for work trips and more, the companies said.
