What changed in this filing

/stocks — the workspaceLOADING

Item 1. Business

2024-02-06 compared with 2023-02-07 · 18 added, 33 removed, 145 unchanged (26% of the section changed)

4 unchanged sentences

Limited partners owned the remaining 2.2 million Common Units.

Generally, the Operating Partnership is obligated to redeem each Common Unit at the request of the holder thereof for cash equal to the value of one share of Common Stock based on the average of the market price for the 10 trading days immediately preceding the notice date of such redemption, provided that the Company, at its option, may elect to acquire any such Common Units presented for redemption for cash or one share of Common Stock.

Generally, the Operating Partnership is obligated to redeem each Common Unit at the request of the unitholder for cash equal to the value of one share of Common Stock based on the average of the market price for the 10 trading days immediately preceding the notice date of such redemption, provided that the Company, at its option, may elect to acquire any such Common Units presented for redemption for cash or one share of Common Stock.

The Common Units owned by the Company are not redeemable.

11 unchanged sentences

We are in the work-placemaking business.

We believe that in creating environments and experiences where the best and brightest can achieve together what they cannot apart, we can deliver greater value to our customers, their teammates and, in turn, our stockholders.

We believe that by creating environments and experiences where the best and brightest can achieve together what they cannot apart, we can deliver greater value to our customers, their teammates and, in turn, our stakeholders.

Our simple strategy is to own and operate high-quality workplaces in the BBDs within our footprint, maintain a strong balance sheet to be opportunistic throughout economic cycles, employ a talented and dedicated team and communicate transparently with all stakeholders.

6 unchanged sentences

Since the beginning of 2019, we have acquired (on a wholly-owned or joint venture basis) 4.0 million square feet of trophy office assets for a total gross investment of $1.9 billion, placed in service 2.1 million square feet of highly pre-leased new office development for a total gross investment of $762.0 million and sold 7.5 million square feet of non-core assets for $1.2 billion.

As of December 31, 2022, our wholly-owned and joint venture development pipeline consisted of in-process developments with a total anticipated gross investment of $928.6 million.

As of December 31, 2023, our wholly-owned and joint venture development pipeline consisted of in-process and recently completed but not yet stabilized developments with a total anticipated gross investment of $928.6 million.

During this timeframe, we have completed our exit from Greensboro and Memphis, announced our plan to exit Pittsburgh and entered Charlotte and Dallas, two higher-growth markets.

12 unchanged sentences

The corporate resiliency team, comprised of a diverse group of disciplines including executive leadership, is charged with refining our long-term resiliency strategy, driving performance improvements across our portfolio and establishing and tracking progress towards goals.

More information regarding our sustainability strategy and progress towards reaching our target goals is available in the Company’s Proxy Statement filed in connection with our annual meeting of stockholders and in our annual corporate resiliency report that can be found under the “Service Not Space/Sustainability” section of our website.

More information regarding our sustainability strategy and progress towards reaching our target goals is available in our annual corporate resiliency report that can be found under the “Service Not Space/Resiliency” section of our website.

Information on our website is not considered part of this Annual Report.

4 unchanged sentences

Risk Factors - Risks Related to our Operations - Costs of complying with governmental laws and regulations may adversely affect our results of operations.”

Information Security

We face risks associated with security breaches through cyber attacks, cyber intrusions or otherwise, as well as other significant disruptions of our information technology networks and related systems.

The audit committee of the Company’s Board of Directors is responsible for overseeing management’s risk assessment and risk management processes designed to

monitor and control information security risk.

Management, including the Company’s chief information officer, regularly briefs the audit committee on information security matters.

These briefings occur as often as needed, but in no event less than once a year.

The Company’s chief information officer also regularly briefs management’s information technology steering committee, which includes the CEO and CFO.

We have adopted and implemented an approach to identify and mitigate information security risks that we believe is commercially reasonable for real estate companies, including some of the best practices of the National Institute of Standards and Technology cyber security framework.

Since January 1, 2018, we have not experienced any information security breaches that resulted in any financial loss.

We have a cyber risk insurance policy designed to help us mitigate risk exposure by offsetting costs involved with recovery and remediation after an information security breach or similar event.

We regularly engage independent third parties to test our information security processes and systems as part of our overall enterprise risk management.

We regularly conduct information security training to ensure all employees are aware of information security risks and to enable them to take steps to mitigate such risks.

As part of this program, we also take reasonable steps to ensure any employee who may come into possession of confidential financial or health information has received appropriate information security awareness training.

Human Capital Resources

We focus our real estate activities in markets where we have extensive local knowledge and own a significant amount of assets.

As a result, we operate division offices in Atlanta, Nashville, Orlando, Raleigh, Richmond and Tampa, which are led by seasoned real estate professionals with significant commercial real estate experience managing across multiple economic cycles.

Over the long-term, we plan to open division offices in Charlotte and Dallas.

Shared corporate services, such as accounting, technology, development, asset management, marketing, human resources, legal and tax, are primarily based in Raleigh.

Shared corporate services, such as accounting, technology, development, portfolio operations, marketing, human resources, legal and tax, are primarily based in Raleigh.

Our senior leadership team, led by our CEO, is based in Raleigh and oversees all of the Company’s operations.

8 unchanged sentences

• our established detailed service request process creates chain of custody for a customer request and tracks status and response time, which enables proactive identification of any underperforming equipment and vital reconnaissance for process improvement and leverage when specifying all aspects of any new construction;

• our first-hand relationships with our customers lead to better customer service and often result in customers seeking renewals and additional space.

• our first-hand relationships with our customers lead to better experiences for our customers and their teammates and often result in customers seeking renewals and additional space.

Above all, being a fully-integrated REIT across these diverse functional areas gives us the benefit of engaging and responding to our customers’ needs as an owner versus a vendor.

We believe this distinction, a core component of our value proposition, translates into improved customer service and higher customer retention.

We had 345 full-time employees as of December 31, 2022, three fewer than we had as of December 31, 2021.

We believe this distinction, a core component of our value proposition, translates into improved customer experience and higher customer retention.

We had 349 full-time employees as of December 31, 2023, four more than we had as of December 31, 2022.

Over the past three years, our average annual turnover rate was 17%, substantially lower than the average national industry turnover rate of 26% as reported by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Our turnover rate was 21% for 2022 largely due to the continued volatility in the job markets in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic.

However, this was lower than the average national industry turnover rate of 25.8% and we have generally backfilled most of these positions.

Moreover, through our efforts in

providing internship and cooperative education opportunities for future real estate professionals, we have identified a pool of talented professionals capable of filling future hiring needs.

Our turnover rate was 13% for 2023, significantly lower than the turnover rate we experienced in 2021 and 2022 largely due to the volatility in the job markets in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Through our efforts in providing internship and cooperative education opportunities for future real estate professionals, we have also identified a pool of talented professionals capable of filling future hiring needs.

As of December 31, 2023, the average tenure of our employees was 10 years and the average age was 49 years.

10 unchanged sentences

Additionally, we prioritize succession planning across various levels of our company to ensure seamless transitions as employees are promoted, retire or otherwise depart from their current positions.

One of our most significant human capital risks, which has been identified by many employers in our markets and throughout the country, concerns an increasing shortage of trade professionals in the future, as there are fewer younger trade professionals entering the workforce to replace retiring workers.

One of our most significant human capital risks, which has been identified by many employers in our markets and throughout the country, is an expected shortage of trade professionals in the future, as there are fewer younger trade professionals entering the workforce to replace retiring workers.

Approximately 34% of our employees are highly specialized and skilled trade professionals, such as maintenance engineers and technicians and HVAC technicians.

The average age of our trade professionals is 51 years, which is approximately four years older than the average age of the remainder of our employee base.

age of our trade professionals is 53 years, which is approximately five years older than the average age of the remainder of our employee base.

To proactively combat the potential future shortage of skilled trade professionals, we have partnered with local trade schools in some of our markets to implement an apprenticeship program to encourage and incentivize younger workers to obtain the technical skills necessary to become a trade professional.

49 unchanged sentences

Our well-being initiatives focus on the “whole person,” as we are concerned not only for the on-the-job health and safety of our employees, but also for their ability to lead healthy and productive personal lives.

To that end, we have established wellness committees in each of our divisions and have a “HIW Well-being” program to promote holistic well-being.

To that end, we have established wellness committees in each of our locations and have a “HIW Well-being” program to promote holistic well-being.

Our health benefit plans are designed to improve the overall health of our employees by decreasing costs and improving access to quality healthcare.

1 unchanged sentence

While we own and operate a collection of high-quality office assets, we believe our team of dedicated real estate professionals is also critically important to our success.

Over the past five years, by simplifying and streamlining our operations, we have reduced our overall headcount by nearly 100.

Since the beginning of 2018, by simplifying and streamlining our operations, we have reduced our overall headcount by nearly 100.

This right-sizing of our employee base has created, and will continue to create, opportunities for individual career growth.

The Company has long demonstrated a commitment to individual career growth.

For example, nearly one-third of our current employees have had significant career advancement during their tenure with us.

For example, nearly half of our current employees have had significant career advancement during their tenure with us.

Through periodic career conversations that are held at least once a year with our employees, we create an environment that fosters and encourages an “ownership” mentality throughout our company and empowers our employees to continuously seek new and better ways of doing business.

2 unchanged sentences

During 2021, we surveyed all of our employees with respect to diversity and inclusion and many of our employees with respect to work environment satisfaction.

During 2022, we conducted an engagement survey.

We conducted an engagement survey in each of the last two years.

Diversity and Inclusion.

9 unchanged sentences

Third, we have a diversity and inclusion group, called the “DIG,” made up of employees who advocate for diversity and inclusion throughout our company.

In 2022, the DIG focused on creating relationships with local schools that support disadvantaged and minority students, creating clear Company-wide communication, encouraging personal career growth and continuing to expand and diversify our vendor base.

In 2023, the DIG focused its efforts on fostering Company-wide communication and inclusion, supporting our partnerships with local schools and programs that support students with limited economic resources and continuing to expand and diversify our vendor base.

Compared sentence by sentence after normalising whitespace, quotation marks, case and digits, so re-formatting and restated figures do not read as changed language. Wording changes appear as one removal and one addition. The current filing and the prior one are authoritative.

What changed 10-K

Item 1. Business