Attracting new employees and retaining the old ones is challenging for multifamily property management employers. The main area to master is creating a workplace environment that offers an exciting culture and opportunities for growth. This will encourage A players to stick around.
Jill Christensen, an employee engagement influencer, proposes a technique that helps property management leaders and managers to work with their workforce. So, first, let us explore what questions you must be asking as an employer if you wish to retain your existing workforce and attract new ones.
Questions Every Property Management Employer Must Ask Themselves
If you are a supervisor or owner of a multifamily property management company, you must ask how you do things at your workplace. There are three areas that you must focus on when it comes to employee retention and employee turnover rate.
Determining the Culture
Ask yourself some basic questions on what you have to offer to the new employees. These include
· Do you welcome a new team member after getting them on board?
· Is there an on-boarding program to help them settle in?
· Are you throwing them into the deep end with any prior training about how the company works?
· Do you give them a tour of the property to help them understand the operations?
The answers you get will explain how well-organized or well-thought your employee care plan is. The way you facilitate the new team members speaks a lot about your working culture. Fix this, and you may be able to improve employee turnover and retention rates.
Investing in Your Employees
Employees love to work for a company that invests time and resources to propel their careers. Therefore you must ensure to take care of your property management team members. The following questions may help design or evaluate your interaction with the team.
· Do your team members get to have a 1-on-1 meeting with their managers? And how frequently?
· Do you organize regular meetings to discuss their concerns, goals, plans, and challenges?
· Do you make an effort to interact with them on a daily basis, even if it is as simple as making eye contact?
If you are failing to do this, it may leave your team members developing a feeling that they are on their own. According to statistics, 77 percent of employees leave their jobs because they feel abandoned within the company. So, you must make a deliberate effort to make your employees feel heard and taken care of.
Degree of Support and Compassion
Support and compassion will be one of the biggest reasons potential talent in the market may want to join your team. Therefore, as a manager of a property management team, you just need to figure out if you are currently practicing the following.
· Do you treat your employees with compassion and offer them support in case they face a crisis?
For instance, what if a team member has been in a car accident or someone in their family passed away. If your team member is going through a tough time in his personal life but continues to come to work because they fear losing the job, you must address this.
A little bit of compassion can go a long way and boost your employees' morale and loyalty towards you and the company.
Tips to Improve Your Turnover Rate and Retention
Employees’ turnover rate and retention are the main pain points of the property management industry. According to stats, the employees’ turnover rate in the property management industry at 32.7 percent, which is comparatively higher than most industries.
So, if you are a property management supervisor struggling with employee retention, working on the following areas may help you.
Listening to Your Team Members
Always keep the communication channels open for your team members. Doing so will make your workforce feel that they have a voice. Remember, these team members are your eyes and ear on the ground, and listening to them can actually help you gain valuable insight into how you are performing as a company.
The absence of communication may also breed a culture of unhealthy competition within the company. An open-door communication policy is a great way to empower your team members to walk in and discuss their concerns without the fear of consequences.
Identifying the Individual Motivation
Each employee has different motivations to come to work every day. Therefore, you must work with them individually to find out what these motivations are. For instance, the most basic motivations may include salary, health insurance, and other benefits.
Other areas include constant feedback, appreciation for their hard work via public praise or rewards. Knowing this will help you take care of the workforce and motivate them to stay with your company.
Evolving with Time
Is your company still stuck in the pre-smartphone era? Technology has made life easier for the workforce in all industries. Therefore, ensure that your work culture offers the latest tools to help your team members perform their jobs in a productive manner.
The new generation of employees comes from the world of social media, smartphones, and apps. So, you must adapt to digital technology to ensure that you do not come across as an outdated employer. Offering the latest tools to facilitate your team members will show that you are a forward-thinking company and, most importantly, that you care.
Preventing Burnout
Overworking is one of the main reasons the property management industry suffers from a high employee turnover rate. The demand to be available on call 24/7, waking up at odd hours, and working overtime can burn out your team members. This eventually starts affecting their personal life as well.
While you would want your best men to be on the ground, delegating the tasks equally will help you maintain a well-balanced work rota for all team members.
Therefore, you must come up with a solution, so everyone shares the burden of the demanding job that multifamily property management is. For this, property management software may come in quite handy.
Conclusion
As an upper management leader in a multifamily property management industry, you must target all the above-mentioned areas. Tweaking them will help improve the turnover rate and ensure that your best team members continue to work with the company for many years to come.
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