September 12th, 2018
Why property managers leave
Property Management
Property Management
Attracting a property manager that is the perfect fit for your team can do great things for your bottom line, as well as simply making your office a more pleasant place to work in.
On the other hand, if a great property manager leaves for greener pastures, it can end up costing you up to nine months of that former employee’s salary to find and onboard a replacement. It may also negatively affect your team’s culture, and in turn, your bottom line.
So how do you both attract and retain the best property managers? Let’s take a look at five strategies to do just that.
Let’s start with the good people you have right now.
What do they value? Is it career progression? Spending more time with their family? What do they excel at? What don’t they enjoy doing?
Spend 15 minutes with each of your property managers one on one, and find out what makes them tick. It doesn’t have to be uncomfortable either—you can put your property manager at ease with some small talk before segueing into the main topic.
Only when you get to know your staff and understand what’s important to them, can you truly meet their needs and keep them happy. Happy staff are engaged staff too, which can lead to 22% more profits.
First and foremost, you must have a strong internal identity, and know without doubt what it is that you offer as a property management agency.
Is your agency known for delivering five-star service or going above and beyond? Perhaps you’ve received awards from the REIA, Elite Agent or REB to prove it.
Secondly, make sure your outward appearance matches that internal identity. Communicate that value proposition in every single piece of marketing you do. Communicate it in every single client interaction you have. Let everyone know what you are about.
Once you emanate that identity from your core, top property managers will want to align themselves with your agency and brand. It’s proven in the field too, as 84% of job seekers value the reputation of a prospective employer. It’ll even help you keep your employees, as employee turnover can be reduced by 28% by investing in branding.
Your staff are not only walking advertisements for your agency, they can also be active recruiters. Your property managers in particular interact with dozens of people every day, some of whom may just be the perfect fit for your agency.
There are two basic routes you can take in terms of incentive—either a cash bonus of $1,000 to $5,000, or giving the referring employee some time off, or even a free holiday. As mentioned earlier, it can cost up to 60% of a salary to recruit and onboard a new staff member, so incentivising your staff is bound to save you a lot of time and money in the long run.
Interestingly, research shows that most employees refer candidates not for money at all:
So more often that not, employees are motivated to refer candidates simply to be a good employee, or a good friend. Once we put this into context with keeping our staff happy and satisfied, it starts to make a whole lot of sense.
While you know the ins and outs of your agency like the back of your hand, there’s an element of the unknown for your prospective employees, which can be nerve wracking. Having a structured training program can provide reassurance and help new employees ease into the work and company culture.
Make sure it’s well known (both internally and externally) that you have a training program that can essentially take any appropriate candidate, and bring them up to speed with your operations and workflows. This will open up your talent pool to a new audience of prospects.
A structured training program will also help with retaining the best property managers, as research has shown that a lack of career growth is one of the biggest reasons people quit their jobs.
There’s a reason why Silicon Valley attracts so much top tech talent—they offer attractive benefits such as work from home days, free lunches and birthday leave. Take a page from their book and offer similar perks to attract and retain the best property managers. Be sure to talk to your staff and find out what they value.
To start you off, consider offering flexible work hours to create a better work life balance. After all, companies that offer remote work have 25% lower employee turnover than those that don’t.
Improving company culture may sound a tad vague, but the reality is that the last five tips culminate to help create a more positive and supportive work environment.
People want, and deserve, to enjoy being around their coworkers, and have the support to do their job effectively. The more you actively try to improve company culture, the more reputable your agency will become. It also means you’ll have to worry a lot less about staff turnover!
To genuinely commit to improving your company culture, why not spend 15 minutes on strategy number one today? Talk to one of your property managers and see how they’re going today.
That’s all it takes.
Thanks for reading this blog on how to attract and retain the best property managers! You might also be interested in Why Property Managers Leave, The Shift Towards Customer Experience in Real Estate and 7 Time Management Tips for Real Estate Agents.
Let us know your thoughts on 5 Ways to Attract and Retain the Best Property Managers by emailing [email protected].