When it comes to hiring, it’s important to understand the needs of today’s workforce. Today’s workforce prioritizes work life balance, career development opportunities, and working at a company they can believe in. For many in the job market, beyond the ideas mentioned above, the compensation package is also of great importance.

All of those factors add up to what makes up your company culture. For a company culture to succeed and resonate, it can’t just be posters in your office and slides in your orientation. It has to be lived and breathed day to day by your employees. Your company culture should showcase your unique values and benefits you provide to your employees, and ensure those values are organizationally embedded and sustainably practiced. While every business is different, the following core components to a successful company culture should be applicable across the board.

Define core values. When building company culture, the first thing you need to do is define what your core values are. Ask yourself what you’re trying to accomplish with your business. Your core values should be the North Star you use in all of the decisions you make from where you build and buy, what your marketing and leasing strategy is, who you hire, and everything in between. 

Hire for culture. While it’s important to hire people with the right skillset. Just as important is hiring people that fit the culture. Skills can be taught, but it’s much harder to fit a square peg in a round hole when it comes to culture.

Foster a culture of transparency. Encourage open communication between employees and leadership. Employees should feel comfortable making suggestions and giving feedback, and in turn should feel comfortable receiving feedback as well.

Recognize and reward performance. One of the best ways to attract and retain the best employees is by rewarding top performers. When employees feel that their work is appreciated and can result in promotions and increased compensation, their effort will increase and their tenures at your properties will be longer.

Embrace technology. One of the most effective ways to improve work-life balance for your site teams is by implementing new technology that automates tedious, repetitive, manual processes while enabling site teams to focus on delivering better service to residents. Additionally, technology like chatbots and generative AI can answer resident questions and make maintenance requests  24/7, meaning site teams don’t have to be on call at all hours of the day to solve problems. 

Look at it this way. There are two farmers who have the same amount of land. One has top-of-the-line John Deere tractors, while the other has a mule and an iron plow. Which one do you think employees would want to work for? The same is true for your business. Employees are going to have a greater desire to work for a company that gives them the right tools to work smarter, not harder.

You should also focus on adding best-in-breed tools to manage the hiring process. Doing so will ease the burden on HR and hiring managers, tasked with finding the right hire, but also streamline and accelerate the process for the applicants.

Lead by example. For a company culture to work, it needs to come from the top down. Leadership can’t just talk about the culture, they need to live it in their day to day. Actions speak louder than words.

Implementing these strategies and making a conscious effort to build a positive and supportive work environment, multifamily businesses can create a strong company culture that attracts and retains top talent, ultimately leading to improved performance, resident satisfaction, and long-term success for your properties.

Learn more

To learn more about how to attract, train, and retain top talent, download our latest ebook, The Multifamily Manager's Guide to Training & Retaining Top Talent.