The most important roles in multifamily are those on the front lines that have face-to-face interactions every day. Hiring the right people for these positions is a harbinger for success, but isn’t always the easiest thing to do. Working on property involves long hours, including nights and weekends, to be able to address the needs of customers at any hour of the day or night, which can cause employees to burnout quickly.

According to a survey conducted by the National Apartment Association, 42% of respondents cited HR, Staffing & Recruitment as one of the biggest challenges facing the industry¹. Part of that challenge is the high turnover experienced by many properties. The NAA also estimates that the turnover rate for property management positions was 33.5% on average. This is compared to the national average of 22% across all industries².

With turnover so high, many in the industry are asking themselves what can they do to attract the right talent that will stick around for the long term. Two things that stand out to us at Entrata are putting in the effort up front during the onboarding process along with empowering employees to be more efficient by providing them with the best available property management tools. The following highlights the key benefits and strategies for a successful training program along with how technology can foster efficiencies that lead to increased work/life balance.

Training and onboarding new hires

One of the most important aspects of company culture is continuous learning and that starts with the initial onboarding and training process. The training should include a mix of both in-person and online courses via your LMS. You might be tempted to do the entire training process via your LMS, but people learn at different paces and in different ways, and face-to-face training creates an opportunity to reinforce culture. Additionally, training should be bite-sized in nature, particularly in the LMS because attention spans are much shorter now and you want to make sure that the information is absorbed and retained.

Testing and certification is a must. Attending the training is one thing, but you need to test employees’ knowledge after each course. Recognizing and rewarding progress at each step helps your team understand that learning is a goal that should be taken seriously.

Company culture and values. New hires should be thoroughly introduced to the company's mission, vision, and values. This helps them know what you’re trying to accomplish and how they can contribute to the overall goals. It also fosters a sense of belonging and alignment with the organization's culture. When talking about company culture make sure you talk about not just the how, but the why.

Ensure employees understand applicable laws. Because multifamily housing is such a regulated industry, it’s important to train employees on Fair Housing and other state, local, and federal laws to guarantee compliance. This is also a good opportunity to review safety protocols, including emergency procedures, and evacuation plans to ensure employee safety and preparedness in any situation. 

Emphasize customer service. Building a positive relationship with residents is key to increasing renewals. Provide training on effective communication, conflict resolution, and handling resident questions and concerns.

Maintain robust FAQs. No matter how hard you try, not every part of the training is going to stick. That’s why every property should create an FAQ page and SOP’s on your employee portal that covers standard operating procedures for how to address situations as they occur.

Assign mentor. During their initial orientation and training, assign them a peer mentor. This is someone who they can talk to in a safe environment where they can ask questions about their role, the company, procedural issues, etc.

Leveraging tech to improve employee experience

In recent years, technology has improved leaps and bounds in the multifamily industry with the introduction of AI and other automations. If you want to keep employees around for the long-term, invest in property management software that simplifies the workload for site teams.

Nurturing leads. AI makes it easy for you to automatically trigger first contact with leads. Instead of having to stay on top of every call, email, chat, and text, your property management system can engage with prospects and residents to answer frequently asked questions. As generative AI continues to advance, more conversations will be taken off your site teams’ plates, allowing them to be present with residents they are interacting with in person.

Resident screening. Streamline the process for vetting prospective residents by significantly accelerating the time it takes to verify income, identity, fraud and background checks. Put the onus on the resident to upload the necessary documentation rather than having site teams track them down.

Multilingual communication. Communicating with someone who doesn’t speak the same language as you can be frustrating for both parties, especially when trying to convey something technical or something you’re not familiar with. For example, if a resident is having a plumbing issue and is trying to explain the problem in English to a maintenance worker who speaks English as a second language, the issue isn’t going to be resolved as quickly as either party would like. This problem is easily addressed through AI, which can automatically translate messages into the receiver’s primary language. 

Automating accounts payable. One of the most time consuming and costly parts of the accounts payable process is printing checks, stuffing envelopes, and mailing them. When you automate accounts payable, payments can be initiated from your bank once the invoice is approved. Entrata estimates that doing this simple thing can save a typical property as much as $18,000 annually by eliminating postage and some labor costs in the process.

Streamlined reporting. Recent advancements in business intelligence and predictive analytics have made it much easier to take advantage of relevant data to improve forecasting and reporting. In the past, sifting through the mountains of data spread across multiple solutions was very time consuming, so much so that once reports were pulled the data might be stale and a less effective tool for management. 

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.

¹ Property Management Industry Pulse 2023
² The Great Resignation Challenge‍