Are you struggling to keep employees around? If so, you’re not alone. The multifamily property management’s quit rate sits at around 33%, 10% higher than the industry average. Even more worrying, just 49% of property managers plan to stay in the industry, a steep 9% drop from 58% in 2018. 🤯
The labor laws are well underway and are causing instability in the global workforce. To win, you’ll need to call in reinforcements. But where do you start? In this article, we’ll dissect the issues fueling the labor wars and how they impact rental property management. We’ll also reveal how having Flex as a tool in your arsenal will help you build higher staff retention rates and happier teams.
How labor wars are rocking rental property management 📉
You don’t have to look far to hear talks of employee shortages and strained operations in countless industries. The rental property management industry is one of those taking a beating. Let’s unpack some of these issues.
Generational shifts in the global workforce have spiked turnover rates 🏃
The talent pool as we once knew it is gone. Gen Z has entered the workforce with higher expectations of work-life balance and career development. Millennials face a career identity crisis, realizing that promises of better wages and career opportunities from securing higher education may not happen. Gen X is approaching an era of more responsibility and costs at home, raising families with aging parents. Some Boomers have to work into their retirement, creating an aging workforce. So, it’s no surprise that:
- 54% of Gen Z aren’t engaged at work
- 60% of Millennials are open to job-hopping
- 37% of Gen X left their jobs in 2022, leading the great resignation
- 79% of Gen X say they feel forgotten about at work 😔
- 49% of Boomers are or expect to work past 70 or don’t plan to retire
Difficulty finding suitable candidates is impacting the existing workforce 🕵🏻
In business, you’re only as good as your staff. But, with the workforce pool shrinking, talent gaps have emerged. As a result, some rental property management companies face challenges in finding qualified candidates to fill vacant positions. These vacancies place more pressure on existing staff, who often already have sizable workloads. This situation can lead to burnout, absenteeism, and disengagement fueling the cycle of employee turnover. The issue has become so common that 59% of employees aren’t engaged at work, and 51% are looking for new jobs if nothing changes. 💨
Intense competition knocks out many businesses in the first round 🥊
Labor shortages have intensified competition among property management companies to attract and keep top talent. At the same time, large companies have entered the market, exacerbating competition for skilled workers. As a result, recruitment in rental property management has become a battle of the budgets. The companies with the deepest pockets and willingness to invest win by offering more perks, so smaller businesses don’t get the chance to land a swing, missing candidates as a consequence.
Let’s put this situation into perspective from the view of an employee. Say you’re at the top of your game as a property manager and receive identical salary offers. One company has a basic package, while the other offers a large sign-on bonus, better medical insurance, wellness perks, vacation, and career development resources. Which would you choose?
Service quality falters due to insufficient staffing
Labor wars don’t just drag down staff numbers; they negatively impact service quality, too. Stretching teams too thin makes it challenging to provide timely and efficient support to current and prospective tenants. This problem can have undesirable consequences like decreased satisfaction, increased turnover rates, lost sales, and opportunity costs. 💸
How Flex keeps staff happy and around for longer 👌
If you’re ready to step up your staff retention, the chances are you’ve come across some technology staples like property management and workforce management solutions. So, you’re probably wondering how a rent payment app like Flex can encourage employees to stick around. The answer lies in Flex’s features and benefits. Let’s break them down.
Give staff more time to grow their skills and the business 🕒
Ensuring staff meet targets is important, but so is helping them acquire the skills to do so and providing the tools to facilitate it. Yet, just 34% of property managers say they’ve had adequate training to execute their role successfully. Sound familiar? There’s hope. Using Flex will reduce your team’s administrative burden and sharpen their efficiency. From here, employees can focus on other valuable endeavors like career development training and business scaling projects. Such initiatives also boost engagement.
Make the switch to improve staff retention and engagement, and your business could be in line for huge rewards. Companies in the top quartile for employee engagement are 23% more profitable and 18% more productive in sales. They also experience 81% less absenteeism, 64% fewer safety incidents, and 18% lower staff turnover for (high-turnover companies).
Make every week Rent Week by putting collections on autopilot
Rent payments are critical to keep operations ticking. Knowing this, you may have tried to offer split rent payments as a way to encourage early and on-time payments. But without the right solution, it’s easy for things to go haywire. This is especially true if you’ve got a small team or hit busy seasons.
Whether it’s chasing later payers [link to rent week blog post], double-checking payments, or completing paperwork, each admin task adds an extra layer of complexity to your staff’s day. Soon, your team is using their limited bandwidth to put out fires instead of focusing on income generation and tenant satisfaction. 💥
But when you leverage flexible payments through our rent payments app, your staff can work smarter, not harder. Flex allows you to collect rent payments around the clock without needing staff to cover the phones and emails. Flex also automates the rent collection process, meaning no more manual follow-ups, payment recording, and filing admin. That’s a huge load of work your team no longer has to worry about. This setup also means it’s not disastrous if employees are on vacation, sick leave, or busy with other tasks. Our flexible payments solution even reduces the admin burden on the site staff like leasing agents freeing them to focus on tasks like marketing, resident tours, and customer service. 👌
Level up your data collection and analytics to drive better decisions 📊
Losing a payment or opportunity due to a manual error or having dirty data derail your company’s choices, is common. It’s easy to see why when you zoom in on technology choices and processes. 43% of rent payments are still paper-based, and bad data costs most businesses between 15% and 25% of their revenue. Thankfully, when you install Flex, you can curb such issues. Our solution will:
- Centralize, organize, and analyze insights. Staff can track rent payment trends, identify potential issues, and optimize financial strategies to improve cash flow and profitability
- Digitize processes to increase online payments. This feature reduces your company’s reliance on checks and bank transfers, helping your team fight fraud and costly errors
Promote financial wellness to increase staff retention 💵
You’ve probably heard that promoting resident financial health [Link to blog post on resident financial health] is essential to boost their loyalty. Well, helping staff master their finances can do the same for your staff retention rates. When staff feel appreciated and considered by their employers, they’re more likely to return the favor with their continued presence. Offering Flex is a great way to care for your staff as part of the company’s benefits package. This is because Flex isn’t just free for landlords. It’s free for employees who live at the properties offering our solution, which can increase employee retention. Using our rent payment app, your staff can then stretch paychecks further, making life less financially stressful.
Rehab your staff retention rates with Flex 🩹
Labor wars continue to rage on in the rental property management industry, with no signs of wavering. So, as a growing business with big goals, you’ll need proactive ways to attract and retain top talent. Let Flex support your staff retention strategy to help staff get ahead financially and increase engagement. Then, combine Flex, with optimized work processes, learning and development investments, and personalized benefits to build enviably staff retention rates.
When you take care of your staff, they’ll take care of your business. So, don’t wait. Get the ball rolling on your employee retention and engagement initiatives today.
Don’t let low staff retention hamper your business. Tackle the burn and churn with Flex.
