“If people feel like they are continuing to grow as individuals
and be challenged, and that their job is exciting, they will
want to stay.”—JULIE BRAND LYNCH, LYNOUS TALENT MANAGEMENT
then have the employee pay the company back
50 percent through payroll deductions for up to
six months.
Ogden usually waits until education offerings like IREM courses are in the Milwaukee,
Madison or Chicago area before enrolling
employees, to cut down on travel expenses. The
company also has hosted a multitude of lunch
and learns and other classes at its offices.
“It is a more cost effective way to do it,”
Crawley said.
In-house training opportunities and career
development experiences also help retain associates interested in furthering their careers.
Ogden has a no-cost mentoring program whereby an employee who excels in a particular area
or property type will counsel an employee new
to that area within the field—giving that person
additional training.
Both Blankenship and Crawley said offering
education and training doesn’t just benefit their
companies in the form of having more knowledgeable employees, but it empowers their
employees so they can make more independent
decisions and essentially run properties on their
own.
“We know they have the knowledge and skills
to do their jobs, and they will prosper with more
free reign,” Crawley said. “We obviously can’t
control the economic environment, but we can
give them more control over their job and how
they do their job.”
DON’T KEEP INCENTIVES A SECRET
All these efforts will be in vain, however, if
management doesn’t communicate from the
top-down that their employees are a priority,
and therefore these policies and incentives are
priorities.
“We always have to communicate the benefits, as property management is a demanding
field, and it’s important to us to let our team
know how much they are valued and appreciated,” Crawley said.
She said Ogden communicates about benefits regularly through employee orientations,
company e-mails, its intranet site and discussing them at meetings. It also provides team
members with a referral card detailing all of the
referral fees that are available.
“It’s always really important to communicate,
regardless of the economic situation, and it’s
one of my goals to make sure that the messages
are communicated accurately, effectively and
often,” she said.
Milestone has an internal Facebook page for
its employees, as well as an e-newsletter, whereby they share human interest stories about associates, information about rewards programs,
innovative ideas about managing properties
from managers around the country and tips
or advice regarding a variety of professional
issues.
Blankenship said the communications help to
build community, generate buzz about the company and its initiatives, and help employees feel
connected to the organization. Lamberti said
communicating can put employees at ease during tumultuous times, and in the end benefits
the company more than anyone else.
“Honesty and transparency in these times is
important,” Lamberti said. “Ownership needs to
communicate that while everyone might have
to buckle down and work hard for 12 months,
the company will come out better and stronger.
People will work hard to get through the tough
times if they know the company is going to take
care of them.” n
Kristin Gunderson Hunt is a contributing writer for JPM®. If you have questions regarding this article or you are a
member interested in writing for JPM®, please e-mail Mariana Toscas Nowak at mnowak@irem.org.
