FROM THE PRESIDENT
DEREK AVERY | LEGACY PARTNERS
Investing in your team is more than just compensation
As a part of my overall vision as AAMD President, I’ m committed to sharing ideas and encouraging all of our members and organization leaders to invest more in their teams. It is our team members that differentiate our companies and make them great. As such, it is development and retention of strong members of our teams that will grow our businesses. Here are just a few ideas on how to further invest in our teams.
Compensation
Your company is likely in the budgeting process for 2017. What can you do to up the anti for personnel expenses? NAA’ s recent Operating and Expense Study showed( for market rate properties) salaries and personnel expenses are on average 9.9 % of gross potential rent. I think we can do better for our teams in Colorado.
We have to collectively stretch our budgets and increase compensation for our maintenance teams to be competitive. We cannot afford to lose these incredibly valuable and hard working men and women to other industries that are also recruiting for the talent they provide. Now that our industry has finally recovered from the 2002-2010 age of below mediocrity, we should be able to afford increased wages for our maintenance professionals.
In a recent survey AAMD Members indicated they planned to increase Maintenance technician wages over 10 % from 2015-2017.
Not Just About the Money
It ' s not always about increasing wages. We should be validating our teams as the
" We have to inspire and teach our team how valuable their work is- providing safe and comfortable housing with a wide variety of services, flexibility and opportunities."
most important ingredient of our companies and connecting with our teams outside the traditional norms of the workplace. This could mean spending more time with our team and coaching them to maximize their talents and interests. We have to inspire and teach them how valuable their work is- providing safe, comfortable, and respectful housing to hundreds of thousands of Colorado families with a wide variety of ever growing services and amenities. When framed up correctly what we do for our customers is so much more than renting them a place to live. We provide the all-important bundled service of“ home”.
Recognition
Plants need water and similarly our team members thirst for recognition. Some like more public recognition and others more private. It ' s important to identify and know which is better for specific team members.
Timing is key though, don’ t recognize too early before the results are in, but as soon as success is reached- jump on the opportunity to recognize and reward it. A well timed element of recognition can be more valuable than a monetary bonus! I recommend frequent and genuine appreciation and recognition.
Invest in their Skills
Recognizing what your employees already know- that they don ' t necessarily know everything they need to know to do their jobs effectively, opens up the opportunity to invest in them through education.
It ' s easy to simply assume that on-thejob training is the most efficient way to keep a new or seasoned team member engaged in their job, but getting away from the property or out of the office to be formally trained by professionals around the industry can be just as valuable, if not more.
Showing your employees that you ' re putting forth the money to allow them to get their CAM( Certified Apartment Manager) or CAMT( Certified Apartment Maintenance Technician) designations, for example, clearly demonstrates loyalty and appreciation.
I hope this gives you a few more ideas on what you can do at your company to retain your valuable team members. In this growing industry, it ' s easier to jump ship more than ever these days, and it ' s up to us to come up with innovative ways to prevent this from happening in our workplace.
Cheers, Derek Avery, 2016 / 17 AAMD President
6 | TRENDS • SEPTEMBER 2016 www. aamdhq. org