MANAGEMENT
Reducing Employee Turnover
Our Industry ' s Employee Exodus is real . What can we do about it ?
BY DANIEL BERLIND
Staff turnover was already a major issue in the multifamily industry before the pandemic .
The impacts of the COVID-19 crisis , coupled with the fallout of the Great Resignation in the broader workforce , only exacerbated the trend for apartment companies . Frontline property staff , who often didn ’ t have the option to work remotely , were pushed to the wall by the need to serve residents who were suddenly home 24 / 7 , an aspect one industry vet characterized as “ high-touch customer service on steroids .”
The result was a massive , industrywide burnout . Some companies now report turnover rates as high as 70 %. Experienced property managers and maintenance personnel are increasingly heading for the exits , according to NAA .
Indeed , a recent survey by NAA and AppFolio found staffing and recruitment was the top challenge for 74 % of property professionals today .
The high cost turning staff
While the extent of the problem is apparent , the expenses associated with the high staff turnover crisis are even more striking . According to Gallup , the cost of replacing an employee can be as high as two times their annual salary . At a company with 100 employees and an average salary of $ 50,000 , that works out to $ 2.6 million per year .
But in the multifamily industry , those direct costs aren ’ t the
24 | TRENDS JANUARY 2023