Shifting to Meet Your Employees

It has been said over and over, Gen Z and Millennial’s all have different expectations when it comes to employment. During several different positions in my career I have had the opportunity to hire for a variety of roles and even sifting through resumes these values can be seen even in the applicant’s profile. There are always two sides to a coin and some may believe we shouldn’t “bend down” to what these applicants are looking for, but what if as leaders in a company, we changed the way we thought. Looking at this change as an opportunity to grow, learn, and choose to see the positive change that can happen within the company. It isn’t all bad as many will say.

What is our role as mentors, leaders and being part of a growing company? How do we foster these expectations, wants and needs, as we choose to hire for open positions. I believe our role as mentors and leaders is to remember it is not only a one way street, but it is a two way street where one can learn from both partners. Be open to change, embrace the new desire’s but most important, make sure as a leader you are exemplifying what the company believes in. If a company believes in a work/life balance, for example, as a leader/mentor to an employee hold true to those beliefs and fight for your team member.

There are endless expectations that I have read over the past years, but the 5 below are the ones I think stand out and are most important to remember.

1. Don’t live to work - Our world revolves around our passions, hobbies, and life outside of work. Inspiration can and will most likely happen when you’re not in front of a computer.

2. Respect our work boundaries - Morning walks, lunch breaks, PTO, weekends, and evenings. Create space to decompress, one can’t be on 100 all the time and be effective. Hold your team to PTO (and truly be off so employees can come back and be 100% more effective)

3. Pay - This one is so simple, yet so many companies get it so wrong. Everyone's salary should be transparent from the start. I am a firm believer in showing this up front. Many companies are starting to share this on the open position. Let’s look at it this way, not only are you as a company are being truthful, but both parties time is respected. It is a mutual decision when a position is being filled. Both parties should be interested in making the best fit for the growth and success of not only the business but the employee.

4. Authentic - It gives energy and brings life to the work they do. It is exhausting to not be yourself. It will drain your employees more if they can not be themselves. Allow authentic transparent conversations as employees will learn and grow as will the company.

5. Accept our preferred working environment - Not everyone thrives the same way. We should be offering options. Some prefer to work alone, some prefer to work in a space with more people. We should not require everyone to fit into the same box, that will not drive productivity and creativity. Now that people are remote, offer the option to come to corporate or meeting regionally. There are other ways to collaborate and have a variety built into the budget to help extend growth personally for the employee and for the growth of the company.

   In the end it is about meeting in the middle, changing out mindset to accept change where we can and are able to and watching the fruit of our labor grow and blossom.
   

Customer Service Personalization is needed for Prospects and Residents

Over the years technology has become a must have not only in every aspect of the onsite teams daily job but the prospects and residents living experience. More demands coming at all angles, which leads to the question, how can onsite teams and management companies still continue to focus on personalizing customer service? What should management companies focus on to help create experience differentiators and why is it important?

Why the customer service experience must be a blend of tech and in person.

Today nearly all communities will send some form of survey after the fact — when a prospect or resident’s experiences and journey already ended. Communities must change their approach as solely relying on this approach prevents management companies from identifying and correcting issues as they are happening. For example, current surveys have always been reviewed after the prospect has toured the community, however using strategies like frequent engagement through observed behavior, listening strategies and direct feedback on social channels is something companies must start to incorporate. Another great example would be mid tour surveys during a prospects tour are critical avenues for engaging customers and ensuring near-flawless experiences that elevate satisfaction and loyalty. The journey to finding a new home is a combination of in-person and digital experience and multifamily industry must find a balanced blend.

The rising expectation of successful customer experience includes two things: convenience and personalization.

If a company is ignoring signals or failing to capture certain signals, they may be leaving critical insights and opportunities on the table. Collecting resident feedback across every channel and every touchpoint where appropriate is key. Communities must think about the entire experience a resident is receiving and not just a single moment in time. For example: Just taking the feedback from a service request is just feedback from one moment in time, not the entire residents experience which may also lie in social channels, portals reviews etc. “Uncover the right data and you’ll build a robust, segmented customer profiles that allow your brand to create unique, welcoming, and effortless experiences not only for current residents, but future residents.” (1)

Multifamily Industry in one aspect has not changed over the years, being service-oriented. If anything over the years this multifamily industry has increased in being service-oriented, which places a lot of pressure on onsite employees.

In a crowded industry, how does a management company enhance the residents experience while creating less pressure for onsite employees? We already know the old age 1 to 100 model is out dated and in addition to scrapping this model, management teams, must re-evaluate the work load per employee as it directly affects the service the residents are receiving. Listening to employees concerns, and engaging them on frontline decisions gives employees a stake in their own work. Remembering onsite team members have the most authentic and first hand feedback regarding processes and changes, some that may have worked and some that may have not. These insights are ones that need to be taken into consideration along with the software reporting metrics as reports will not gather everything that is needed to make the best decision.

How does Multifamily Industry move the dial and improve customer service with personalization?

In a most recent article by Medallia, they point out “most companies, regardless of the industry — from retail to life sciences — can become obsessed with direct competition, comparing strategies and operations in order to gain an edge.” This couldn’t be more true in multifamily. It has been seen over the years when one management company chooses to add an amenity, then most competitions will do the same. It seems the age old competitor weekly survey is still around as properties are very tunnel vision, focused on what everyone within our industry is doing. The unique approach with stepping outside our industry and looking at brands in other industries can and will give management companies a fresh lense on how they can improve their customer service with personalization. Hospitality is one industry that closely aligns and one that Multifamily should look to in order to dial in and improve not only customer service, but with personalization

(1) Source.

Does Your Companies Leadership Embody Empathy?

Webster Dictionary says Empathy is, “the action of understanding, being aware of, being sensitive to, and vicariously experiencing the feelings, thoughts, and experience of another of either the past or present without having the feelings, thoughts, and experience fully communicated in an objectively explicit manner”

As leaders in Multifamily, where onsite team members are still showing up, investing in their residents and still requiring to be onsite, managers at all levels must embody empathy. Over the past several years, our lives have been flipped upside down, our work and family life have been blended and merged into one. The pressure of home and work has been elevated to it’s highest point over the last years.

When employees are stressed with work overload as well as at home pressure, work contributions are shown to decrease, tension between colleagues rise, frustration is at an all time high. How can team leaders, lower the employees stress, increase employee contributions and create a positive work environment? A new study of 889 employees by Catalyst found empathy has some significant constructive effects. My top 3 favorite from this report are:

• Engagement. 76% of people who experienced empathy from their leaders reported they were engaged compared with only 32% who experienced less empathy. We all want employees to be engaged and enjoy their working environment, even if it is through a zoom call.

• Retention. 57% of white women and 62% of women of color said they were unlikely to think of leaving their companies when they felt their life circumstances were respected and valued by their companies. However, when they didn’t feel that level of value or respect for their life circumstances, only 14% and 30% of white women and women of color respectively said they were unlikely to consider leaving. Invest in people, develop them to be excellent leaders by understanding them and getting in the trenches with them.

• Work-Life. When people felt their leaders were more empathetic, 86% reported they are able to navigate the demands of their work and life—successfully juggling their personal, family and work obligations. This is compared with 60% of those who perceived less empathy. When we give grace and understanding to employees outside of their job, the return is greater than 30%.

Not only is empathy such a key skill to continue to fine tune, but showing grace to each team member goes along way. When leaders understand the demands employees are feeling not only while at work, but outside of work, employees feel the dedication, caring from their leader. Empathy contributes to positive relationships, increased collaboration, trust and also drives results.

Remember, people are not loyal to a company for the company, people will follow their leader if they leave. Loyalty and investment is from a leader not a company and with stress at an all time high, when a leader invests in their employees, they feel cared about, that employee then in turn has a heart and dedication to do their very best.

In the end we are are human, and want to feel the human to human connection, concern and investment from Leaders. As the new year approaches, will you take a look at your own current daily schedule and make more time to invest in your employees and show grace and empathy?