Finding, hiring, and keeping employees continues to be a hot topic among rental housing executives. But in order to identify solutions to the ongoing staffing challenges, it's important to define the most common issues. According to the newly published Swift Bunny 2023 Employee Engagement Risk Report, there are five key areas of opportunity for improvement based on survey responses from employees representing over 300,000 apartment units across the country.

Compensation

Though this comes as no surprise, compensation continues to pose a significant risk to employee recruitment and retention. In addition to heightened competition in the general job market, employee turnover can increase when tenured, experienced employees see that new or inexperienced employees are hired at or above their current wages. In addition to salary or hourly wages, employees are also evaluating performance incentives and benefits when making a decision about their employment. For example, if a parent is unable to secure health insurance for their children or can't afford to live at or near the property on which they work, they may choose to look for other job options. The good news is that compensation concerns don't always have to strictly be about the amount of take home pay. Leveraging incentive opportunities and providing benefits that are useful and accessible can make a positive difference.

"Annual raises don't keep up with inflation. They are minimal and the percentage is even lower than what admins receive at schools. We are always told that the company is doing great, but our pay isn't representative of that." - Anonymous

Communication

As in previous years, employees continue to ask for more and better communication from their companies. At the top of the list is the desire to receive a response or an authorization within 24 hours of making the request. Close behind is wanting to hear the latest news about company happenings. A new topic on the communication scene for this year is wanting to be encouraged to make suggestions. Employees have been through a lot, and they have valuable insights and solutions to share, if only someone would ask them. When it comes to company communication, more is more. And while that may seem easier said than done, the cost of not increasing communication is employee turnover. When an employee can't get a timely response to a question, when they don't know what's going on with the company, or when initiatives are rolled out with no input from those who have to implement them, frustration sets in, and it's easy to believe that work life can be less frustrating elsewhere.

"We get communicated about things that don't matter, but not things that do. Like when someone leaves, some of us don't know about it for weeks, and we are emailing that person and have no idea why they haven't responded." – Anonymous

Professional Development

Two risk factors remain on at the top of the list when it comes to career growth: receiving notification about all job openings, and having a clear understanding of their potential career path. When teams are stretched so thin, it can feel impossible to a supervisor to have a development conversation with an ambitious employee. By avoiding the conversation, however, that employee will often decide they have reached a dead end and will be more likely to leave the company in order to pursue some kind of growth. A new risk factor on the scene is the desire for timely feedback on their work performance. Taken together, these risk factors point to an opportunity for managers at all levels to connect with their team members regularly and have conversations about how they're doing, what they're interested in, and what they can be doing to prepare for a next step if they're interested in growing.

"I receive feedback on a specific task if it was incorrect. I rarely receive feedback on how I am performing overall." - Anonymous

Workload

Employee concerns under this umbrella include frustration with inconsistent policies and procedures as well as a lack of tools, technology, resources, and support to do their job well. All of that leads to the ongoing feeling that work can't be completed in the time allowed. While small gains have been made in alleviating the workload since last year, this remains a significant risk factor. As companies re-evaluate their staffing and business practices post-pandemic, leaders have the opportunity to streamline and clarify roles, expectations, and processes.

"There is no support. We either do not have enough employees or we are terrible at handling our positions."- Anonymous

Onboarding

With escalating rates of employee turnover in the first 90 days of hiring, topics related to employee onboarding have become a serious risk to employee engagement and retention. Emerging themes include not having time to complete required training during work hours, not having access to training needed to do their new job well, and the training provided did not help them become effective at their new jobs. In other words, new employees have no idea what they need to do, and no one is allowing time for them to learn anyway. Employees, whether new or tenured, want to feel like their presence matters and has value. But if they are unable to feel like a contributing member of the team within a few days or weeks, many employees will choose to find a new opportunity elsewhere. Onboarding, more than ever before, really matters.

"Clearer instructions and a better training plan are needed. I feel like I am just winging it. I hope for things to get better soon." - Anonymous

The Good News

While these summarize the key risk factors, there are also many successes our industry can celebrate. According to Ingage by Swift Bunny™ survey respondents, here are the top factors that make working for their current companies highly rewarding:

A majority of employees in rental housing are content with their roles and the company they work for. In fact, 79.2% indicate they plan on staying with their current employer for the next year. By understanding what employees appreciate about their work as well as the things that create frustration, and making decisions that positively impact the employee experience, leaders can reduce overall employee turnover.