There has been much said this year already about ‘the great resignation’ and if you are a business owner, you might already be feeling it. Tiffany Bowtell takes a look at the depth of the problem and some possible solutions.
During the past two years, we’ve seen property managers vie for more flexible working hours and hybrid work from home/office demand increases.
However, the more sinister and shocking dark side of the pandemic is causing many property managers to rethink their situations.
They’ve been asked to push through, work harder and still keep smiling through all of the temporary legislative changes, the risk of getting Covid at inspections and, to top it all off, countless confrontations with tenants and owners that are angry, frustrated and stretched beyond their limits.
The hard truth is that many will burn out, swap into sales to chase the higher income or leave the industry altogether.
In addition to the newer pressures of our current reality, there is still the same three main reasons property managers usually leave their jobs:
They are dissatisfied with their compensation package
They don’t feel appreciated at work
They’re not aligned with their department manager or principal’s vision.
While we know when a staff member resigns there is short-term pain coming to terms with the change, there are also more long-term problems that arise that can be costly including:
advertising the position
sifting through candidates
interviewing
possibly engaging a recruiter (15 per cent gross salary package)
background checks
onboarding
training
change management (setting client and team expectations)
loading the remaining staff with the burden of the outgoing persons workload.
And then there’s the worst case scenario – the new hire doesn’t work out and you have to start the process again.
My company works with hundreds of property managers on a daily basis and last year 40 per cent left or changed their role. Of those moves, half happened in the first five months of the year.
So what if you could hire new staff that were not only skilled and experienced but also aligned with your company’s values – that could easily fit in with your team, replace someone who has just left inclusive of all necessary systems and processes?
While you may have tried outsourcing before or turned to it as a solution in the past, I would encourage you to look at it again.
You see, with rapidly changing technology, outsourcing can be an excellent solution to the ‘great resignation’, but you need to be aware that not all outsourcing is the same.
Traditional outsourcing simply replaced your local staff with cheaper, and less talented offshore staff and you were still prone to sick days, annual leave and other contingencies.
So it makes sense that turning to a premium outsourcing provider should offer more than just cheap labour.
When doing your due diligence keep in mind that the following services would be an advantage in addition to the cost savings:
Guarantee. Is there an offer of a guarantee, such as no work, no pay?
Free replacement. Will you have to pay to replace offshore staff?
Experienced backup staff. What if your usual offshore staff are away? Do they provide backup staff for the day/week? Is this a free value-added service?
Temporary staff. What if you are busy with peak season leasing and need short-term, temporary staff? Is this available?
Experience. Are the offshore staff already experienced, trained and ready for deployment?
Systems, process and training. Will your provider do this for you instead of you having to do this yourself?
Support. Are you having to support and babysit your offshore staff? Or does your provider include Australian and overseas support options?
Business continuity and redundancy. What happens if there are internet, power or security problems? Will your business be affected or does your provider include free of charge options such as extra/back equipment and support?
Outsourcing is the new and best way to ensure you get your company’s succession plan sorted and keep up with demand for great staff and experience and that can be done by tapping into a global workforce.
The cost savings come from not needing to spend money on advertising, interviewing and then training new staff.
Not all real estate business owners have the time or expertise to get their staff vacancies filled quickly so turning to premium outsourcing might be the answer. You can enjoy peace of mind knowing that there is an experienced professional doing all the work on your behalf.
