In this blog, I discuss ways to help businesses reduce retention and maintain a better workplace for their employees, ultimately optimising staffing costs through actions. 

As a recruiter working in property management I am speaking with various businesses and candidates across the sector on a daily basis, 2020 has shown a huge fluctuation with many staff changing jobs.

Some of the common challenge’s employees have experienced in joining companies during lockdown are:

• ● Feeling isolated
• ● Not having a team to learn from
• ● Not having the support and the daily interactions and general chats you have in the office

This creates loss of confidence for some, feelings of self-doubt and often leads to stress and anxiety.

It's never been more critical for Managing Agents to keep the right people on board. Given the challenges with COVID-19, high staff turnover, and an abundance of unfilled job vacancies, employers must act now to ensure that they have the right qualified employees to deliver the highest quality services possible.

Although there is no easy answer, I have started having a think about some of the ways the management team at PMR and myself a Team Leader have been keeping our staff happy and I came up with pointers that will help you keep your employees:

Get a better understanding on why people leave

Exit interviews are an excellent way to discover why someone is leaving. Appraisals, group meetings, and employee surveys or questionnaires are other ways to learn how people are feeling. Both will assist you in finding any troublesome areas and taking the necessary action.

Give recognition and provide suggestions

Offer praise to an employee who is doing a good job. Offer them constructive and positive feedback if they're having trouble and assist them in meeting the appropriate level. All of these factors contribute to employee motivation, which helps retention.

Online team quiz every Friday

Being able to disconnect from work tasks are important, we arranged a team quiz every Friday which

resulted in everyone coming together, bonding and keeping the team morale high in the company.

Regular gestures from management

Our director has regularly sent us surprises throughout the year, ranging from delicious brownies, easter eggs, make your own cookie dough, to make your own cocktail at home which certainly brought a big smile to everyone's faces.

Weekly online meetings and daily catch ups

I have zoom meetings with my team twice a week and phone calls daily, one of the meetings I have recently introduced is a ‘team wellness walks in your local park’. My team are scattered across London and Essex, once a week we have a group phone call and walk to our local park. We have a general catch up, work updates and we discuss what we are finding great about working from home and any challenges the team are facing and how between us we can help one another. Not only has this helped release endorphins and increase our vitamin D intake and getting the daily steps in, but it has also brought us closer as a team.

Provide Growth Opportunities

Ascertain that the employer is supportive of your professional growth goals. Creating an

internal mentoring programme is one way to do this.

In-house training programmes that familiarise workers with on-site technology, property

management software, and departmental processes are excellent tools for ensuring that

employees have the trust they need to provide excellent customer service.

Transparency

Lockdown has been a challenging time for everyone and being transparent and honest with

your employees helps them feel valued and respected.

To summarise you'll need to build a culture that promotes professional and personal

development to avoid losing talent and incurring the high costs of employee turnover.

Encourage people to give you suggestions. To make work more effective, provide excellent

training and technology. Inquire of the workers what would assist them in better managing

their workload and reducing job-related stress.

Your company would be more likely to achieve its own goals in the long run if you take the

time to find out what your workers need and what improvements the company should make

to meet their goals.

If you want to learn more about this subject, the PMR team will provide you with advice and assist

you in developing a successful retention strategy.

Evie Hepburn

Team Leader