In any successful property management business, a company cannot ignore the work-life balance of its employees. When a business outperforms its competition and is able to grow by bringing on more doors, it can't be at the expense of valued employees.
Overworked and tired team members make costly mistakes. They also lose the motivation to show up and give 100-percent every day to manage renters and properties well. So, what's the balance for a property manager? How can property management business owners optimize the number of doors per employee to arrive at the ideal profit per door? These property management coaching tips can help!
Profit Per Door Analysis Must Include Employee Satisfaction
You can only squeeze so much juice out of an orange. While your employees are much more valuable than a piece of produce, the same theory applies: you can only squeeze so much good work out of your team members before they're no longer serving you well. If you're already squeezing too much out of them, chances are your profit per door is suffering (along with your employees).
Staff member work-life balance directly impacts your bottom line. Overworked and unsatisfied employees burn out quickly or become disengaged in their jobs. When your team doesn't perform well throughout the day (every day), something needs to change. Before you can add more doors under the management of your company, business owners must analyze current operations and employee satisfaction, then make smart changes to keep employees motivated and deliver excellent customer service.
Adding more doors to an overworked team won't improve your bottom line. While it might not be necessary to hire more employees to grow your business, careful analysis must take place to evaluate current workloads vs. the ideal employee-to-door ratio before taking on a new client that will bury your team in more work—without the results you'll need to impress that new client.
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Bring Balance Into the Equation
What can property management company owners do to help employees find an ideal work-life balance? It pays to find out!
Under an ideal set of circumstances, your team might be able to take on more doors without increasing your payroll costs by hiring another employee. However, chances are, you're not operating under "ideal" circumstances if you haven't taken time to review processes, software, and each team member's capabilities lately.
Ultimately, employees are responsible for balance in their lives outside of work. However, business owners can help employees find more balance while at work to enhance their satisfaction in their roles. When your team members enjoy what they do, feel empowered and well-trained, and receive praise for jobs well done, they won't feel overworked.
So what can you do to bring balance to the employee-to-door equation? Start with some internal evaluations.
1. Review Processes
Overworked employees are often bogged down in inefficient processes and repetitive tasks that take time away from meaningful work. If residential property managers find that their staff spends more trying to identify the next task or manually move a process forward, it's time to pick apart processes and find better solutions.
With optimized workflows, employees have more time to engage with tenants and property owners and accomplish more with less effort (and headaches). Fine-tuning your operations is one of the best ways to support your team and give them room to breathe throughout the day. Established and efficient processes also make it possible to take on more doors without adding an overwhelming amount of work to anyone's plate.
2. Update Software
We're not talking about running a software update on the company's laptops. However, even if you were an early adopter of software for the property management industry, what works today isn't always the same as the best solution years ago.
Happier employees don't have to fight with technology that works against them to do simple tasks, like schedule maintenance requests, send payment reminders, or list a property. Take time to review your tech stack and consult a property management expert to update your technology to software solutions that support your team.
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3. Invest In Employee Training
Just like software and outdated processes, team training that happened years ago might not be out of date by now. Empowering your employees with ongoing property management training opportunities helps them build confidence and serve clients better. When your team has the right tools, workflows, and training support, they have more balance in their day (and excel at managing properties)!
Property Management Coaching Helps Employees Work Better
When your team works efficiently—without hours of overtime to get the job done—property management companies have room for growth! It's tempting to think that adding more doors to your existing employees (without optimizing how they operate) adds more revenue without additional costs. However, the "cost" of overloading your team with more work (without resources and training) could be devastating to your bottom line.
As you work toward dominating your market and taking another property owner with more doors, be kind to your staff! Make sure they can operate with an ideal work-life balance, and you'll be pleased with how much more they can do to serve existing and new clients well. Real-Time Consulting Services is here to review your processes and software to make sure your team has the resources and training they need for success! Reach out soon to schedule a free consultation.
Do you know your profit per door? Find out with our free calculator!
We will review your business plan and make sure you are on track.