Attrition is a word we commonly use in our industry referencing lost clients from our rent rolls each year. Natural attrition is when a client leaves as they are moving through their life cycle of selling an investment property or moving into it.
Unfortunately, we have found ourselves in a place where the mass exodus by property managers from the industry since the pandemic commenced, now has a label - The Great Attrition.
It’s not new information that 30% of Victorian property managers have left the industry as reported by the REIV in 2021 and Ray White itself can see metrics supporting as much as 20%, but now we know this is a worldwide thing, it’s an afterglow of COVID, we can begin to understand why this happening.
The Great Attrition as researched and reported by McKinsey and Company in September 2021 details that more than 15 million Americans have left their jobs and careers over the past 18 months which is causing enormous disruption. Perhaps most concerning is that more than 36% of people are leaving without a new role to go to. Sound familiar?
The good news is that this report and indeed many reports coming from the US are supporting us in understanding why and what we can do about this. Most people I believe can accurately guess the reasons people are demanding change but for clarity the top three are;
- They didn’t feel valued by their organisations (54%)
- Their managers (52%)
- They didn’t feel a sense of belonging at work (51%)
The good news is, we can turn this around. If the above does not provide you with enough clues, we can really drill all this down to empathy for the individuals in your team. Understand their needs and wants.
I’ve heard a few leading selling agents talk about empathy being the secret weapon in sales in this post-pandemic year. My belief is that this has always been the secret weapon for any relationship built on trust.
Property managers come into the industry with this skill in spades. It is what sets the good ones apart from the rest, but it declines whilst in this role if they are not supported and invested in.
An empathetic leader is your ticket out of the churn cycle of property management and therefore investor clients in your business. The new age we are entering requires this and a workplace that is a lifestyle, replacing work-life balance formulas of the past.
What is great about coming to your business every day? Why would property managers want to be a part of your business? Are you invested in living the dream with your entire team?
