Pros
I have worked for AvalonBay for 4 years (this month) and I have seen the best and worst aspects of the company and I am still very happy to come to work every day. The company is full of friendly, ambitious and generally happy employees and I feel this can be attributed to the culture. As a company, we focus on three core values; encouraging each other to do the right thing (commitment to integrity), individual growth (continuous improvement) and helping those in need (spirit of caring). These core values are also my own personal values and I take them very seriously in my life. I have also been able to travel with AvalonBay, moving from Northern Virginia to Orange County, CA then Los Angeles, back to OC and eventually back to Washington, DC. With each move I learned more about the company and was able to grow myself, being promoted twice in the last two years. I have also utilized the 20% housing discount living in an Avalon Community ever since I started working for the company. This was not only convenient, but also helped me to better understand our customers. I have been lucky enough to work with many different co-workers and managers and have had a generally positive experience everywhere I went. I am definitely happy with my experiences at AvalonBay!
Cons
1.) Frequent and/or sudden changes in policies, procedures and compensation.
2.) The housing discount could be better
3.) Disparity between the Corporate Office and On-Site Associates
4.) Navigating how to share ideas can be unnecessarily difficult
5.) Training is done mostly through online videos and is not my preferred method of learning.