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      Equity Residential

      Engaged Employer

      Equity Residential reviews

      4.2

      79% would recommend to a friend

      (1,118 total reviews)
      avatar

      Mark Parrell

      87% approve of CEO

      74% positive business outlook

      Ratings by category

      4.3

      Diversity & inclusion

      4.1

      Culture & values

      4.1

      Career opportunities

      3.9

      Senior management

      3.9

      Compensation and benefits

      3.8

      Work/Life balance

      Equity Residential has an employee rating of 4.2 out of 5 stars, based on 1,118 company reviews on Glassdoor which indicates that most employees have an excellent working experience there. The Equity Residential employee rating is in line with the average (within 1 standard deviation) for employers within the Real Estate industry (3.6 stars).

      Ratings by demographic groups

      Reviews by job title

      1K reviews
      5.0
      Jun 26, 2016

      A Great Company For Hard-Working People

      Leasing consultant
      Recommend
      CEO approval
      Business Outlook

      Pros

      Since starting with Equity Residential two years ago, I have been provided with phenomenal managers and regional managers that are genuinely invested in my growth both professionally and personally. Regional managers, our Vice President and Senior Leadership in Chicago are both accessible and approachable, which is extremely rare for a company of such scale. Equity’s commitment to promoting from within creates a noticeably personable yet competitive environment. Equity has an organizational structure that fosters open communication yet maintains a clear chain of command. Equity recognizes and rewards employees who work hard through a very competitive commission structure, plenty of career advancement opportunities and in general, a rigorous atmosphere that rewards high achievers. Those who contribute on a high level get recognized at quarterly meetings, adding a greater incentive to take pride in not just your work, but the company as a whole. As far as your day-to-day, Equity puts a great deal of effort in making sure that employees have new laptops, up to date systems and tools that facilitate an efficient sales process.

      Cons

      Equity places a strong emphasis on both individual sales metrics and resident satisfaction making the leasing consultant role extremely demanding. As such, many find the role to be overwhelming at times. Your duties as a leasing consultant are a constant balancing act between maintaining resident relations and driving sales. With that said, if you apply an effective system of organization and are detail-oriented, it’s a manageable workload. Due to the client-facing nature of the role you are the initial point of contact for any resident/prospect issues or concerns and more often than not, you need to be comfortable working in ambiguity. As a leasing consultant, you are constantly faced with new conflicts and challenges, requiring quick action and sound judgment.

      avatar
      Equity Residential Response
      9y
      We really appreciate your well-thought out and comprehensive review. As we read through your comments, we see that you have a good grasp on the culture at Equity and the challenges of balancing business needs, while still taking care of the amazing people that make Equity what it is. You are correct that weekend and holidays are an important part of our business, as this may be the only time that our perspective residents can come visit a community, however, your suggestion to management is an interesting one and there may be an opportunity to look closer at this challenge. Please reach out to your regional management with any creative ideas you have on how this could be considered. We appreciate everything that you do and again - thank you for such a thoughtful review.
      1.0
      Mar 5, 2016

      NY Regional Office does not practice the 10 ways

      Community manager
      Recommend
      CEO approval
      Business Outlook

      Pros

      Technology tools are constantly updated and are great. Fun employee outings

      Cons

      Low pay, does not promote work life balance, career advancements are based on who you know not what you know

      avatar
      Equity Residential Response
      10y
      We appreciate you taking the time to give us feedback. There are some comments in here that we would encourage you to share with your regional HR Director, so that specific concerns can be addressed. We are in a people business, which means that networking and building relationships are incredibly important. We do hire for attitude and train for technical skills because you can teach someone how to do a job, but you can't teach someone how to have a stellar attitude. We do love to promote from within and sometimes that means there is a learning curve for our new managers. To someone on the outside of hiring decisions these may appear to be decisions based on who those employees knew, but in reality, it's about how they have performed and how they have collaborated with teammates and business partners. If you have questions about your career path and progress, we encourage you to talk to your manager about what are the steps necessary to get to the next level.
      1.0
      Feb 11, 2015

      Steer clear . . . There are many better property management companies out there.

      Anonymous employee
      Recommend
      CEO approval
      Business Outlook

      Pros

      Unfortunately, I have nothing to add to this category. Work here if you can't find a job anywhere else.

      Cons

      Equity Residential's cons originate from the top down. The first thing you need to know is this, one group of people matters. No, it's not the residents/paying customers, it's not the employees, it is the shareholders and the shareholders alone. Working for this company was torture because they tell you one thing, then do another. They teach you in their training classes to "do the right thing". What is important to know is they left out the second part of their sentence, which is "do the right thing for the shareholders." Let me elaborate - At EQR, do not expect one team lunch, a birthday cake, or a reward lunch for a job well done for your team. They won't spend the money. You are not worth it. Do not expect a competitive salary. They spend a lot of time researching the least they can possibly pay you within your market. Good luck getting any more than that for any reason. They also fee residents to death any way they possibly can without shame, while at the same time they try to cut back on the amenities they offer the residents. This makes your job there miserable when you want to do the right thing to help residents in any way possible, but they simply won't allow it. Their benefits are also not as good as other companies. Overall, I would steer clear of both working for this company, or living at one of their communities.

      Viewing 46 - 48 of 1,118 Reviews
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      ReviewsEquity Residential reviews

      Glassdoor has 1,163 Equity Residential reviews submitted anonymously by Equity Residential employees. Read employee reviews and ratings on Glassdoor to decide if Equity Residential is right for you.