EQR was considered one of the more people first orgs in property management. In the last 2-3 years, things have shifted away from a people-focused mentality. Changes, some that can feel penny-pinching, are being made with little regard to how it will impact residents or on-site staff.
Some recent changes include:
-Allowing tour appointments to book an unlimited amount of appointments for the same slot. You can have 3 tours show up at the same time and this is expected. This creates a terrible experience for both the employee and the tour. Offices can no longer block off time even for move ins.
-Most communities now participate in programs that allow the general public to rent parking spaces, common areas, or AirBnB. This creates an additional burden to on site staff and has a negative impact on residents.
-Changes are being made with little to no input from, or notice to, onsite managers. Feedback used to be invited and valued, now it feels swept aside. There used to be regular listening sessions, focus groups and Q&A that now seem to be a thing of the past.
-Staffing is under a constant microscope. Communities operate with 1-2 less staff than they used to which makes a huge impact to the people remaining. Some places run with 1 person on a Saturday. This increases workload on staff, makes it draining on the team when someone is away for PTO or sick time, and makes it stressful or guilt inducing to use that time away from work in the first place.
-Increased centralization of operations has left on site teams with less agency to make things happen and deliver results and answers quickly to residents
-In the last 12-15 months there has been a noticeable amount of turnover in Regional and VP level leadership. This makes people wonder what is going on.
-There is an increasing focus on metric/kpi driven management, losing sight of the behaviors and only focusing on numbers
-Most higher level corporate opportunities are exclusively located in Chicago. If you have interest in career growth on a corporate level, be ready to move