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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
      2.0
      Jan 22, 2023

      Compensation and Work/Life Balance

      Anonymous employee
      Recommend
      CEO approval
      Business Outlook

      Pros

      Most of the people are great Most of the properties are beautiful Good opportunities to gain business and sales experience The company has well-established infrastructure and resources There is job security and an optimistic outlook for the well-being of the company The company encourages feedback and change in many ways No dealing with 3rd party ownership

      Cons

      Prefacing this by saying I really care about this company and the people in it, but compensation and work-life balance, unfortunately two of the absolute most important things in a job, are just severely lacking. COMPENSATION - Target is now offering wages competitive to what Leasing Consultants/Assistant Community Managers are making, and even some newer CMs. You also see how much money the properties pull in, and how little of it is spent back on the employees. A small raise in this economy (when you're already making a low wage) when our industry is already lagging in pay, after seeing rents go up by hundreds and properties pull in hundreds of thousands of dollars each month, feels like a slap in the face. It can feel like you're just a bunch of grunts onsite putting in the dirty work while investors line their pockets. WORK/LIFE BALANCE - Working in a leasing office, you will see it all. You will be tested and most likely pushed past the limits of what you can handle emotionally and mentally. You will see mold. You will see floods. You will see crime. You will see death. You will see extreme weather events. You will see complex maintenance problems. You will deal with a level of Karen you never even thought possible and they're with you for 12+ months. You represent the landlord, so people treat you with zero compassion, and you frequently have to advocate for things you might not agree with yourself for the good of the business. It is a thankless position to be in. The properties never stop, so you can and will be dealing with emergencies and abusive emails around the clock. Hours and days are not flexible. You will be dressing up every day, you will be on-site every day, you will be working in a leasing office trying to do your job tasks that allows you to be interrupted at any time by a resident, phone call, vendor. It is a very difficult work environment to be in. On-site teams are mostly skeleton crew status these days, so you even need to be very careful about when you schedule your own PTO. If you don't set very careful boundaries and have good practices for managing stress, time, and your mental health, you will be chewed up and spat out.

      avatar
      Equity Residential Response
      3y
      First and foremost, thank you for your feedback and thank you for all that you do. As with any customer focused role, not all customers take the time to say thank you with each interaction - and oftentimes when the day gets busy and team members and co-workers are managing their own tasks, unfortunately the thank yous can fall to the wayside. Your comments are a good reminder for us all to pause throughout the day to recognize others. Please know that leaders throughout Equity Residential truly appreciate and acknowledge all of the hard work that goes into managing our communities and recognizes that working in a customer-facing industry like ours comes with its stresses and challenges. While concepts like flexible hours and teleworking can pose a challenge in a business like ours, we continue to explore different ideas and suggestions (a lot of which come from feedback provided directly by our employees). Recognizing our employees is so important to Equity Residential, that our President and Chief Executive Officer, Mark Parrell, reaches out regularly to thank our teammates for maintaining essential operations and supporting our residents. Mark recently shared several company wide messages of gratitude, with one in particular that awarded employees enrolled in our medical plan with a medical premium rebate - which translated to a month free of premium charges. We also offer formal recognition by means of our BTPL coins, onsite award ceremonies, Spotlight awards, and 10 Ways awards, just to name a few, in addition to the shout outs and kudos shared with our teams on a regular basis. Equity Residential has a dedicated Compensation and Benefits Team that works hard to ensure that both our benefits packages and compensation are competitive within the industry, while incorporating a variety of wellbeing components. With that being said, we appreciate you and your focus on both work/life balance and mental health, as we share a similar passion for bringing awareness to these topics. We are committed to offering services and initiatives that will continue to support this important component of total wellbeing, such as our Employee Assistance Program, along with other initiatives and campaigns that promote various mental and emotional wellbeing topics such as anxiety, stress, depression, and burnout. Thank you again for your feedback, we appreciate hearing from you.
      2.0
      Jul 10, 2022

      Some Pros, Major Cons - Ugly Truth

      Assistant community manager
      Recommend
      CEO approval
      Business Outlook

      Pros

      1. Job stability - This can be valuable in times of uncertainty like COVID, Pandemic 2. Culture & Values - Equity has a great company culture, is vocal on the right issues like social justice topics and diversity initiatives

      Cons

      If you are looking for a job in this industry, I am about to give you the ugly truth. Please take it seriously. 1. Compensation & Benefits. The only people making solid pay are Regional Managers and above - Community Manager pays an average middle class wage and anything less than CM pays actual dirt to the point where I'm not sure how any of us scrape by. The pay is honestly embarrassingly low for roles managing luxury communities that easily pull in $600k+ a month in rent revenue. Equity is also located in HCOL urban areas, making the low pay even more appalling. On top of that, Equity hasn't changed their commission structure in over 2 years while rents continue to skyrocket - LCs are getting paid out $50 on a lease worth $24,000. Let that sink in. They also just restructured renewal commissions basically giving sales teams a commission paycut. 2. Work/Life Balance. First of all, little to no remote work possible. Huge con in and of itself. The admin work never stops. On top of the admin work, if you're an on-site employee, you are basically on-demand to any resident who wants to walk in or call, and many of them are quite toxic. Not to mention, when you're away from work the stress never stops because the communities never stop - the emails and voicemails still come in, emergencies happen while the office is closed, etc. It's hard to put into words how truly draining this job can be on so many levels. Also, leasing offices being open until 6 means you barely have any time left in the evening after the work-day is done. 3. Career Opportunities. This isn't entirely EQR's fault, but they still get a low ranking on career opportunities because of the stagnation. No matter how hard you work, your next opportunity will NEVER open up unless someone above you leaves or new properties are acquired. Plenty of people in this community are extremely overqualified just waiting and waiting on promotions. 4. Staffing. Staffing is a huge, HUGE problem. It feels like there is constant turnover. A lot of people cannot handle the pressure, feel underpaid, realize it's not worth it, etc. This constant understaffing creates stress on so many levels.

      avatar
      Equity Residential Response
      3y
      Thank you for sharing your perspectives; we’re sorry to hear your takeaways regarding both Equity Residential and the property management industry. All of our employees have access to our Career Site, which advertises all of our exciting promotion opportunities, and to platforms like our intranet and wellness programs, which offer guidance on ways Equity Residential supports a healthy work/life balance. Additionally, we encourage you to reach out to your manager, Regional Manager or local Human Resources team to further discuss your concerns.
      1.0
      Jun 24, 2022

      Stay Far Away

      Leasing consultant
      Recommend
      CEO approval
      Business Outlook

      Pros

      Honestly can’t think of any.

      Cons

      As a previous employee that was still living at an EQR property after leaving the company, it was very clear that this company has fallen apart. They don’t care about their residents. Throw the highest increase at you, wait for you to decline the offer. Then they send the same scripted email begging you to stay right as you are getting ready to move out. They cannot keep any employees at this point. People are quitting back to back. There were new employees in the office every week.

      avatar
      Equity Residential Response
      3y
      We appreciate you sharing your thoughts. Please know that Equity Residential holds our employees, residents and shareholders in the highest regard. We are sorry to hear that you feel otherwise and hope that during your time with us, you reached out to your local HR team, regional leadership team - or any of the other platforms we offer to our employees to ensure their voices are heard, to discuss your takeaways. Thank you again, and we wish you the best.
      Viewing 19 - 21 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.