Minimize the Impact of the Great Resignation with Engaging Professional Development

The multifamily industry is no stranger to turnover. The midst of the “Great Resignation” is a great time to look at professional development. We must ensure our employee development program is engaging and not irritating. You have numerous options for development formats that will help you minimize the impact of the Great Resignation by engaging employee development. Options include your:

• LMS
• HR Platform
• In-person classes
• Webinars
• Online classes

So how do you know which of these options will best help minimize the impact of the great resignation on your team? One important consideration that is often overlooked is employee feedback/involvement. Seek input from your team to develop a program that is a custom fit. Other considerations for creating the right-fit employee development program include:

1. Do Your Employees Know the “Why”?

• What is the “Why,” and does your company live it? Achieving a positive return on assets while upholding company culture is your “why.” To live the “why,” you must identify knowledge and performance gaps to develop engaging employee development and assign training relevant to the employee’s specific role.
• Does your company fear professional development will lead to turnover? Senior management and Human Resources often assume that developing talent will lead to turnover as the talent then seeks out better opportunities. In reality, the number of employees who leave after development is a very small percentage. Statistics show that 92% of employees will stay longer if they feel the company is invested in their career growth, which is demonstrated powerfully to team members through engaging employee development offerings.
• How do you earn Millennial and Gen Z employees’ endorsement of your professional development? Right now, Millennials make up the most significant portion of the workforce. Millennials view the expense of their time and money as an endorsement, not simply a transaction. It’s essential to develop a dynamic, engaging employee development program to allow for the best formats for each concept being trained.

2. Where Do You Begin to Ease the Irritation?

• Explore the individual needs of your professionals. The first step towards creating an engaging rather than irritating program is to involve your team of professionals to identify the knowledge and/or performance gaps. This way, you can tailor your employee development program to the relevant needs.
• Evaluate your current training program. Look at your current program to see where it may be missing the mark. Also, please take a good look at what you are using and decide whether or not it is still relevant. Remember, the skills your team needs depend not only on the individual professionals but also on the type of property and the role of the professional.
• Market your professional development program. Don’t wait until you have created the “perfect” program. It’s always going to be changing, so market it now! Offer training incentives to help market training. Develop marketing relatable to your team; maybe consider a short video of someone who’s already taken the training talking about how it helped.

3. It’s Not Enough to Launch.

• Launching is fun; however, maintaining your new, engaging employee development program is the key to success. Assuming everyone will jump in and complete programs without checking in on completion is a recipe for failure. Confirming completion is an incentive.
• A solid professional development program is never finished. The industry is ever-changing, and development must be ongoing to minimize the Great Resignation’s impact and maintain your ROA.
• Make professional development personal; then it becomes engaging. Individualize training to the specific employee’s needs, rather than assigning a plain vanilla course across the board. Fine-tune the program to allow your team to develop what they need to reduce irritation.

Remember, an engaged employee is more likely to stay, but an irritated employee is sure to go!

Contributed by:

Read more like this from Edge2Learn

Click here to access additional Leasing Training Resources

---

Edge2Learn is an eLearning company whose focus is the Property Management Industry and specializes in property management training and multifamily education. With almost 40 years of experience and a commitment to increasing industry excellence, we are passionate about engaging learners to maximize benefits for both companies and employees. Aligned with a well-respected industry leader, Ellis, Partners in Management Solutions, the Edge2Learn platform provides a turnkey solution for clearly identified needs and opportunities. We prepare learners to deliver a superior customer experience and reduce corporate liability risks and employee turnover.