2019 Multifamily Training Benchmark Report
Each year, Grace Hill invites training and operations personnel in the multifamily housing industry to participate in a survey. We take the results and create the Multifamily Training Benchmark Report, which identifies key learning and development benchmarks and trends and provides in-depth analysis.
The 2019 Multifamily Training Benchmark Report marks the 7th year that Grace Hill has published key learning and development metrics for the property management industry. 300 property management companies of various sizes participated in the survey. Participants represented a wide variety of roles, from training administrators and directors of HR to COOs and owners. We hope this report will help you refine and improve your company’s training programs.
Increased Focus & Creativity
While more companies are using at least one dedicated trainer now (54%, up from 46% last year), this year’s Training Benchmark Survey reflects an industry still under pressure to provide critical training results with limited time and manpower: small team size and time constraints are once again the top two reported training challenges.
This year’s report reveals two positive trends in the way multifamily companies are confronting those challenges:
1.) they are more focused on their most important objectives
2.) they are relying on tools and resources more creatively to support those objectives.
For example, one of the most frequently expressed concerns among respondents this year is reducing compliance risk. Compliance costs are up among large companies, and all sizes report that risk reduction is a high priority. As a result, companies have made reducing risk the number-two goal of their training programs (up from number four last year). They also report relying on additional strategies for risk reduction beyond training alone, such as mystery shopping and integration of policies and procedures with training.
Another high priority for companies this year is talent retention. Turnover is up for nearly every role, and in response, companies have made recruiting and retaining talent the number-three goal for their training programs (up from number seven last year). While training is still the number-one strategy for retaining employees, companies are looking to additional measures like professional development and support of credentials to attract and retain talent.
In many cases, these additional resources are not new to the company; they’re just being used in a new way to achieve organizational success. That’s the kind of ingenuity that more focused priorities make possible. And it’s what will help multifamily companies succeed in the coming year.
