Executive Summary
The business proposal focuses on the fact that a high turnover rate is a significant problem in the sphere of property management, which adversely impacts organizations’ performance and revenue. It is written to explain how the organization can solve the identified problem. In addition to the solution, the document performs a stakeholder analysis, specifies a change management plan, comments on implementation methods, and explains success evaluation.
An increased turnover is a widespread issue, and numerous experts prove this statement by highlighting its consequences. They stipulate that notable drawbacks include hiring challenges, reduced productivity, and increased workload among the remaining workforce. That is why there is some information on how to mitigate these negative impacts, but the identified evidence and the existing problem demonstrate that all efforts are insufficient. Thus, a new solution is needed, and the given proposal offers a multi-faceted intervention. The proposed response relies on hiring more employees, organizing training sessions, and introducing a new management system. These steps should be combined to address multiple causes and mitigate one another’s inefficiencies.
The suggested intervention is expected to influence multiple stakeholders, including employees, customers, the organization, and investors with property owners. The EASIER model was utilized to guarantee that all these groups will be impacted and engaged in the change process. Furthermore, the organization will need time and money to bring the suggestions to life. In particular, two months of work are required to develop the training session and hire ten new employees, while $20,000 per year will present monetary rewards. Questionnaires and financial metrics can help determine whether the stipulated solutions are successful.
Purpose Statement
A high employee turnover rate is a negative phenomenon for every organization. This problem makes a company understaffed and unable to meet customer expectations. This issue is more important in the service sector, where the presence and quality of the workforce determine how successfully a business operates. Thus, the sphere of property management should draw adequate attention to this issue and keep this rate low. The current business proposal is created to mention specific facts explaining that the problem is widespread, propose an effective and feasible solution, perform a stakeholder analysis, and develop a change management plan. The latter will additionally highlight specific implementation methods and success evaluation procedures.
Problem Statement
The problem statement is as follows: The sphere of property management suffers from high turnover rates, which negatively affects organizations’ performance and profitability. Specific facts support this articulation, and Williams (2021) indicates that the issue is of growing concern because the sector experienced an 80% increase in turnover between 2009 and 2019. This state of affairs is harmful because this phenomenon cost over $600 billion in the United States in 2018 alone (Williams, 2021). In addition to the negative financial impact, the problem contributes to a few other adverse consequences that are discussed in detail in the next section.
Data and Research Findings
Since the problem is widespread, it implies multiple consequences, hurting numerous stakeholders. First, this issue leads to the loss of knowledge and expertise (Williams, 2021). When employees leave a property management organization, it is likely that newcomers will not have the required skills to fill their positions completely. Second, reduced productivity can arise, and this aspect is directly connected to the statement above because when new employees come, they cannot reach the same level of productivity at once. Third, the existing employees are forced to work extra hours. As a result, decreased motivation and fatigue are frequent in such organizations, which negatively affects the entire working process (Williams, 2021). That is why professionals and business owners are interested in finding an effective solution to the problem.
To date, a few initiatives have been implemented to address the issue and mitigate its negative manifestations. On the one hand, Safe (2022) stipulates that significant improvement can be achieved if the working environment is psychologically safe. This term denotes that employees are not subject to harassment, discrimination, or punishment, which can lead to a 27% reduction in employee turnover (Safe, 2022). On the other hand, Williams (2021) indicates that it is possible to reduce employee turnover by incorporating Maslow’s hierarchy of needs into the workplace. This instrument helps managers understand that employees have multiple needs that should be addressed to promote their satisfaction. However, the growing turnover rate in the sector demonstrates that the current efforts are not sufficient to solve the problem.
Proposed Solution
Since the problem is significant and widespread, an effective and feasible solution is needed. Table 1 below offers the top three actions that can help solve the issue. The first potential response is to hire more employees because this decision addresses a few reasons. The most significant advantage of this suggestion is that an increased number of workers can reduce workload and help meet all customer demands. However, this solution is challenging because it is difficult to find new and skillful candidates.
The second solution is to provide specific training to the existing employees. This intervention is advantageous because it improves the expertise and performance of the current workforce. Better skills allow individuals to cope with their work faster. An essential barrier refers to the fact that the intervention can only mitigate the impact of a high workload and not eliminate it. A new management system is the third potential solution that includes monetary rewards for employees to stay. This intervention can increase retention rates in the short term, but the entire turnover rate will eventually reach high levels in the long run.
Table 1. Top Three Solutions.
Stakeholder Analysis and Benefits
The three proposed solutions have specific pros and cons, which makes it challenging to prefer a single option. That is why a suitable option seems to combine all three suggestions into one intervention. Since the selected problem is complex and significant, it is not surprising that a simple initiative can be insufficient to solve the problem. Thus, when the three are combined, they maximize the potential benefits and mitigate one another’s disadvantages. This description demonstrates that the overall solution is to hire new employees and promote training and financial incentives to the entire workforce.
The proposed intervention is likely to affect multiple stakeholder groups. First, employees will experience an immediate and the most significant impact. The influx of new workers will denote that the existing workload will be more evenly distributed among all employees (Ibrahim et al., 2022). Training sessions will be organized to improve the workers’ professional skills and expertise. Individuals will additionally gain knowledge on how to address interpersonal conflicts and communicate with clients. This information will help them succeed in performing their job duties and become productive and valuable team members. Furthermore, the new management system, including higher pay and other monetary benefits, is expected to increase employee job satisfaction at the current moment. If these incentives are combined with reduced workload and effective training, the positive effects can be long-lasting.
Customers of the property management services represent the second group of key stakeholders. Even though the solution does not impact them directly, these individuals are likely to experience significant improvements. When a property management firm has a sufficient number of skillful and experienced employees, clients can be sure that they will receive high-quality and timely service. This state of affairs will evidently contribute to higher satisfaction within this stakeholder group.
The previously stated benefits will result in a significant advantage for property management organizations. More productive employees and satisfied customers demonstrate that the companies can generate more revenues. As for clients, their satisfaction makes them more loyal, which can facilitate the service providers’ growth and development (Parasuraman et al., 2021). In addition to that, the proposed solution is beneficial for these organizations in terms of cost-effectiveness. It has been stated above that the US suffered from a turnover cost of more than $600 billion in 2018 (Williams, 2021). Thus, the potential of decreasing turnover rates is significantly beneficial for the selected organizations and their financial performance.
Finally, the fourth group of key stakeholders is represented by investors and property owners. The rationale behind this statement is that increased turnover can essentially decrease the property value and rental income. That is why these individuals are significantly interested in solving the problem. If this positive outcome is achieved, they can meet multiple benefits. For instance, increased rental income, higher return on investments, and greater property value reveal the potential advantages for these stakeholders. All this information demonstrates that the proposed multi-faceted solution can affect numerous groups, and each of them will face significant benefits that justify the efforts.
Change Management Plan
The selected solution implies that a specific change management plan is needed to introduce the changes. For that purpose, the EASIER model was selected to guide the process. This abbreviation stands for six particular steps that include “Envision, Activate, Support, Implement, Ensure, and Recognize” (Praxie, n.d., para. 1). It is reasonable to comment on each of them to understand how the proposed change will be initiated.
The first step in the selected model is to create a vision statement. This articulation should be clear and effective to demonstrate that the entire organization understands the importance of the problem and knows how it is going to solve it. The second stage, Activate, is needed to guarantee that every employee perfectly comprehends the developed vision statement and shares its principles. The Support step implies that responsible managers should be assigned to ensure that they can answer arising questions and help individuals succeed in the change process. The following stage offers an agreed order of actions that includes hiring employees, organizing training sessions, and developing an incentive program.
These interventions directly denote how the desired outcomes can be achieved. The Ensure milestone draws attention to whether employees adequately engage in the change management plan. This plan element can include some sanctions for those individuals who fail to make reasonable contributions toward achieving the new normal state. Finally, the Recognize step is needed to provide the employees with feedback and report the change initiative progress to guarantee that all efforts are respected and acknowledged in the organization.
Implementation Methods
The change management plan above presented the theoretical framework of the proposed solution. Thus, the current section is going to present specific strategies on how to implement the selected multi-component initiative. In the beginning, the first task is to hire new employees. As for the selected organization, ten new workers seem sufficient to address the situation with a workload burden. Since it is not an easy activity, the organization will need a month to cope with it. This timeframe is enough since there are many candidates who want to become employed in the property management sector. This process does not require any additional or specific expenses because the organization has its own human resource department.
Parallel to this, experts should design training sessions for the entire workforce. As has been mentioned above, this intervention should improve the participants’ professional skills, knowledge, and interpersonal competencies. Two months are needed to deal with the task, and this deadline is convenient because it ensures that the organization will have the required number of workers. The organization will need to spend $5,000 to receive learning materials and all the required resources. Finally, it is easier to implement the monetary rewards program. The only task is to specify that a 10% bonus is given for excellent service and customer feedback monthly, while 50% of monthly salary is paid one time to people for working every two years. The organization will have to spend approximately no more than $20,000 per year to decrease high turnover rates.
Evaluating Success
Specific measures can be used to determine whether the proposed intervention is successful. Multiple activities are needed because the offered solution consists of a few elements and impacts many stakeholders. A reasonable approach is to collect first-hand information from the most affected groups. This statement refers to employees and customers since they essentially suffer from the problem. Thus, the organization can distribute a specifically tailored questionnaire to these stakeholders, and their answers will allow the organization to see specific figures to assess the effectiveness. For example, if employees report a lower workload level while clients stipulate that they are more satisfied with the service, it is possible to state that success is achieved. Such surveys can be organized both pre and post-intervention to increase the credibility and reliability of the obtained results.
In addition to that, a feasible strategy is to look at financial metrics. In addition to property value and rental income, one should consider occupation and rent collection rates. All these quantitative indicators clearly demonstrate how popular and requested the property is and whether the intervention leads to increased income.
At this stage, it is impossible to state that any measure to evaluate success is more important or effective than others. They only try to analyze the impact of the proposed solution from different sides. That is why it is better to rely on the combination of all these phenomena to get a better understanding. In other words, a comprehensive strategy is needed to perform a complete evaluation of the proposed activity.
Conclusion/Call to Action
The presented information has demonstrated that a higher turnover rate is a significant problem in the property management industry. That is why an adequate and effective response is needed to address it. Key stakeholders’ engagement can significantly determine how effective the proposed solution will be. Thus, the organization should find the required financial resources to sponsor the change process. The employees should be motivated to participate in training and improve their personal and professional qualities. Finally, the customers and investors should arm themselves with patience to wait until the suggested intervention starts acting, which will contribute to improved organizational and financial outcomes.
References
Ibrahim, M., Saputra, J., Adam, M., & Yunus, M. (2022). Organizational culture, employee motivation, workload, and employee performance: A mediating role of communication. WSEAS Transactions on Business and Economics, 19, 54-61. Web.
Parasuraman, A., Ball, J., Aksoy, L., Keiningham, T. L., & Zaki, M. (2021). More than a feeling? Toward a theory of customer delight. Journal of Service Management, 32(1), 1-26. Web.
Praxie. (n.d.). AI-powered EASIER change management model app. Web.
Safe, H. T. M. M. P. (2022). How to make multifamily psychologically safe. Property Management. Web.
Williams, G. (2021). Property manager turnover in the US property management industry [Unpublished doctoral dissertation]. South University.