Ask the Question

I’m sure you’ve all been seeing and hearing as much as I have about AI over the last several weeks. Everyone is trying to identify the best “use case” for integrating AI into their business operations. So far, the biggest takeaway is that it can save time in creating drafts, an idea list, summarizing the key points or action items from meeting notes or a document. It’s all about productivity and doing more in less time. But I want to be clear. This article is not about AI. It’s about what AI represents to us all: making the best use of our time. Specifically, making the best use of our employees’ time.

Rental housing employees are struggling with productivity. On average, 25% of all multifamily employees indicate they are not able to complete their work in the time allowed. In many cases, this can be due to short staffing, but often there are other reasons.

For one company, they discovered that their workforce was struggling with burnout and feeling like they were on a hamster wheel with no forward progress. The Executive Team honed in on employees feeling like they couldn’t get their work done in the time allowed and worked with us to create a more targeted survey of just a few questions. It asked what was the greatest obstacle in getting work done, as well as what tools or resources could help them be more productive.

The result was that they were able to identify a couple of themes for each position category and make some highly impactful decisions that cleared some major obstacles and provided needed resources. Not only did their score for this topic increase by 8 points, their score for “Enjoy my work” went up nearly 11 points.

So many issues can be addressed and resolved if only we will take the time to ask the question.

Let me ask YOU a few questions:

1. Are you struggling with high employee turnover?
2. Do you constantly feel like you are putting out staff-related fires?
3. Are you frustrated that your team is not delivering the level of customer service you expect?

The way you address all of these issues is to ask your employees for feedback. But here’s the catch:

• It must be confidential
• You must act on the findings, even if it’s just one thing

There are many roads that lead to productivity, but I’ve found that the most direct route is to ask your team what’s getting in the way and then doing something about it.

It’s getting to the end of the year, and 2025 is the great unknown. Why not let us help you get set up for success in understanding what your team needs to be successful in the New Year? We now have a budget-friendly option of a 1-time Employee Engagement survey that will enable you to put effective strategies in place to start off on the right foot. Send me a message or contact us here . We’d love to show you how easy it is to just ask your team the question.

-Jen