Carrie A. Traeger

Property Management Inc.

By Leah Etling on Jul 24, 2012 in People

With dual expertise in Human Resources and Information Technology, Carrie A. Traeger of Property Management, Inc. (PMI), is well-equipped to make smart business analysis decisions. Pennsylvania-based PMI, specializing in commercial, residential, manufactured housing and homeowner association management, has 225 employees and is predominantly a third-party, fee-based management firm.

PMI manages 5.4 million square feet of commercial office space, 80 homeowner’s associations (6000 units), 14 manufactured home communities (1400 units) and 45 residential communities (4000 units), all in Pennsylvania. The company has made a name for itself with professionalism and proven results for holders and investors, and has recently seen tremendous growth in its commercial sector.

We recently had the opportunity to gain Traeger’s insight on trending topics in HR and IT, a combination she calls “a fun umbrella,” as well as best business practices.  A member of PMI’s team since 1994, she is active in the Society for Human Resource Management and the Human Resource Professionals of Central Pennsylvania. Traeger holds a MBA and accounting degree from Pennsylvania State University. In her free time, she serves as director of the PMI Charitable Foundation, which  provides funds to not-for-profit organizations from programs which seek to enhance human dignity for those who are economically, educationally, and emotionally challenged. Traeger is also  a member of her Church Finance Committee and as a leader in the Awana Program (children’s program).

Many thanks to Carrie Traeger for agreeing to answer these questions for us.

TBS: How do you manage dual oversight of IT and HR?

CAT: My daily focus is on PMI’s mission statement. Our mission statement is to “provide superior property management services which exceed the expectations of customers and clients by focusing on prompt service, reliability, dedication, teamwork, education, training and innovation.” Almost every one of the things we need to focus on falls under human resources or IT in one way or another. I view managing the HR and the IT as almost managing two sides of the same coin when it comes to providing our staff with the resources to meet our mission statement. My role is providing the support to manage our two key resources: our people and our information. It’s a fun balancing act.

I like to focus on people, and I don’t necessarily want to spend all day sitting in front of a computer. I like the personal interaction, but I also like the giant puzzle that is IT. It is fun to hit issues from multiple points of view: providing our staff and our managers and our teams and our clients with what they need to effectively manage properties.

TBS: Can you share some of PMI’s recent IT initiatives?

CAT: Our network systems administrator recently completed a complete overhaul of our network, upgrading in size of the network and the scope of virtualization software.  This project was very labor and resource intensive.  Additionally, from a Yardi perspective, we’re always trying new initiatives. We have implemented the CheckScan application in the last year. We’re in the process of taking advantage of some of the new functionality with the inspection modules, for our condo and HOA division. We are getting ready to begin focusing on social media, probably within the next 3-6 months.  We would like to evaluate our marketing and social media presence. We have a lot of exciting things coming down the line.

TBS: You started your career in accounting, but head up PMI’s IT efforts. When it comes to finding the best reporting software, how has your background in accounting influenced what you look for in a reporting system?

CAT: Deep down I’m still an accountant at heart. Absolutely every system we’re going to look at has to have the robust accounting system and solid internal controls.  This allows us to make sure everything stays on track. As a predominantly third-party, fee-based property management company, we are also looking for flexibility in reporting: the ability to have that good solid accounting data and present it as our owners need to see it.

Working in the industry for 18 years, I’ve also figured out that whatever system we look at has to be more than just a robust accounting system. We’re looking for a system that allows us to improve efficiencies throughout the company and makes data tracking streamlined, so our people can be more focused on managing properties and customer service, but we still have to have that solid data available.

TBS: As a member of the Society for Human Resource Management and Human Resource Professionals of Central Pennsylvania, you’re up to date on the most important issues for HR departments. Can you share some current general emphases for employers across business sectors?

CAT: I think everybody is facing a lot of the same things right now. The last couple of weeks, one of the biggest things we’ve been scrambling to take a look at is health care reform. Everyone I know was anticipating at least some change or shift for employers in the health care reform act in the last few weeks based on the Supreme Court ruling– and that didn’t occur. Companies are now trying to figure out what that means to them for the next 2-3 years.

Overall, I’m seeing a lot of people who are optimistic about economy, but who are concerned about retaining their top talent.  Employers really want to make sure they can incent good employees to stay whenever the job market starts to loosen up, and people start to think maybe the grass is a little greener on the other side of the fence.

A lot of companies are also running leaner, they’re doing more with less, so management is focusing on how to improve efficiencies, how to improve technology to better assist their staff. They’re also looking at trying to assist employees with the stress that is associated with running a little bit leaner.

TBS: From an HR perspective, one challenge faced by the multifamily industry is managing employees spread over multiple sites. How have you tackled that?

CAT: We’ve seen a huge improvement in our ability to effectively address HR issues by having HR visit each site at least once every year to do an overview of some of the critical policies and procedures that many of our managers and maintenance supervisors don’t necessarily face every day. We review the Family Medical Leave Act, American with Disabilities Act, and other legislation.  We’re going out and talking to the entire staff about some of these topics that are pertinent to them, and working with managers and maintenance supervisors to give them an annual one-on-one refresher and give them an opportunity to bring up their questions. That has been tremendously valuable in improving consistency across multiple sites.