Last week, the women of the Atlanta office gathered to celebrate each other and network through thoughtful conversations in honor of Women’s History Month. The morning started with a raffle drawing and an exciting networking game: Meet Your Match. Everyone got a clue, such as “cookies” or “sweet,” and you had to network to meet your match without saying the word. For example, “milk & cookies” or “sweet and sour.” While the event took place, music played in the breakroom, and a complete brunch feast was served, including waffles with all the fixings, salmon and grits, bacon and eggs, and mock mimosas. Afterward, the women gathered in the meeting room for fun trivia questions and discussions. The trivia knowledge consisted of famous women in our industry and more, with prizes. Fireside chats were then discussed to create a supportive and informative environment for the office women. A box of tissues circled as many had emotional and profound stories to share. These stories and strategies for overcoming traumatic experiences that have built such strong women were welcomed with open arms, and everyone was in their feels. It wrapped up with some open conversations and engagement for “Women at Yardi,” which will soon open the doors for women to come together virtually for support and vitality. What an empowering day for the women in the Atlanta...
Philip Suh
Yardi Employee Profile
Yardi’s global offices make essential contributions to property management and investors worldwide. Today, meet Philip Suh, associate technical account manager with the Residential CSD team. Meet Philip Suh Philip Suh has been working at Yardi for over a year and a half. Suh spends his workdays answering and catching up on emails in the mornings, participates in daily scrum meetings with his team to discuss cases they are working on that day, and finishes up with client meetings in the afternoon hours. Suh currently works on Positive Pay and Interface cases with the client and a third party vendor or bank. “I love helping people set up and implement new things into their Voyager environment,” said Suh. “I also really enjoy being able to help my teammates out and want to try my best to be approachable by my teammates or other people!” Suh feels the reciprocity at Yardi among his teammates, which he is very grateful for. “I love that everyone is so open to lending a hand, especially with unfamiliar topics. I have never felt that I was not welcome to ask a question on my team,” Suh shares. Work-Life Balance Suh appreciates the work environment at Yardi and likes the work-life balance. The direction from his Team Lead and manager has given him more opportunities, which he acknowledges. “I’m really happy with my work-life balance here at Yardi, which allows me to have fun and be my own person when I’m not working. I think ensuring that not letting your job title define you is really important,” Suh expressed. Yardi is hiring globally! Interested prospective employees can explore opportunities on the Careers site. Sweet Love Suh spends his time outside the office with his lovely wife, Camill, eating good food and sweet...
Employee Appreciation Day
Celebrate on March 3
Employee Appreciation Day is this Friday, March 3, but you can start the celebration anytime! If you haven’t taken advantage of celebrating Employee Appreciation Day before, now is a great chance to do so. Expressing gratitude and letting employees know that you appreciate them is one of the best ways to keep employees engaged and motivated in the workplace. Here are some creative ideas that will show your employees they are appreciated. Team building day. If the budget allows, take a group outing to a fun team-building activity. Bowling or TopGolf are great outings with teams to have some friendly competition. Have employees vote on a fun activity to do together. This will create excitement and show employees that the company cares about their input. If your team is working from home, plan a virtual escape room. There’s a virtual escape room for every team dynamic with different themes, from art heists to murder mysteries. If spending money is out of the budget, volunteering at a locally supported nonprofit is a great way to get out of the office and doesn’t cost anything. If anything, everyone will feel better when doing better. Bring in a guest speaker. Keep things exciting by bringing in a surprise guest. Find a motivational speaker, hypnotist, or comedian to bring in for a fun break during the workday. Since most of today’s world works from home, you can schedule a virtual Zoom meeting with the guest. Bringing in a guest speaker or entertainer is a great way to boost employees’ moods and improve employee morale. Plus, it will leave employees with something to talk about for years to come! Write a LinkedIn Recommendation. LinkedIn is a modern, public-facing resume. When employees consistently perform well, take some time to write thoughtful recommendations on LinkedIn about the value they bring to the company. Include details about how the employee drove business results and how much you enjoy working with them on various projects. This unique way of showing appreciation demonstrates your investment in employees’ career development now and in the future. Endorsements for skills mastery on LinkedIn can work the same way. Recognition ceremony. When he recognized his employees at the Dundie awards, Michael Scott was onto something. What a great way to show that the company cares and recognizes success. Employee recognition is essential to creating strong office culture. Host a recognition ceremony for your employees to celebrate Employee Appreciation Day. Honor each employee for a contribution that they have made to the team. You might not go as quirky as The Office but have some fun and get creative for awards to keep things lively. Gratitude notes. A little bit of gratitude can go a long way in the workplace. Create thank you notes for each employee that express why you and the company are grateful for having them on the team. Try not to make these cards sound generic—consider how each individual has contributed to the company’s success. If budget allows, include a small personal gift or gift card with the gratitude note. These recognition ideas will communicate to employees and teams that you and the company see and appreciate their hard work. Virtual employees can often feel forgotten or disconnected. By increasing recognition and gratitude, team members will likely feel more engaged and motivated to continue doing their best work daily. With all the benefits and return on investment from appreciation, it’s worth the...
Retain Top Talent
Administrative Professionals Day
A resourceful administrative assistant is worth their weight in gold (or palladium for that matter). Admins are the backbone of the company: from facilitating events to communicating between departments and clients, they keep day-to-day affairs running smoothly. April 21 is Administrative Professionals Day, but the celebration doesn’t have to end today. In fact, it’s important that the celebration continues if you aim to retain your top talent. Below are a few practical tips to help you get started. Schedule ways to show that you care. One of the best ways to celebrate administrative professionals is to extend the celebration beyond one day. Sure, flowers and a certificate of appreciation are nice. But when you want to improve employee satisfaction and promote company loyalty, the day-to-day actions are what matter most. Consider putting a reminder on your calendar at least once per quarter. Schedule a simple way to let your admin know that you appreciate their efforts. It could be a grand gesture like a spa retreat, of course, but smaller gestures are also valuable. Consider a collectible item that you know they like or an extended lunch break. The key is to consistently show that you appreciate them. Ask. Listen. Respond. Find time outside of their performance review to check in. Sometimes, it’s as simple as asking “How are you?” if you don’t already do so. You can begin with a check-in template. You may also consider asking any of the following questions, personalizing them as you see fit: What would make your work here more rewarding? What could we do to support you and your work? What do I do as a manager that’s currently a roadblock? If the last question felt like a punch to the stomach, don’t be afraid. Craig Cincotta,...
Tech for the Team
6 Tips to Improve Staff Buy-In
You’ve finally found your dream real estate management software. You’re pumped about the efficiencies that your organization will gain and the money that it will save. But before you can reach those results, you’ve got to get your staff on board. Without proper employee buy-in, the implementation process will be slow, tedious, and less productive. The six tips below can improve employee buy-in. Get leadership enthusiastic about the new technology. C-Level and mid-tier leadership need to understand the benefits that new technology will offer them and their teams. They also need to receive answers to their questions well before implementation begins. With those two factors in place, leadership is better able to present the change to their teams with confidence and gusto. “Ensuring they’re informed and can provide input throughout the transition are essential in earning their support,” states Elizabeth Dukes, employee experience expert at Inc.com. Pinpoint the administrative tasks that devour staff’s time. Understand the pain points around the current workflow. Explore any non-essential tasks that hamper productivity. Then explain how the new real estate management software will address those issue. Note how the technology will streamline day-to-day workflows, permitting staff to focus more on what matters most. Identify inconsistencies in task execution. Inconsistencies are often a red flag. They indicate a point in the process that seems too time-consuming for staff to complete properly. Reiterate the importance and benefits of following protocols. Then show employees how the new software can make it easier for them to achieve consistency. 4. Educate staff on role-based, flexible training software. Employees dread learning new programs for several reasons: Some trainings are too broad, wasting their time on information that is not applicable to their job. Most trainings cater to auditory learners, which make up only 30...
2016 Recap
Reflecting & Looking Ahead
As 2016 comes to a close, we look back in reflection on a successful year. Here are a few of our favorite Yardi moments from 2016: The Balance Sheet, Yardi’s corporate blog, celebrated its fourth anniversary! In February, Yardi launched a new data centre in Dubai to meet the data security and infrastructure needs of a growing client base in the Middle East. Yardi welcomed iMS Immobilien Management System GmbH to the Yardi family! iMS GmbH is a German developer of commercial property management software. CSU Channel Islands and Pacific Coast Business Times honored Yardi Systems and CEO Anant Yardi. Anant Yardi was named Business Leader of the Year by the Business & Technology Partnership at California State University, Channel Islands. Mr. Yardi was also inducted into the Pacific Coast Business Times Business Hall of Fame in recognition of his contributions to the software industry. Yardi aided displaced Fort McMurray fire evacuees. Mobilizing teams in four different time zones, Yardi created a centralized housing registry connecting local landlords and residents in need of housing. Yardi acquired Proliphix, a leading provider of energy control solutions. We welcomed its clients and staff to the Yardi family! Gordon Morrell was named Executive of the Year at the South Coast Business & Technology Awards. “I’m honored to receive this award, but it really is not for me,” Morrell said. “It is for the entire global team at Yardi. The reason for our success is the exceptional collaboration of everyone at the company, rather than the efforts of one individual.” Yardi won a NREI/IMN Commercial Real Estate Award in recognition of the Yardi®Smart Energy Suite. Multi-Housing News earned Gold for best website at NAREE’s fiftieth conference. In August, we celebrated 5,000 Yardi employees strong worldwide! Yardi released Yardi Genesis2for Affordable Housing. Yardi welcomed two new Marketing Geniuses. Meet Mia...
5,000 Strong
Marking a Milestone
Updated: See photos from the 5,000 employee celebrations at Yardi offices last week in the new photo gallery added below. A gallery of images is also available on Facebook. (August 2, 2016) – Yardi’s corporate motto has always been simple: “Take care of our clients, take care of our employees, stay focused and GROW!” The global technology company celebrates a major milestone this August. Yardi now has 5,000 employees, with its largest offices in the United States, India, Romania and Canada. “It’s very special to mark the hiring of our 5,000th employee. Each of our employees has taken part in helping us become a success,” said Anant Yardi, the founder and CEO of Yardi. “We never imagined that the company would grow to this size when we started out.” In the last five years, Yardi has more than doubled in size, and has expanded in the energy, self-storage and senior living sectors. The company now has 35 offices worldwide, including locations in The Netherlands, Germany, United Kingdom, United Arab Emirates, Australia, Singapore and China. A few fun facts were shared with the global team this week when employee No. 5000 joined the ranks. 7 employees were hired in the 1980s 63 employees were hired in the 1990s 738 employees were hired in the 2000s 2,295 were hired between 2010 and 2014 4,000 employee celebration was in January 2015 Nearly 500 employees hired in the last two years were referred by current Yardi employees. “So what’s the secret to our success story? YOU! Each one of you has helped us reach this milestone,” said Gordon Morrell, Yardi’s executive vice president. Employees at Yardi’s headquarters will celebrate the milestone with a 5,000 foot history walk around the company’s corporate campus at 9am on Wednesday, Aug. 10. Other offices have also planned celebrations. To see photos from these events, visit the Yardi Facebook or Instagram accounts. Here are some photos of how our teams celebrated the 5,000 employee milestone. Thanks to Michael Joiner, Kristin Van Ramshorst, and all of our other photographer contributors. Atlanta Atlanta Atlanta Atlanta Atlanta Atlanta Atlanta Atlanta Atlanta Kevin Yardi Santa Barbara Santa Barbara SB SB SB SB SB SB SB SB SB SB SB SB SB SB SB SB SB SB SB SB SB SB Scottsdale Sydney Sydney Raleigh Raleigh Raleigh Raleigh Raleigh Pune Pune Pune Pune Pune Pune Pune Pune Pune Pune London San Diego Santa Ana Santa Ana Santa Ana Amsterdam Amsterdam Amsterdam...
Cold & Flu Season...
Protect Your Office
Cold and flu season is a headache for companies around the nation. The Integrated Benefits Institute states that US companies lose $227 billion each year in lost productivity. Those losses are the results of illness-induced absenteeism and presenteeism (when illness prevents workers from fulfilling their potential). Cut your losses and protect your employees with a few creative housekeeping tips. These small investments could save you thousands—or more—in the long run. Equip Your Team for Cleanliness A study conducted by the University of Arizona reveals that it takes about four hours for traces of infectious viruses to spread to solid surfaces throughout your office. These viruses can thrive on surfaces for up to 48 hours. Strategically place disinfecting wipes throughout the office. Employees can wipe down their workspaces throughout the day. You may be surprised by how many employees take advantage of the wipes! Some employees will want to avoid conventional antibacterial wipes. To promote cleanliness for all, consider supplying this simple, natural cleaner as well: one drop of lemon essential oil per four ounces of water in a spray bottle. High-quality lemon essential oils have proven antiseptic, antimicrobial, and bactericidal properties. It’s a natural alternative for employees who might not use conventional disinfectant wipes in their workspaces. Restock Your Break Room Wisely The traditional break room setup usually includes coffee, tea, sugar, and creamer. In fall and winter, consider adding a few fresh lemons and raw honey to the mix. Breathing in warm teas stimulates the cilia of the nose, helping to block out germs. Honey is a natural sweetener that doubles as an antibacterial agent. It’s also a beloved soothing agent for irritated throats. Lemon adds flavor to teas while helping to thin mucus, thus minimizing the irritation caused by postnasal drip. Stock...
