Remote work environments offer conveniences such as custom workspaces for employees and fewer overhead costs. Employers are learning, however, that employees may struggle to preserve corporate culture from a distance. This can be especially clear while hiring and onboarding new employees. A few practices can help you preserve and promote corporate culture within your organization whether employees are near or far. Use technology to invest in employee growth Working from home can feel monotonous or repetitive. Employees want to know that leadership continues to support their growth and development. Use e-learning software for continuing education opportunities. If feasible, allot a few hours per quarter that employees can dedicate to their growth through online courses. It’s a relatively simply way to show employees that they are supported and corporate culture facilitates personal and professional growth. Host virtual acknowledgements and awards ceremonies An encouraging smile goes a long way. On the toughest days, a nod or gesture from leadership can help employees feel seen, empathized with and supported. Unfortunately, virtual communication doesn’t lend itself well to such small gestures. Ensure that your employees don’t feel lost among countless emails and instant messages. To show that they are not overlooked or underappreciated, host virtual ceremonies via video conference. Make time to give kudos for a job well done or awards for more significant accomplishments. Rainmaker research reports that, “mutual respect, gratitude, and recognition between coworkers and leadership” was essential to employee satisfaction. Acknowledgement boosts employee morale and reinforces a culture of teamwork and camaraderie. Maintain your commitment to corporate social responsibility Social distancing has halted many volunteerism initiatives. Fortunately, technology makes a way to maintain your commitment to philanthropy while promoting employee safety. Each year, Yardi offices assemble committees that organize volunteer efforts and nonprofit grants. Of course, 2020 forced committees to get creative—and boy, did they rise to the occasion! Many offices transitioned to virtual fundraising committees. The Yardi Oxnard office took it a step farther. Oxnard invited candidates to submit video presentations summarizing their organization, its needs and goals. These videos replaced in-person fairs and still helped employees get a personal feel for each worthy cause. After viewing the videos, employees remotely cast their votes. The top-ranking candidates received grant funds for the year. Yardi CSD replaced their annual in-person 3k walk with a virtual walk to support Angela’s House. The group connected via Microsoft Teams and then chatted while walking their neighborhoods. It was a fantastic way to raise funds for the organization while participating in team building. Yardi is Energized for Good! Learn more about Yardi’s remote corporate philanthropy efforts on our Giving page. Host virtual clubs for employees If your organization didn’t have a social committee before, now is the time to develop one. These powerful, employee-driven groups get a feel for what interests their peers. They then create engaging activities and events. Virtual clubs are opportunities for employees to “hang out” after hours while enjoying a shared interest. Consider fitness clubs where team members log on simultaneously for yoga, dance or Tabata classes. Painting, cooking, crafting and gaming are all fun way ways for employees to casually connect and build a culture of camaraderie. Keep holiday traditions alive It’s important to continue holiday celebrations whenever you can. While group meals and dancing may not be in the immediate future, you can still make merry using technology. For Yardi Atlanta, Halloween is a big deal. Each year, employees decorated their departments, their desks and their bodies in hope of winning bragging rights and prizes. Last year, the Yardi Atlanta social committee came up with creative workarounds for a virtual celebration. A pumpkin carving  and selfie contest, throwback Halloween photo contest and virtual mixology class were among a few of the fun activities employees enjoyed together. Of course, there were costume contests! Teams made collages for group costumes and decorated their home offices. All submissions, voting and awards...

Working from home, remote work, telecommuting: whatever you call it, it’s a challenge for property managers across the nation. If you’re lucky enough to be hiring in during the pandemic, you’re also facing the challenge of onboarding in a remote work environment. It’s not easy. With the right tools, however, you can onboard new team members with ease and efficacy. Check out these recommendations from industry experts for remote onboarding, simplified. Just when you thought property management couldn’t get any harder… Property management is a notoriously tough business. The National Apartment Association reports an average turnover rate of 33% in 2019. The highest rates are for leasing and maintenance, at 31.9% and 39.2% respectively. With each vacant position comes the time and money spent on marketing, hiring and training. The time it takes to train a new employee varies. It’s safe to say, though, that hours spent training a revolving door of new hires isn’t an ideal use of your team’s time. When translated to dollars, it costs between $5,505.80 and $9,444.47 per turnover to replace an entry-level employee. High turnover is costly, time consuming and counterproductive. Then a pandemic arrives that complicates everything for everyone everywhere. Property managers who are lucky enough to hire must now do so without interviewing or training applicants in person.  Teams attempt to build office culture and support with the same screens used for work and productivity. A career path that deters 33% of employees each year now faces additional challenges. Fortunately, robust e-learning software is here to help. What methods can help property managers overcome these challenges? Begin with the cloud. Cloud computing empowers property owners to implement e-learning and remotely train new hires. The system facilitates real-time collaboration between participants on documents and projects. Additionally, software that operates on integrated and centralized cloud storage is advantageous to a piecemeal assemblage of programs. Patricia Pomies is chief delivery officer at Globant, an innovator in workplace efficiencies. The cloud is a powerful tool because it provides 24/7 access to learning content. Remote, easy access is key for distance learning. “Their approach should be focused on promoting a culture of continuous learning, and training programs should live in one central, digital location for employees to access easily,” says Pomies. “It’s also best to give employees access to different learning experiences and training based on their time, interests, level and expertise—whether they are a remote employee or not.” Create online trainings that are branded and customizable. Consider a remote learning platform that enables branding and customization. Since your new hires won’t go into a physical office each day, it is essential to use branding to instill a sense of place and company culture. Customization ensures that your messaging within the e-learning platform is consistent with corporate messaging. Of equal importance, you will be able to customize learning modules based on the new hire’s role within the organization. This ensures that new hires can prioritize and specialize as needed. Customized content also encourages the most engagement from participants. Jim E. Guilkey, author and doctorate in instructional design and learning strategy, suggests that engagement improves problem-solving skills. In an interview with Society for Human Resource Management, Guilkey encourages clients to explore engaging options such as virtual collaboration rooms and role playing. “Instead of simply lecturing, put the impetus for learning on the learners,” he says. He recommends putting students in a virtual collaboration room to evaluate real and hypothetical situations pertinent to their roles. Together, they can analyze, troubleshoot and propose solutions and improvements. Rather than relying on industry standard, pre-set modules, customized courses provide hyper-local learning opportunities. Presenting scenarios specific to the brand, property or region create a stronger sense of place and culture for remote learners. Check for comprehension before assessments and analyze assessment data for additional learning opportunities. When teaching in person, an instructor can use body language to gauge whether content is “sinking in”...

Though working from home is novel in many ways, it has its disadvantages: you may feel disconnected from your peers, out of the loop with leadership and frustrated that you don’t have access to all the tools you’d have at the office. Add those concerns on top of a challenging work-life balance and we’ve got a recipe for short tempers, cluttered minds and poor communication. Yet in the age of social distancing, strong communication skills reassert their essential value. If you find that your team is struggling to stay amicable, focused and encouraged, consider the three Cs: clear, concise and conscious communication.   Clear intention First, identify what you want to accomplish. Geoffrey James, a specialist in sales communications at Sales Source, emphasizes that all communication has intention. “Before you initiate any communication, ask yourself, ‘What am I trying to accomplish?’ Understanding and focusing on the ‘why’ allows you to avoid side issues and ratholes that might otherwise obscure the situation.” Clear communication also encourages us to be specific and detailed in the first point of contact. This can minimize confusion and time-consuming follow-ups. Avoid assumptions, state your objective and provide your contact with the necessary information or resources needed to fulfill the objective. Think you’re overdoing it on the details? If you’re introducing an unfamiliar topic or content, you’re probably not. A Stanford University study reveals that speakers grossly overestimate how much listeners understand. When you’re dealing with a new project or concept, it may be essential to overcommunicate. Concise language While it is important to give adequate details, it is equally important to be concise. There are no hard and fast rules for this delicate balance. The amount of detail needed will depend on your contact’s familiarity with the content. But there are steps that you can take to be efficient with your communication. In writing, it is especially important to avoid hyperbole, downplaying serious situations and sarcasm. Written communication doesn’t include tone of voice, facial expression and body language to give context to what you’re saying. Any figurative language increase the chances of miscommunication. Additionally, communication specialist Deep Patel recommends focusing on communication that will garner respect rather than laughs. “It can be tempting to communicate with others in a lighthearted way,” says Patel. “But remember that the most successful communicators are those who have earned respect rather than laughs.” Conscious approach There are entire schools of study around conscious communication. To simplify a few concepts, keep two basic points in mind: no one can read your mind, and everyone is fighting personal battles. No one knows what you need unless you clearly and concisely explain it to them. When possible, empower them with resources to fulfill the objective correctly the first time around. You also cannot read their minds, so avoid making assumptions about their intentions, intelligence or character. Secondly, everyone is trying to adjust to these turbulent times. Financial uncertainty, health concerns, social injustice, longing for absent loved ones and frustrations within the household are just a few issues that contribute to irregular or unfavorable behavior. Keep that in mind when communicating with others. Proceed with kindness, compassion, empathy and patience. Undoubtedly, even the best attempts at conscious communication can fail. It’s important to learn what went wrong and address it before relationships and work suffer. Take responsibility for your feelings and identify what exchange triggered the upset, advises The Chopra Center. When applicable, note what you did not receive from the exchange and then ask for what you want. “The key principle of conscious communication is making it as easy as possible for another person to meet your need by asking for the specific behavior that will fulfill it,” advises Chopra. “When people feel vulnerable, they commonly compensate by becoming demanding and threatening, believing that forcefulness will increase the likelihood of getting what they want. This approach often has the opposite effect. A...