Tough Labor Market?

Here are some ways to meet the demand for workers and increase efficiency.

BY ROB BUFFINGTON

As the labor market continues to be the single greatest difficulty of our industry, companies are exploring new ways to increase their Direct Labor Efficiency Ratio (DLER). This is traditionally achieved through one of three means:

1.) SPECIALIZATION,

2.) AUTOMATION, OR

3.) OUTSOURCING.

SPECIALIZATION is the process of narrowing job duties, so each position is working on the same few tasks and becoming more efficient at each.

AUTOMATION refers to the use of software and processes to replace man hours with machine hours.

OUTSOURCING can be delegating the position entirely, such as hiring a third-party accounting firm or hiring remote workers from staffing agencies that have a lower cost than domestic employees.

SPECIALIZATION is one of the most important changes that our industry needs to practice to advance. The portfolio mindset of 20 years ago still endures with the property manager being responsible for all activities related to a property. The goal of specialization is that each person focuses on a select number of related tasks for a specified group of properties.

This is different from a call center model where you are speaking to a faceless, nameless individual that has no connection to you or your property, which leads to frustration and low quality. With specialization, you create positions for a specific set of tasks and then focus the people on a specific group of properties, whether that’s on a portfolio level, such as an ACAM (Assistant Community Association Manager), or a division level for something like a customer service rep.

As companies reach a certain size, new positions such as an onboarding admin become viable. By creating a position to do nothing but onboarding, you allow a member of your team to become more efficient than a community manager would.

Since a CAM (Community Association Manager) isn’t onboarding new HOAs every month, they will become rusty and forget the process, but with an onboarding coordinator, after a few months, they will know all of the right numbers for changing over utilities, will have the filing and labeling system memorized, and will not fall behind because of a last-minute maintenance issue or too many board meetings. Also, an onboarding coordinator will be easier to hire and train than a CAM and will expect a lower salary. The strength will be in the process rather than the person.

Many companies fear delegating a process to a lower level because they are concerned about sensitive data or quality control. There is a principle that I call the 90% Rule. You don’t need to be able to delegate 100% of a task in order to utilize an admin staff with lower clearance or less experience.

Let’s continue with the example of an onboarding coordinator. If you use an entry level position to take over onboarding, you may want to keep the banking information and fund transfers as well as the communication with the board for the CAM. However, that doesn’t mean that the Onboarding Coordinator can’t be responsible for everything else. As long as someone can take 90% of a task away from you without sacrificing quality or security, it is a good move.

AUTOMATION is a growing facet of our industry. More tasks are being taken and automated by using the 90% rule. If you have a customer service department, bring in a smart AI for your online chat and texting communications. It’s not hard to develop or purchase an AI that can answer questions such as “What is my balance?” “How do I report a maintenance issue?” “How do I submit an ARC?” Will this AI be able to answer 100% of questions? Absolutely not, but if you took a survey of most front-line calls, well over half of them could be answered with zero man hours.

If you’re not ready to embrace Skynet just yet, start halfway and develop scripts and workflows for your front office and back office positions. Depending on your software, there should be workflows where if incoming message contains the phrase “selling my unit,” “condo docs,” “CC&Rs,” or “escrow,” assign to escrow department and create draft with this response:

“Dear Homeowner, In order to get a copy of your escrow docs, please visit www.homewise.com.”

Nothing has been sent, so you still have a human eye on it before clicking send, but you’ve dropped the time and energy required to answer this from 120 seconds to 10. You’ve also ensured that the right answer is going out every time and decreased your average response time.

Finally, OUTSOURCING is rapidly gaining traction in our industry. Vendor screening go through companies like Vendor Smart and Vive. Escrow demands now go through Homewise Docs and CondoCerts, and even AP goes through Strongroom. It can also mean hiring full-time employees through a staffing company from a wider geographic region, reducing your payroll anywhere from 30-60% and increasing your available hiring pool.

Depending on your company’s size and needs, either or both can be a good option. You’ll find that HOAs are open to solutions that they wouldn’t have considered 2-3 years ago, such as permanent Zoom board meetings or fully remote management. Many companies are creating new positions of Remote Managers who will handle everything via Zoom and email.

None of these strategies are meant to be used on its own. All three are beneficial to every company and can be used in concert for the most optimal effect. By gradually finding new ways to apply each of these strategies, community managers can affect lasting and profitable change on our industry.

Rob Buffington

Rob Buffington is the Owner of East West Building Works and President of Gordian Staffing, both of which are located in San Jose.