I used to genuinely enjoy working for this company. The environment was fun, there were real opportunities to earn solid money through monthly bonuses, and it felt like there was a clear path to grow if you put in the work. That’s changed completely.
These days, getting promoted feels nearly impossible unless you have a personal relationship with the hiring manager. There are only 4 assistant manager positions in the entire region of 12 communities and getting promoted no longer seems to be about performance or skill. More about who you're gossiping with and grabbing drinks with outside of work. Same goes for recognition. Just look at the last few years of year end awards, the pattern is obvious. And it's embarrassing.
And that brings me to something that’s honestly pretty frustrating, leadership’s whole “no gossip” message. They push that idea hard, especially in this region, but the reality is it’s usually the community managers and AVPs doing most of the gossiping. We all know it's the AVPs, and community managers. It creates a total double standard.
Leasing bonuses have been cut to “save money,” but management still gets theirs. And somehow there’s still room in the budget for community managers to have 10 to 12 outings just in the first quarter. Meanwhile, the people doing the day-to-day leasing work are being told to do more with less pay. It’s incredibly demotivating.
There’s a major lease up coming next year, and senior leadership has already promised the role to multiple people across the region. How is that even possible? It’s the kind of move that makes people stop trusting anything leadership says.
Because of all this, a lot of the top performing, long tenured leasing agents are leaving, the ones who consistently drive results. And management acts like it’s not a big deal. We’re treated like we’re replaceable. But they’re already struggling to replace the people who have already left, and there are multiple open positions that still haven’t been filled.
