I work for a Property management company in Portland Oregon, and the policy of employee rent discounts/ free rent depends on the type of property.
For instance, if the property requires the manager or maintenance tech to live on site, the tech's or manager's rent is part of their compensation package.
Most properties offer some kind of rent discount for their site staff. Usually 15-20% off the market rate. The last property I worked for and lived on site gave me a 15% rent discount, a free parking space, a free storage unit, waived my monthly utility fee, pet rent, and all security deposits.
I know a manager who works in lease up, and she has negotiated free rent multiple times when offered a position that required her to relocate to a different city. This was not part of the typical compensation package, but there is a labor shortage in my region and an experienced property manager (especially in lease up) can pretty much write her own ticket.
Personally, I don't want to live on site again. The residents were very respectful of my free time when the office was closed and emergencies are rare (only 2 after hours calls in the year I lived there).
But living with my customers all the time means that every time I step out my front door, I had my customer-service smile plastered on my face. I felt uncomfortable letting my hair down at home. I was concerned that if I argued with my spouse, had too much to drink, or even had a bad day and was visibly upset in public and wasn't just "Little Mary Sunshine" 24/7 around our residents that I'd risk losing tenants because I wasn't professional 100% of the time I lived on the property.
Maybe not everyone has this level of concern with being seen as acting unprofessional around tenants, but I was constantly worried that by simply living my life, with all it's ups and downs, would get me fired and leave me scrambling to secure housing with extremely short notice (my contract gave me 24 hours to vacate in the case of firing).
Now, I live near the property I manage, but I don't live on site. Should an after hours emergency call come in, I'm just a 10 minute drive from the property and I'm able to feel comfortable and relax at home without worry that I might be bothering my customers and endangering my position by simply having a life.
