Happy 2022, everyone!
My New Year's Eve was pretty tame this year. Stayed in, watched various rockin' New Year's Eve celebrations on TV and let my kindergartener and second grader stay up for the ball drop, ensuring that they were monsters for the rest of the weekend.
But I do remember when I used to go to New Year's parties! And parties in general. Whenever I hosted, it was a lot of fun. Until it got late, most people had left, and there were still one or two people who would not. Get. The. Hint. They would stay there chatting, despite me and my husband starting to clean up. And loading the dishwasher. And theatrically yawning like some goofy teen trying to smoothly put their arm around their date at the movies.
Some apartment trends also refuse to leave after they're no longer useful/popular/needed. So, in 2022, let's resolve to let these property management trends die.
Not allowing visible piercings or tattoos for resident-facing employees. Some more conservative areas might still restrict this. But tons of people have tattoos now. According to statista.com, more than a quarter of the people in the country have a tattoo. In New Zealand, they just had the first ever anchor with a traditional Māori chin tattoo. Let's let our leasing staff express themselves. (And, with the current talent shortage/Great Recession, do we really want to limit our staffing pools over something like that?) One caveat is not allowing anything offensive, of course.
Not taking sick days or personal days. Yes, you're not going to come in with Covid. (Please, please, don't.) But American work culture, and especially for those in the apartment industry, is to pull yourself up by the bootstraps and work, work, work, no matter what, because the company will fall down without you. But it won't. Employees should be encouraged to take their sick days if they're not feeling well. They won't be working at their best and have the chance to spread their sickness to residents and other staff. And employees should also be encouraged to take personal days! They're there to be taken, and it can really help with their mental health and to avoid burnout.