Spoiler alert – I'm not here to debate the "where to work from" strategy! Great points on both sides of that conversation, but, alas, that's a conversation for another day.

But for today…what unintended consequences have we seen for those that have implemented a return to office (RTO)? For one of the world's most well-known companies, Amazon, they found out the old cliche "it's not important until you don't have it" rings true for one of my favorite topics—parking!

Amazon recently issued an RTO requirement for thousands of employees, and their return revealed a variety of issues, including team members being directed to different locations, a shortage of desks (the IRS is dealing with this too), a lack of rooms for private video calls and one more that probably missed everyone's bingo card—not enough parking spaces at the offices to meet the demand! Sound familiar?

Many multifamily professionals are familiar with that last challenge, and it typically only requires better parking management (If they have a shortage of front doors or refrigerators for their residents, then their problems are much bigger!). 

The Problems of Parking Shortages

Just as the difficulty of finding parking can negatively impact employee morale and punctuality, it can also affect residents' feelings about their experience living at a community. Those who have to spend an excessive amount of time searching for parking are more likely to have negative feelings about their community, write a negative online review about it and, ultimately, are less likely to renew. And for those of you thinking ahead, yes the downstream effect is that this will likely eventually factor into a property's bottom line.

Back to our friends at Amazon. They were forced to postpone their RTO requirement for many of their employees as the company figures out what to do (hey, new biz opportunity?), but property managers don't have the same luxury. When a parking problem arises, they have to deal with it right then and there. However, there is a way they can automate some or all portions of parking management, providing unused spaces for their residents/guests, quickly deal with scofflaws, and empower residents to handle much of it on their own. 

Parking Automation Solves Space Issues

Many multifamily companies need to evaluate their parking availability and how they're utilizing their spaces. If done manually, this can be overwhelming and time-consuming. However, the introduction of automated parking management has made things easier for owners, operators and onsite teams and it doesn't require the upfront headaches and investment that frequently accompanies technology implementation.

This system can keep track of what parking spaces are temporarily available when a resident moves out or when a reserved space is not needed. These spaces can be made available to residents on an hourly or daily basis. As an added bonus, property teams don't even need to be involved in the reservation process. A user-friendly mobile or desktop app shifts that responsibility to the resident of the guest, allowing them to obtain parking on their terms. These temporary parking spaces can also serve as a source of additional revenue for a property and the entire system can be managed by teams through a convenient dashboard.

When someone parks illegally in a spot on the property, that same app can make it easy for either the resident or management to handle towing and issue a citation to the scofflaw, which can also be customized and automated.

Multifamily doesn't have to face the same challenges as the RTO movement. Unlike Amazon and other companies, the industry has solutions to the challenges and no costly postponements will be necessary. Embracing automated parking technology means a resident won't have to deal with the same issues at their home that they may face heading back to their office, and they'll be that much more grateful. Imagine the positive view they have when they arrive at their community and can immediately pull into a space they reserved easily online after the stress of circling their office parking lot.

Happier residents, a better reputation, more time for teams and more money for owners and operators all add up to a win for all parties involved.