What Would You Do with One Extra Hour?

Most of our markets fell back and got one glorious extra hour of sleep this week. But it got us thinking about the people who never really get a spare minute: the leasing agents, maintenance techs, and on-site managers who keep properties running every minute of every day.

So we asked our LinkedIn community a simple question: If you could give your property team one extra hour every day, where would you want it spent?

Nearly half of the audience picked training. That's more than resident face time and leasing combined, and about five times the vote for work orders!

For One Extra Hour

Why Training Took the Crown

Here's our take: training is the hour everyone needs, and nobody gets.

On a typical day, the urgent stuff wins. A leak at 9 a.m. A walk-in tour at noon. A move-in that somehow needs three signatures and a missing key fob. Training gets pushed to "next week," and next week looks a lot like this week.

But a well-trained team is faster, calmer, and more confident. New hires ramp up sooner, fair housing and safety questions get answered right the first time, and people who feel that the property is investing in them tend to stick around longer (which is a very big deal in an industry where turnover is a constant headache).

In other words, the audience was very clear that an hour of training today pays you back in many hours saved down the road.

The Runners-up Tell a Story Too

Resident face time (26%) came in a strong second. That tracks. Renewals don't happen because of a well-written lease. They happen because residents feel known. A quick hallway chat or a follow-up on last month's maintenance request can be the difference between a renewal and a vacancy.

Touring and leasing (17%) landed third. Filling units keeps the lights on, so we're not surprised it made a solid showing.

Knocking out work orders (9%) brought up the rear. That doesn't mean maintenance isn't important. (Ask anyone whose AC quit in July!) It might just mean teams see the work order backlog as a staffing challenge, not a time-of-day challenge. And honestly? That's a problem we love to solve.

Finding the Extra Hour, Every Day

We can't add a 25th hour to the clock (believe us, we'd love to), but we can help you build in extra time for your team!

When the right people are covering the front desk, the make-readies, and the grounds, your core team finally gets room to breathe. That includes time to train new team members, the opportunity to linger a little longer with the residents, and the capacity to do the work that actually moves the needle.

For almost 40 years, BG Staffing has matched property teams with skilled, ready-to-work talent in markets across the country. So when you need an extra set of hands to give your crew some time back, we're here. Let's talk.