(Left to right) Marty Copsey, President and COO, MacKenzie Contracting Company; Holly Haseltine, Manager, Lease Administration, MCB Real Estate; Johnny Black, Managing Partner, Chesapeake Search Partners.
Companies invest considerable resources to recruit and train all sections of their workforce, so it is imperative to maintain challenging, comfortable, and rewarding business environments to protect their employee assets.
Professionals engaged in the commercial real estate sector, in return, are increasingly seeking situations where they can work on high-profile projects and receive mentorship from best-in-class professionals.
Johnny Black, Managing Partner, Chesapeake Search Partners; Marty Copsey, President and COO, MacKenzie Contracting Company and Holly Haseltine, Manager, Lease Administration, MCB Real Estate provided their insights on the importance of workplace culture, enduring challenges in uncovering prime talent, and diversity issues.
Ping-pong and foosball
Johnny Black: Landlords are activating their common spaces with game tables and kegerators to attract office leases and tenants, in turn, are leaning on developers and owners to make investments that can help lure their employees back into the office. But human capital is the most vital piece of the equation. People are the new amenity. It directly falls on the organization to create and preserve a corporate culture that is empowering, non-toxic and rewarding — both financially and professionally. Many organizations are making recreational and social investments but employees, more than anything else, want to feel confident that companies “have their back.” The amenities you can touch and interact with look nice and new, but employees crave respect, challenging assignments, and the opportunity to work with professionals that can advance their careers.
Marty Copsey: The MacKenzie Companies prioritize maintaining a family-like environment over using amenities like ping-pong and foosball tables to motivate employees. While those amenities are great, they are not our focus. Like other companies, we believe in a family-first approach. We expect our employees to work hard and hustle every day, but if they need to take care of a sick child or an elderly parent, we want them to address that first. You cannot be fully present at work if personal issues are weighing on your mind. To foster employee camaraderie, we recently renovated our lunchroom and added televisions. We believe it is important for our team to gather during lunch, chat, and catch up.
Holly Haseltine: MCB Real Estate has been growing at an astronomical rate over the past few years, and we continually attract new talent interested in working on our high-profile projects. This influx of new staff, many with experience working with our peer groups, has placed greater importance on our workplace culture. It is a point of emphasis to make every employee feel valued, empowered and knowing that their work is theirs. We have installed a tremendously effective support system and make sure our team is not micro-managed. MCB Real Estate organized its first-ever town hall meeting which provided a forum for questions and input. We recently participated in a clean-up project at Solo Gibbs Park to help build teamwork and cohesiveness.
Employee diversity
Johnny: It has been extremely gratifying to witness the continued diversification in the commercial real estate industry and dispel the notion that the industry is an “old boys club.” This has occurred in other industries, but probably took a bit longer with commercial real estate. There are many highly successful diverse professionals in our midst, and their success has paved the way for more to follow in their footsteps. Middle and high school students, particularly those in underserved areas, need to be educated about the career opportunities available in real estate and construction. Some organizations say they need to correct their diversity gap, but you cannot simply snap your fingers and make that happen. Skills remain the most important qualification, but the progress in diversity is great to see.
Marty: It is critical to remain unbiased when making employee hiring decisions. Over the past several years, our construction division has attracted a significant number of women, particularly those working on project sites, because they are the right fit for the job. On the brokerage side, we have emphasized hiring young professionals to replace many of our older workforce that have decided to retire. This has led to hiring a more diverse pool of talent, though it was not necessarily intentional. At the end of the day, our goal is always to hire the best candidate for the job.
Holly: MCB Real Estate has been a transformative company in many ways and that is clearly evident in our hiring practices, with many of our recent leadership positions being filled by diverse professionals. We look at character, personality traits and related experience above all else. New employees need to demonstrate an initiative to complete the job, be a creative problem-solver and a team player. In many situations, we need to balance the choice of bringing in a high-priced professional with solid experience, with the selection of a young person that will need training and nurturing.
Unavoidable poaching
Johnny: The Baltimore commercial real estate industry is known for its cohesiveness and congeniality but sometimes that comes with a cost. We never want to put our clients in a tough situation in which we think we are poaching someone from a competitor. But it is also important to realize that if an individual is presented with a new opportunity for career advancement and better compensation, everyone should be happy for the individual and not stand in their way.
Marty: We live and work in “Smalltimore,” where everyone knows everyone. Firms have split off, individuals have started their own companies, and there is a lot of unavoidable crossover. We desperately try not to poach from our competitors because we do not want the same to happen to us, so we invest considerable resources into hiring, training, and teaching the MacKenzie way of doing things, which can take up to six months of onboarding.
Holly: The nature of the commercial real estate industry dictates that people have long-term relationships with peer group companies. I am now coworkers with professionals that I previously worked with more than 10 years ago. In some instances, peers are reaching out to us directly because they want to be part of the company, and we have a team of experienced professionals.
Creative recruitment tactics
Johnny: The employment market has shrunk considerably, and that is taking its toll on recruiting qualified people ranging from early associates to the C-suite. Referrals are not what they used to be, so we need to become creative. In some cases, we are seeing strong candidates currently working in one particular capacity that could make the transition to a different type of position. This requires a bit of selling on our part but we have been successful. We are careful to watch for red flags such as employees being primarily motivated by compensation or working from home.
Marty: We are having trouble filling niche positions, such as a construction project manager with extensive healthcare experience. Advertising has become less effective, as the resumes we receive do not match the qualifications we need. At times, we have thought we have found the perfect candidate based on their resume, but their actual performance does not meet our expectations. The solution, in many cases, is to take raw talent and mold them in the perfect employee.
Holly: We are experiencing situations in which strong candidates are comfortable with their current position and do not wish to start over with a new company. We are reaching into colleges such as the University of Baltimore Law School, and working with faculty to identify candidates to fill open positions. We are looking for those with a solid work ethic and are willing to be trained. This has led to some success and, across the board, we are asking our employees to keep their eyes and ears open for new employees while networking.