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Diversity has become a staple in all industries: it’s clear that having a more diverse team creates a better environment for employees, customers, and overall business growth. Real estate is another industry where huge benefits can be seen from devoting your business to creating a diverse workforce, but building this type of agency must be done carefully.
It’s about more than just learning how to attract and retain a diverse real estate workforce; it’s about creating an inclusive environment where a diverse group of people can genuinely exist and work together towards success.
Today, learn more about going beyond quotas to build authentic, thoughtful diverse workforces in the real estate industry. It won’t happen immediately, but it is possible!
The Benefits Of A Diverse Real Estate Workforce
By definition, diversity is the inclusion of individuals from many backgrounds, nationalities, races, religions, sexual orientations, and experiences. When you bring diversity to a workplace, you create an environment where more valuable, dynamic, and interesting ideas can be generated, pursued, and achieved.
Attracting A Variety Of Real Estate Agents
If you’re ready to build a diverse workforce of real estate agents, it’s essential to start considering how you can attract various agents to your agency. Starting from the ground level, you can build your company stronger by building a diverse team.
1. Build Your Company Culture On Diversity
Before you start hiring team members, it is vital to make sure that your company culture truly embraces diversity. Simply hiring different kinds of individuals is not enough to create true diversity. Every day-to-day business decision must align with diversity. If this exists, potential agents will be more excited about joining.
2. Leave Room For Personal Expression
One way to generate an authentic environment is to give people space to be creative and express themselves. Maintaining professionalism in the real estate workforce no longer means matching pantsuits and strict rules on tattoos or hairstyles. Instead, authentic people that are allowed to express their individuality should be encouraged.
3. Work With Diverse Businesses
Your agency needs to be diverse in more than just its hiring goals to be diverse. Start by showing that you are ready and willing to work with diverse businesses, including minority-owned businesses, in your local communities.
Partner with minority financing companies; find vendors to work with that have diverse workforces. Connect with diverse organizations that align with the type of culture you want to promote at your agency.
As you engage with local businesses and commit to multiculturalism in your community, potential employees will be able to interact with your company and learn more about what you are trying to accomplish. This will bring in more applicants and generate strong ties between your agency and the community you work in.
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4. Consider Training Underqualified Agents
In the past, many real estate agencies were not willing to bring on those that do not have the right skills when they applied. Unfortunately, many minority groups do not have fair and equal access to the necessary training to get started in real estate.
If you want to help improve this situation and build a diverse team, be willing to invest in the training of underqualified agents. Train the next generation of your workforce, and you’ll see the benefits of diversity firsthand.
Retaining Your Real Estate Workforce
Simply hiring a diverse group of real estate agents will not be enough to have a long-term diverse workforce. You will also need to ensure that the agency is prepared to retain individuals with different priorities, needs, life situations, and experiences.
1. Be Prepared To Listen
One of the biggest benefits of a diverse workforce is that each individual’s unique experiences can help the business grow. This means that you will need to be ready to listen to your employees’ ideas.
Collaborative agencies where different individuals can share techniques, best practices, and ideas will be the most successful agencies around. An environment where people listen to each other ensures that you can foster education, innovation, and success among your agents.
2. Cultivate Your Team’s Talents
Consider the talents of specific people on your team, and encourage individuals to pursue those unique talents. A diverse workplace is going to have different kinds of people that work best in different scenarios. Help each individual thrive, and then ensure the entire team learns from that experience.
Think about the specific markets that your agency works in. In the Salt Lake City area, for example, you may have agents that specialize in apartment dwellings who other agents are more knowledgeable about the best single-family homes. Encourage team members to focus on growth in what they are most talented at selling!
3. Address The Real Issues When Possible
When trying to create a genuinely diverse workforce, it is impossible to simply ignore the historical and cultural context of diversity issues. Find ways for your business to address these very real issues in tangible ways when possible.
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Final thoughts
Investing in education or other types of support for local minority groups, for example, is just one way that you can ensure you are doing more than just talk the talk. When your business genuinely supports diversity, it will be easier to maintain a diverse workforce.