Addressing Property Managers' Mental Health Issues through Effective Stress Management

Acknowledging some of the issues members have raised, ARMA & IRPM commissioned a Wellbeing Survey in February 2022, the results of which illustrated the multiple challenges and complexities residential property managers face.

The stress of daily struggles while attempting to deliver the best possible customer service understandably has a serious impact on their overall mental well-being. The often unreasonable behavior of leaseholders, clients, and residents has been noted as the biggest challenge for residential agents. Practical solutions must be found to address these issues and help residential agents improve their mental health and well-being.

Striking observations of the Wellbeing Survey

Striking observations of the Wellbeing Survey

The main aim of the Wellbeing Survey was to identify broad measures to build flexibility and enhance the mental health of residential agents. One key resource to achieve these objectives is the Unreasonable Behaviour Policy to deal with abuse. The following are a few observations of the Wellbeing Survey:

· Over 90 percent of respondents reported verbal abuse

· A rise in financial pressures

· Over 70 percent of residential agents adopted lifestyle changes

· Respondents dealing with the building safety measures are experiencing maximum health risks

· Over 64 percent of respondents complained about their mental health

Protecting property management staff from unreasonable behavior

Protecting property management staff from unreasonable behavior

Property management staff strive to provide excellent customer service across all customer segments. They often come across difficult clients who understandably have an emotional attachment to the property besides their significant investment.

However, any form of unacceptable behavior is unreasonable behavior. ARMA & IRPM have outlined a few examples of what they deem to be unreasonable behavior:

· Being unreasonably persistent – for example, ringing frequently to raise points already addressed; sending voluminous repetitive or irrelevant emails or letters; (Note that there is no set period for being unreasonably persistent as the nature of the persistence will inevitably vary. However, depending on the circumstances, we will consider whether a person is being unreasonably persistent by assessing the frequency of persistence throughout 3, 6, and 12 months).

· Rudeness – swearing (generally or directed at a member of staff), persistent interruption, name-calling, or general discourtesy.

· Anger – in volume or tone of voice, such as shouting.

· Aggressive behavior – threats of physical harm to person(s) or property; behavior which indicates that physical harm to person(s) or property is imminent or actual physical aggression. 04.05.22

· Insulting or disparaging remarks or comments – especially on the grounds of an individual’s sex, marital status, sexual orientation, disability, race, color, national or ethnic origin, religion, belief, or age

· Inflammatory remarks or personal remarks directed at staff

The Unreasonable Behaviour policy recommends multiple strategies for dealing with such unacceptable behavior. These recommendations include ending or limiting contact where possible and reporting matters to authorities to involve police or other relevant services.

Managing stress in day-to-day situations

Managing stress in day-to-day situations

The demands and pressures of the profession to deliver an appropriate service, despite the usual difficulties, can be excruciating. Having a stress mechanism can help people deal with pressure through motivation for actions. Up to a certain level, stress has a positive effect, but beyond that, it can affect the person's mental health and physical well-being.

The negative impact of stress is more likely because of the daily pressures rather than a single major event. Identifying the causes of daily stress and improving resilience for managing stress on a professional or personal level can help fight negative stress so that people don’t resort to unhealthy habits like smoking or drinking to mitigate stress, only causing further severe damage to their health

Daily stress management is vital to becoming flexible and achieving mental and physical well-being; Making conscious efforts to change our stress response is essential.

The takeaway

Mindfulness and positive thinking

Most individuals forget to live in the moment by constantly worrying about the future or dwelling in the past. Being consciously aware of one's thoughts and appreciating every moment can help improve one's mental well-being. Worry can be detrimental to mental health, and awareness of the present moment can effectively reduce overthinking which can lead to a build-up of stress.

Another helpful way of dealing with the removal of negative thoughts is engaging in meditation

Identifying thoughts leading to happiness and those causing negative stress can be an ideal way to manage daily stress for better mental health. One can change the outlook from negative to positive by practicing positive self-talk.

The takeaway

The takeaway

Property Management has always been a relatively stressful career to undertake and while the world is waking up to the struggles of mental health and the adage ‘in a world where you can be anything, be kind’ is banded around, this more often than not seems not to apply to the Property Management Industry. In the past few years with more and more health and safety legislation being created, and Service Charges being forced higher to allow for these additional costs, Residential Property Managers face the sharp end of the tongue at best, the face-to-face confrontation at worst, as a result of perceived apathy for these rising costs. Add Brexit (higher costs for materials and workforce) Covid-19 (more people working from home) and the cost of living crisis (financial) to the mix, and residents understandably, get angrier and angrier at any additional cost levied on them, with Property Management and thus Property Managers taking the brunt of this frustration. Having to try and do their best to provide a service at the best possible cost, with an immediate turnaround while adhering to all health and safety legislation, and under intense pressure from clients and residents who now have every way to communicate their frustration (email, phone, text, Facebook, Twitter even Tik Tok!) it is no surprise that stress is rife within the industry. The well-being survey goes someway toward recognizing some of these common factors and providing recommendations on how to deal with them.

From a senior management point of view, promoting mental health and well-being to staff shows you are concerned not only from a ‘work’ point of view but also from a ‘people’ point of view. One of the best ways this can be done is by setting up a committee with staff representatives to enable managers to understand the needs of their staff and how best they may be able to assist. Peer to Peer communication and buy-in is much more successful and provides real insight for managers to affect change where possible. However, Property Managers must take heed of the recommendations that have come out of the survey as while the best managers understand and accept that building resilience is vital for improving mental health, the onus must be on individuals to practice self-help.