Summer is right around the corner, and you know what that means: Summer vacation. Not enough businesses are willing to admit that vacation time is crucial.
It's not just a luxury or a perk — it's a necessity. Ensuring that your staff members are mentally healthy and can separate work from play goes a long way toward business success.
That said, vacations can be challenging, especially in community association management, where managers are heavily involved in the HOAs and condos they manage. When you're hands-on, it can be hard to go hands-off, even for a much-needed long weekend.
Thinking of Adding a Global Flair to Your Local Team?
With fewer and fewer CAMs entering the industry every year, relying on coworkers to cover all responsibilities might be impossible. The trick to successfully navigating HOA manager vacations is to plan ahead.
Get Ahead to Stay Ahead
It all starts with a plan. You know that HOA manager vacation time will be challenging for your business operations, but, as we said, it is a huge component of overall success. Taking steps in advance will set that success in motion before the vacation requests come. Here are a few ways to give your team the sharpest edge this summer (and for all future vacation seasons)!
Tasks That You Can Delegate to a Virtual Employee
Keep Everything Updated
When managing communities, your databases are your keys to success. This covers everything from contacts within each community, like board and committee members, to vendor contacts for your technology and payment providers to internal team contact information. Anything can go wrong at any time, and somehow, it always happens when someone takes a day off, doesn't it? Having those files in order will keep everyone on the same page and make any fires that crop up simple to extinguish. Communication is a huge part of the task load someone will be shouldering during an HOA manager vacation. Keep your records, files, and contact information updated to streamline task delegation when the time comes.
Set Up Processes in Advance
The management company shouldn't be the only team keeping things in order to prep for vacation time. Managers should work with their boards (or any relevant points of contact in their communities) to establish processes to be used in their absence. This can include anything from general day-to-day outreach and communication to specific emails or notices regarding community activities, website or user portal maintenance, or vendor communication. Regardless of the task load, collaborating with the communities that will be seeing a new face for a few days and hearing from someone other than their standard point of contact can be a game changer when it comes time for HOA manager vacation time.
Delegate to the Right People
It's not enough to know that you'll need coverage for HOA manager vacation outages — it's essential to determine who covers whom and which tasks end up on each plate. Fellow CAM managers should be handling on-site needs like overseeing community meetings and recording violations. But off-site tasks can gum up the work for them. Instead of tasking managers with both sets of responsibilities, generate a list of off-site tasks like those communications we mentioned. Hand them off to administrative team members who will be more available to answer emails or phone calls quickly.
Break Out the Beach Chairs!
Vacation is not a dirty word, and it doesn't have to be a headache. Sure, your team of managers can handle a lot, but they shouldn't have to handle it all. Equipping them with the tools and processes they need to succeed guarantees everyone a worry-free vacation.
HireSmart VE Is Always Available for His Family and Profession
A virtual employee (VE) could be a useful tool in your toolbox. Bringing on a person dedicated to filling in the gaps during an HOA manager's vacation can be the difference between treading water and breezing through the vacation season.
For more information about how a VE can support your community association management company for vacations and beyond, click here and schedule your free 30-minute consultation.
Cheers!
Anne + The HireSmart Team
Co-Founder – HireSmart Companies
Direct: 678-389-9929
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