Mental Health and the Property Manager

September 14 marked RU OK? Day in Australia: an initiative focused on raising awareness about mental illness experienced in silence by so many in our community – with the overarching message being, ‘it’s okay not to be okay’.

This got the hastings+co team to thinking: how is the property management community taking steps to care for themselves? In the fast-paced, emotionally fraught daily real estate race – are you dedicating enough time to self-care rituals? In recent years, meditation, ‘time out’ and mindfulness have taken centre stage in the ‘what’s hot’ arena. But what if meditation isn’t for you, and attempting to reach a state of zen feels like an uphill battle? The good news is – there’s actually several alternatives to meditation that will offer you the same benefits of relaxation.

2011’s Census revealed that anxiety and depression concern many estate agents and property managers. Further studies from the Coroners Court of Victoria discovered that the suicide rate among real estate employees was 13.4 per 100,000 – a disturbing rate higher than that of the police force. Furthermore, Victoria was identified as a ‘high risk State’, meaning Victorian agents and property managers are among the most stressed in the country.

In the course of their roles, it’s not uncommon for property managers to be abused, threatened or feel generally victimized by their tenants and landlords – in some cases, they experience bullying at the hands of their colleagues. Landlords and tenants can be very passionate, stressed or desperate in their communications – and the role of a property manager involves intervening in sometimes difficult situations involving conflict, divorce and death. Managing the emotions of stressed individuals and working through tough circumstances put property managers at heightened risk of anxiety and depression.  If you feel stressed and anxious in your work as a property manager, know that you’re not alone.

So what can be done about this dangerous level of stress experienced by property managers? Some estate agencies have put measures in place to ensure their staff have access to counsellors and psychologists to help them work through mental health concerns. If you feel comfortable doing so, speak to your boss or manager about any issues of overwhelm, anxiety or depression you are experiencing – you might just change the culture surrounding mental health in your business by helping yourself!

Our practical recommendation is that you take steps to care for your own mental wellbeing on a weekly basis. Property management’s stressors are unlikely to change – from the angry tenant demanding their bond back to the landlord who won’t drop their rent or repair a hot water service. What can change if your response to these circumstances. Improve your resilience by:

• Working smarter, not harder. Keep an eye on your overtime hours: if you feel like your workload is regularly unachievable, speak to your manager about reducing your portfolio to a more manageable size.
• Stay connected with your community of support: even if you’re feeling tired, don’t isolate yourself from friends and family.
• Get those good vibes going! Ensure you have an outlet for personal expression – whether that’s the gym, yoga, walking, boxing, massage, listening to podcasts or aromatherapy.
• Make sure to reach out for professional assistance if you feel overwhelmed in the workplace or at home.
• Where possible,  have a week of leave every three months.

It’s also important to keep an eye out for your colleagues. If you notice something isn’t right with a fellow property manager or agent, find a time to ask them if they’re ok – offer your help if you can. Often a simple chat can give an anxious person the sense of support they need to carry on. In closing – if you’re struggling with your mental health at work, don’t be afraid to speak up. Visit RU OK? for more information on how to offer help and ask for it yourself, and reach out if you or someone you know is at risk.

Reboot to LEVEL UP!

You’re nearly there – after a year of toil and working hard, holidays are in sight. If you’re a property manager, I know that you’re likely to have a very busy early January of leasing to come – but there’s hopefully at least a week or so of peace and respite from the world coming up, too. Today’s hastings + co blog is about rebooting and levelling-up … and by that, we don’t mean turning the computer on and off after it freezes.

Rebooting to ‘level up’ is essential when you’ve got heavy responsibilities on your shoulders. If the mere suggestion of ‘computer says no’ is enough to have you punching the keyboard hard to find Grumpycat memes, you’re in need of your own personal reboot to level up. Rewards of ‘le seasonal reboot’ as we’ll call it, include:

Who wouldn’t benefit from these badboys (and a cup of joe)? The only way you’ll achieve this level up is to relax and take time away from work. I can see you rolling your eyes now – but truly, you know it’s real talk. Consider these factoids before applying for your holidays:

Sleeping Beauty

How are you sleeping, Princess? Stress and a lack of exercise can contribute to poor sleeping habits which impact on your life in an immediate and direct way. Deep, regular sleep gives us the benefit of good mental health, physical health, enhanced enjoyment of life and safety. When you sleep, your brain has the chance to regenerate, forming new pathways to help you remember and learn information. Without sleep, you’re more likely to have poor relationships with others and reduced performance across all facets of your life. You’re also more likely to have chronic health problems, and develop weight-gain issues. So – use the holidays to reboot that sleep demon needing a good snooze in you. Catch up on your sleep debt with early nights and allow yourself the blissful priority of recuperation.

Mind Matters

So much of our ability to cope with the rigors of a packed week in property management relies on our own mental resources. In any week, you’ve got to deal with the technicalities of the role (i.e. accurate trust accounting, database management, letting, meetings with your team) in addition to emotional interactions with happy or displeased landlords and tenants. “For every action, there is a reaction” is a useful way of thinking about the mental energy you use during each week – before you know it, the well of strength could be run dry. One way of stilling your mind and building up your mental resources is through meditation or visualisation. Far from being the domain of hippies or new-agers, leading sportspeople and entrepreneurs use visualisation as a form of mental rehearsal to calm and prepare themselves for real-world action. A psychological and physical study on weightlifters (stay with me….) showed that similar brain patterns were achieved both when the weightlifter was in action, and when he was visualising his action. Improved physical and mental performance is the result of both visualising and enacting in the real world. Imagine what routine meditation or visualisation could do for you at home and at work! Those tough negotiations, the difficult conversations – visualising could help make the ‘tuff stuff’ much less taxing, leaving you with the mental energy to cope emotionally with the busy year to come.

LEVEL UP!