Survey Says CRE Industry Still Lacks Millennial Diversity

Bradford’s Kyle Espie

Part 3 of 3 According to a recent Gallup survey and analysis published in May 2016 in the Harvard Business Review , millennials in the brokerage business want an opportunity to learn and grow, they judge their jobs on the quality of the manager and quality of the management, among other considerations, including opportunity for advancement and overall compensation. “Millennials fundamentally think about their role as a stepping stone and a growth opportunity,” wrote Brandon Rigoni, Ph.D. and Amy Adkins in the Harvard publication. In these respects, CORFAC International’s Millennials share many of the same workplace values as young career-builders in other industries, including technology. Where the brokers differ, perhaps, with young professionals in other fields, has more to do with their chosen industry—commercial real estate brokerage services, than their respective personalities. Starting out as a broker takes a lot of hours and for most people in a commission-based business, regardless of the industry, they have a motivating factor that others in salaried positions do not—necessity. Even so, there was a considerable range in replies with some of the Millennials erring toward the “work-life” balance people talk about while others seem to be putting their careers clearly at the forefront of their lives. The survey asked young CORFAC brokers to estimate the number of hours they work weekly and if they worked weekends. The estimates ranged from 40 to Lucas Gaughan’s high of 70 (he’s with Gaughan Companies/CORFAC International in Minneapolis, MN) with common answers coming in ranges (45-50, 50-55, and 55-60) and the average among all respondents was 47 hours per week. Some of the CORFAC Millennials really do follow the mantra of work-life balance as about half said they never worked weekends or “rarely” and “sometimes, if necessary,” did. Old school brokers that read this story will be pleased to learn that about half of the Millennials that responded to this survey regularly work weekends. “Absolutely, I try to work mornings and have the evenings to myself and my dog,” wrote Eric Smith (Voit Real Estate Services/CORFAC International, Anaheim CA). Bradford’s Kyle Espie was one of the more ambitious young professionals to have responded to the survey, and he routinely hits the ground running on Mondays: “I typically work two or three Sundays a month and average 4-6 hours each weekend day I work,” he replied. The survey made it clear that the future of the brokerage industry is in good hands as this young crop of professionals exhibited similar levels of intelligence, education, passion, motivation and strategic thinking as previous generations of commercial real estate brokerage professionals. If there is a downside from what the survey revealed about Millennials in the commercial brokerage industry, it is that the industry still lacks diversity and with some exceptions, the industry is not doing enough to attract women and people from different ethnic backgrounds. Virtually 100% of the responses to the CORFAC survey were from men and all but one of them is white.