Condo Media - March 2020 - 40

Hire Workers or Outsource the Work?
If you expect personal
commitment to the
association and
immediate response to
the community's needs,
you will probably be
happier with workers
you employ than with
the workers vendors
provide.

Control requires supervision.
And supervision is time-consuming.
The time managers or association board members must spend
overseeing maintenance workers or
cleaning crews is time drained from
other tasks. "That is a major consideration," McNabb agrees. "It is not
necessarily a pro or a con, but it is
something boards should consider."
Having employees can be desirable, but hiring and retaining
them can be difficult. The degree
of difficulty depends on labor market
conditions. With unemployment
currently at a record low, Brawley
notes, finding workers can be very
difficult indeed, and keeping them,
when demand for workers is so high,
can be challenging. When one of two
association employees at one association accepted a job elsewhere,
Brawley says, "it took the board several months to find a replacement."

If you're outsourcing work, she
notes, maintaining staffing levels
is the vendor's responsibility. The
vendor also provides staffing backup
when workers are ill. If the association is the employer and one
member of a three-person cleaning
crew becomes ill, "what do you do?"
Brawley asks. "Do you ask the others
to pick up the slack? Do you leave
some work undone? Do you hire a
temporary replacement?" An employee who needs an extended leave
for health or other reasons may be
entitled to reclaim the job when he/
she returns, Brawley notes. "What
do you do in the interim?"
When Brawley calculates the
advantages and disadvantages of
employees and outsourced services,
she comes down firmly on the side of
outsourcing. Jones reaches the opposite conclusion. For many associations, she is convinced, the advantages of employing workers outweigh

PMDP IN OUR AREA
Designed exclusively for
community association managers,
CAI's Professional Management
Development Program (PMDP)
features the most comprehensive
education curriculum for
professional managers seeking to
increase their skills, knowledge, and
job opportunities. Our chapter is
hosting this course soon!

March 20, 2020
Hartford, CT

CONDOMEDIA March 2020

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Association Communications
Get key communication techniques to improve resident and board relations.
This course offers strategies that will benefit both new and experienced managers and provide the skills to communicate more effectively with owners and volunteers. You'll learn the basics of good customer service and how to effectively
handle complaints, write newsletters and reports, and manage public relations.
Topics include:
z Practicing effective communication skills
z Identifying and responding to owner needs
z Addressing complaints and diffusing anger
z Managing public relations
z Preparing annual meeting notices, management reports, and rule violation
letters
»Save $25 when you register for the classroom course four weeks
in advance. Visit www.caionline.org/m202 to register.

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CAICareerCenter.

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FRONTSTEPS
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Condo Media - March 2020

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