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— Property Management Quarterly — November 2015
I
n the years since 1963, when
President John F. Kennedy signed
the Equal Pay Act, the education
and experience gap for women
has been steadily closing. More
women are educated, and entering
and staying in the workforce. But for
all of our progress, the pay gap has
not changed much in the last 10 years.
According to CNN Money, males out-
earn their female counterparts by 22
percent on average.
When I find myself asking why this
gap still exists (and that the percent-
age difference is so staggering), I am
reminded that, as a whole, women
tend to be less aggressive in their
career choices, in negotiating salaries
and in asking for raises. Are women
hardwired to seek out positions that
are somehow less weighty than those
that are “typically” male and usually
pay more?
According to the Center for Ameri-
can Progress, “One of the largest driv-
ing factors of the gender wage gap
is the fact that men and women, on
average, work in different industries
and occupations.”
I began my career in commercial
real estate, which is dominated by
men who buy, sell, build and lease
buildings.What I found interesting,
however, is that those same men gen-
erally hire women to manage those
buildings.
I realize it is taboo to say such
things, but because I too have followed
“the safer path” throughout my career,
I can speak from experience. The high-
risk/high-reward model was outside
my comfort zone, but I knew in order
to get to the next level I needed to
take a risk.
When I finally
did, I was relieved
to find a soft land-
ing at BLDG Man-
agement, where I
have the opportu-
nity to develop our
business services
division. This divi-
sion was designed
to operate as a
resource center for
our employees and
includes our human
resources depart-
ment.
Fortunately, I took
this leap of faith at the right moment
and have been a part of explosive
industry growth. I found that many
professionals, due in large part to the
market growth, are migrating to prop-
erty management.
“The office sector was the most pop-
ular among applicants in 2014, 13.7
percent of all applications,” according
to the 2014 Job Barometer. “Multifam-
ily jobs came in second with 11.8
percent. Lagging behind in popular-
ity, retail (6.6 percent), industrial (4.3
percent), and single-family openings
were nevertheless toward the top of
the charts in terms of applications
received.”
As a result of this tremendous
growth, I’ve hired a lot of amazing
people, men and women alike. As I’m
sure many of my peers would attest,
men and women gravitate to certain
positions.Women lean toward leas-
ing, housekeeping and administra-
tive openings, while men seek out
maintenance, groundskeeping and
accounting positions.With that said,
I believe women have found property
management to be a platform for pro-
fessional and financial success and
an industry in which they can wear
their leadership hats proudly. They
can marry their business mind with
their nurturing nature – a trait that is
essential to great customer service – in
order to achieve great things. Property
management, unlike commercial bro-
kerage, has long been a female-dom-
inated industry and, as such, I believe
industry leaders have a responsibility
to take the next step in supporting
these earners by offering greater ben-
efits that will keep them engaged in
the workforce longer and support a
work-life balance that will keep them
focused on growth and the long-term
opportunities available to them.
In recent years, there has been a
push to engage employees at all levels
across all industries. Google and Ama-
zon began offering more robust ben-
efit packages, which include extended
leaves of absence. Recognizing the
value women bring to the workplace
is fundamental in taking the neces-
sary steps to retaining their talent.
For us, this means a paid family
leave program, flexibility and promo-
tion from within. Also, we seek to
Perspective
Hailey Thiel
Director of
business
services, BLDG
Management,
Denver
Source: BOMA International
The popularity of the different sectors for real estate management applicants in 2014.
