Marquette Management Protects Leasing Consultants in the Field With AlertMedia
Duty of CareProtects lone workers from unnecessary risk of harm to meet the company’s legal and ethical obligations- Employee SafetyRapidly dispatches law enforcement to a leasing consultant’s precise location during an emergency
- Peace of MindGives field-based leasing consultants greater safety and security confidence while touring vacant properties
- RecruitmentAttracts top sales talent by demonstrating Marquette values its people and their well-being
- IndustryReal Estate
- Locations33
- Employees266
- ProductsEmergency Communication Software, Employee Safety Monitoring
- Primary UsesLone Worker Safety, Emergencies
Marquette Management Protects Lone Workers and Fulfills Duty of Care
Operating for over 35 years, Marquette Management is a premier real estate property management company. Marquette provides exceptional apartment living in some of the most desirable neighborhoods in Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, and Texas. Employing over 100 leasing consultants across its vast property portfolio of upscale apartment buildings, its consultants are responsible for showing vacant apartments to prospective renters throughout the day.
To keep its leasing consultants—who often work alone or in small numbers—safe, informed, and connected while on site, Marquette relies on AlertMedia’s emergency communication software and its employee safety monitoring solution. AlertMedia also helps Marquette meet its duty of care obligations and prove its commitment to the safety and well-being of its people, giving it a competitive edge in attracting and retaining top-tier sales talent.
A Proactive Approach to Keeping Leasing Consultants Safe
“Every company has a baseline responsibility to keep its people safe. But if you want to get and keep the best people, you need to prove you care about them and their well-being.”
For all real estate and leasing consultants, meeting strangers and showing them empty homes and apartments is simply part of the job—but it’s not without risk. As lone workers, these consultants are much more vulnerable to crimes like robbery, harassment, and assault than employees in a typical office setting. In fact, a report published by the National Association of Realtors shows that over 40 percent of realtors have been in a situation that made them fear for their personal safety. This is why employee safety is a serious responsibility for all property management organizations like Marquette.
With over 100 remote, field-based leasing consultants spread across a five-state region, ensuring effective emergency communication and lone worker safety was a top priority for Marquette. The company needed a better way to communicate to a dispersed workforce and provide its leasing consultants a quick way to signal for help if a situation were to arise when giving property tours on their own. Given the size and geographically dispersed nature of its workforce, Marquette turned to modern technology to help streamline employee communication and bolster employee confidence while on the job.
Multi-Channel Communication Connects Employees Across the Country
Marquette first began using AlertMedia’s multi-channel emergency communication software to communicate time-sensitive information more effectively to its field-based employees. The system is used to deliver relevant, timely information via text and email to employees about HR-related processes such as payroll and open enrollment, winter weather advisories and warnings, and emergency situations unfolding in or near its properties such as active shooter threats and fire incidents.
Based on the company’s initial success with AlertMedia’s mass communication system and its overwhelmingly positive experience with AlertMedia’s customer success team, Marquette subsequently added AlertMedia’s employee safety monitoring solution to give its leasing consultants confidence in their safety while on apartment tours alone.
Mindy Helms, Marquette’s Director of Human Resources shares, “Our goal was to find a solution that reassured our leasing consultants—and actually had the capacity and technology to keep them safe. AlertMedia is what we needed to provide an additional layer of safety for our consultants.”
24/7 Support Team Provides More Than a Simple Panic Button
With AlertMedia’s easy-to-use employee safety monitoring app—Marquette’s leasing consultants can now quickly signal for help if they become injured or feel their personal safety is threatened. When beginning a property tour, Marquette’s consultants simply schedule a pre-set timed session to ensure their real-time location is being tracked and that they can quickly get help if needed. When the timer expires or the in-app panic button is pushed, AlertMedia’s Monitoring Center receives the distress signal and immediately dispatches law enforcement to the agent’s precise location.
“A simple panic button solution doesn’t cut it when it comes to keeping our leasing consultants safe,” adds Helms. “When you’re talking about an apartment community that is spread out or where there might be hundreds of apartment units, how will police know where to go when they arrive? AlertMedia’s real-time location tracking capabilities, combined with its expert monitoring team, ensure authorities arrive at the scene with all of the critical details they need. AlertMedia’s capabilities go far beyond that of a mere panic button and are essential to improving safety outcomes.”
High Adoption Rate Promotes a Strong Safety Culture
“To ensure compliance and that everyone is protected at all times while working alone, we use AlertMedia’s built-in reporting capabilities to compare employees’ app usage to the tours done each week,” reveals Helms. But while Marquette requires all of its leasing consultants to use AlertMedia to fulfill the company’s duty of care, Marquette’s consultants have also quickly and enthusiastically embraced the solution.
“Our employees feel very protected with AlertMedia and its 24/7 monitoring team in their corner. I’ve even had several employees—especially those that live in large cities where they frequently walk to where they’re going—ask if they can use it when they’re off the clock. And the answer is always yes; we want our employees to feel and be safe no matter the place or time,” says Helms.
The high adoption rate—a result of AlertMedia’s user-friendly design and robust functionality—has helped Marquette accelerate the development of a strong safety culture across the organization. And aside from improving employee safety, security confidence, and peace of mind, Marquette has also realized powerful business results. AlertMedia has helped Marquette fulfill its duty of care, enhance its employer brand to attract top sales talent, and improve employee morale to achieve an exceptionally low turnover rate of 25 percent.
“Every company has a baseline responsibility to keep its people safe. But if you want to get and keep the best people, you need to prove you care about them and their well-being. With AlertMedia, we can keep our people safe and secure while also driving positive business outcomes. It’s truly a win-win,” adds Helms.
