Executive Summary 

The backbone of the rental housing industry is comprised of maintenance professionals, who often have the most direct contact with the residents they serve. However, their concerns and motivating factors have not been fully heard until now. The National Apartment Association (NAA) has undertaken the project to gather insights from maintenance professionals across the country holding various positions. The goal is to uncover what drives them in their roles, what attracts them to positions and how we can retain them in the industry. By understanding these key concepts, NAA aims to provide statistical information on one of the most pivotal roles in the rental housing industry. Understanding the challenges and priorities of maintenance professionals will enable us to better meet and exceed their expectations, just as they do for residents on a daily basis.   

The topics of the survey include:   

• Analyzing what is important when applying to maintenance positions in the industry.   
• How professionals feel about being on-call.   
• What are the biggest pain points regarding the work they do?  
• What is going to keep maintenance professionals in the industry?   
• Do current maintenance professionals expect to stay in the industry?   

Top Challenges   

When maintenance professionals are looking for new positions, compensation and benefits are at the top of their list, receiving an 87% very important rating. Next on the list, they are concerned with career advancement at 80%. But this is not surprising. During a conversation with maintenance professionals on NAA’s Apartmentcast, they expressed how hard it was to find senior management positions, as they are very rare. It is hard to advance past a maintenance supervisor in today’s market. Rounding out the top three most important considerations when looking for a new position is training opportunities at 70%. The National Apartment Association Education Institute (NAAEI) looks to fill these gaps with the Certificate for Apartment Maintenance Technicians (CAMT), Certificate for Apartment Maintenance Technicians + Energy Efficiency (CAMT+E), Certificate for Apartment Maintenance Technicians + Leadership (CAMT+L). With 62% of respondents being aware of these tools, they can help professionals advance in their careers and learn vital skills in a hands-on learning environment.   

On-call has been a hard topic to address. In the industry, it is widely known it can be difficult for team members when they are on-call, and this affects their families. The survey found that 58% of team members surveyed felt neutral or positive about being on-call. This may be the most surprising finding.   

Taking this a step further, when asked what management companies can do to help team members on-call, better compensation was the number one option at 64% with strict after-hours call policies right behind with half the votes. This is an easy lift for management companies, which would help team members and have other benefits if established.   

Career advancement comes up as the biggest pain point regarding current positions within the industry. As maintenance professionals complete some of the most important work in a community, they struggle with seeing the path forward in career advancement. This sentiment is felt throughout the entire survey as something the industry needs to focus on to retain the talent it already has.   

Finally, when asked what was going to keep professionals at their current company, compensation and benefits once again rose to the top with 77% gauging both being very important. Company culture came in as the second concern, earning 65% of the vote with career advancement ranking third, with roughly the same percentage of votes, at 64%. We need to take notice that company culture can be a huge benefit to team members. This, once again, can be something companies highlight when attracting talent and keeping the talent they already have.   

With all this data there is good news. Seventy-four percent are very likely to stay in the industry. With all the challenges noted by team members, they still want to stay in the industry and provide the experience and expertise they bring. Let us listen to them and help ease their concerns as they provide critical services to the industry. 

Tiana Heath is NAAEI’s Senior Manager of Industry Relations.