Culture Fuels Talent at Cardinal Group Companies
Author: Nick Morrison – Director for Talent Acquisition
A fortified company culture is a key driver of talent development, particularly in the evolving and competitive multifamily real estate industry. At Cardinal Group Companies, the emphasis on growth, collaboration, and a shared commitment to our team members play a critical role in attracting and developing our talent. It’s our culture, though, that keeps our talent aligned and deft to the needs of the thousands of people who come to our workplace to find the safety and comfort of a home.
Beyond competitive salaries and benefits, our culture thrives on the common beliefs that foster innovation, sustainable teams, and long-term career growth. We choose to embrace evolution in the industry through the lens of our culture and make that culture accessible to anyone anywhere, regardless of lines being drawn in the sand around social issues like DEI and social equality. A person seeking an apartment home finds the same experience with Cardinal team members, regardless of region, asset class, or rental rate. It’s who we are. Just check out our top 1% DEI rankings on Glassdoor.
A Culture That Sparks Growth
Organizations like Cardinal that prioritize culture as a foundation for professional development create an environment where diverse life experiences and perspectives become business assets. By supplementing human experience with structured learning programs, mentorship initiatives, and leadership development opportunities, Cardinal Group equips team members with the tools to build genuine communities. This bridges the gap between a business and creates memorable experiences for those we provide homes to.
This focus aligns with broader industry trends. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the demand for training and development specialists is expected to grow 12% from 2023 to 2033, outpacing many other industries. As the multifamily sector faces increased competition and evolving resident expectations, investing in culturally aligned teachers and mentors has become essential to meeting demand.
At Cardinal, we take a proactive approach. Our structured learning programs, combined with a culture of continuous improvement, ensure that team members remain engaged, agile, and empowered to drive personal and organizational success. The result? A workforce that is well-trained and deeply connected to the communities they serve.
Opportunities That Lead to Careers
A well-defined and strictly integrated culture must include clear career progression opportunities. When tempered with thoughtful performance management, we guide the people who come to work each day toward their highest potential rather than a mold of a typical path. In other words, we guide our people to careers at Cardinal, not just to jobs. Our culture demands it.
Why, again, is culture a significant piece of the Cardinal story? We live in a world where the median tenure of wage and salary workers with their current employer was 3.9 years in January 2024, the lowest since 2002 (BLS). Multifamily is not exempt here by any means. NAA Reported in calendar year 2023 (the most current reporting) an average 33% attrition rate overall in multifamily. A nearly 40% attrition leads that metric with on-site maintenance, nearly doubling the National rate of just over 20%. The cost to operators of that combined attrition is an astonishing $4k per resident (MultifamilyDive), creating operational liability more in line with a CapEx project than a mere operational nuisance. By offering clear career progression and the means to get there, we correct for the liabilities we are forecasted to encounter through increased competition and potential legislative fallouts in the coming years.
Where’s the proof that meaningful career progression is the key to unlocking stability on-site? Despite being in line with NAA’s attrition rates, Cardinal saw a 22% internal promotion rate versus the national 9.3% average (BLS) in 2024. We led with actions guided by our cultural demand for embracing change and new ideas for meaningful internal mobility, allowing our teammates to transition into leadership and mentorship roles that align with their true strengths and not just because it was their “turn.”
The future of culture-based teams:
Focus on internal mobility is crucial. BLS data from November 2024 shows substantial growth in hospitality (53k jobs added) and construction (114k jobs), cutting well into the available talent pool for multifamily. The sheer volume of jobs being added, scaled against the existing pool of available talent, highlights a paradox in whom and how we hire for our long-term people-facing roles. Today’s belief that tenured experience in our industry alone is the sole metric by which candidates for people-facing roles should be judged as leaders of tomorrow is incorrect. This mindset is a look to the past and not towards the future. Will a tenured Team Member working a few states away be equipped to respond to challenges faced by a first-year college student or single parent making ends meet? Or is it a student or a single mother with the personal experience of speaking that language to the resident base?
See my RedTalk (an internal Cardinal program that allows team members to produce a “TedTalk”-style presentation) for a deeper explanation of why we hire for skill and humanity when we want to grow leaders who will serve others through meaningful interactions and experiences.
Our culture allows us to be fluid and evolve with each new generation, legislation, and world event. As an industry, do we have the guts to build leaders instead of waiting for existing pools to cycle through our open requisitions? While there’s value in repeatable results, aren’t we limiting ourselves by applying that repetition to a changing resident landscape? All questions will be answered as the industry continues to evolve to meet the increasing demands of the housing market.
The Broader Impact
Companies prioritizing a strong, supportive culture in the multifamily space often experience higher team member engagement, increased productivity, and improved retention rates. When team members see opportunities for meaningful and measured advancement paired with culture-supported interactions in their professional journeys, they are more likely to believe in and contribute to the organization’s long-term success.
As our industry evolves, investing in talent development remains a crucial strategy for sustainable growth. By enhancing training programs, leveraging AI technology, and refining leadership initiatives, organizations like Cardinal Group Companies ensure that culture remains at the core of their success.