by Ben Hess, Managing Director, ThirdPool Recruiting
For the real estate industry, an attrition rate of 25% has been the “rule of thumb” for many years.
This means an office tends to lose a quarter of its agents each year due to failure, retirement, competitive recruiting, and voluntary career change.
According to new research, this estimate is now too low. The average attrition rate for all brokerages was 27% in 2016 and rose to 32% in 2018.
As a real estate leader, this data should motivate you to increase your focus on the core activities that will keep attrition from sinking your ship.
Work on Retaining. Attrition is a business metric too expensive to ignore. Why do agents defect to competitors? What causes new agents to fail? Are there patterns to your attrition that reveal underlying problems?
Wise leaders are constantly collecting data and making changes to improve their value proposition.
Work on Recruiting. If your attrition rate is at 25%, and you’re not recruiting, your office will be empty in four years. The best way to hedge against future attrition is to develop and maintain a constant influx of new talent to your team.
And not just bodies, but talented individuals who fit your culture and will make a long-term contribution.
