Coastal Housing Partnerships In Action
An Interview with Hatch & Parent Law Firm

EMPLOYEE RETENTION:

The best defense against sky-high housing costs is a good offense

Everyone’s talking about sky-high housing costs in Santa Barbara and Ventura Counties. It’s driving many employees to relocate to other areas, taking their skills with them. How bad is it?

It’s the single biggest challenge facing companies on the South Coast. CEO's are watching their best employees leave because these workers can’t afford to buy homes here. It’s not just draining the talent pool; it’s affecting business success, growth, and stability across the entire region. Employee retention problems are endemic to the area.

How does it impact the typical local business?

It’s a bottom line issue affecting revenue, profitability, and business growth. For example, it costs my firm over $100,000 in lost productivity and recruitment expenses every time an associate attorney leaves. The numbers vary for each business but for all businesses, the pain is the same when an employee resigns – you lose day-to-day productivity, output, and revenues, plus you now have a hole you have to fill with a lengthy, costly, and often problematic recruitment process.

But employees leave for lots of reasons – not just high housing costs.

True. But in the course of every employee’s career, there’s a time when they want to enter – or ascend – the home equity ladder. For most employees, it’s impossible to do that here without some kind of assistance. Median house prices here are now approaching $900,000. Down payments, mortgages, and closing costs put home ownership essentially out of reach. So employees pack up and move elsewhere.

What can management do to stop the hemorrhaging of talent out of the company?

Either you move your operations out of the area or face the music. If you stay, then you have three choices. One, provide higher compensation, like salary increases or bonuses, to help the employee get over the hump of home ownership. Two, create internal housing assistance programs such as low or no-interest loan programs. The third – and I believe smartest – option is to join Coastal Housing Partnership. It’ll pay for itself as soon as your first employee uses the service.

How do you measure the return on your CHP investment?

CHP offers a wide range of services to help your employees either buy or rent in Santa Barbara and Ventura Counties. The membership fees to you as an employer are nominal compared to the staggering costs you’ll save by having employees use the service, obtain housing they can afford, and stay in the area. It’s the ultimate employee retention tool.

At Hatch & Parent, where employee turnover costs are very high, CHP gives us essentially a 60-to-1 return on investment every time an associate attorney uses it to stay in the region.

How valuable is CHP to Hatch & Parent employees?

CHP’s services are available to all employees. It’s not just a first time buyer program or a low income program. It offers services every Hatch & Parent employee can use, whether it’s a paralegal who wants to re-finance or an associate who’s a second or third time home buyer. CHP offers an impressive array of services – and it can save thousands of dollars for employees who are afraid they are being priced out of the market. Suddenly, homeownership is feasible again. Which is music to my employees’ ears – and to mine.

For more information about how Coastal Housing Partnership can help your business, visit www.coastalhousing.org or call Jane Helmer, Marketing Director (805) 568-5371.