A Billboard Insider reader posed this question: What do you do to find and keep good operations and real estate people? 

Some of our thoughts:

Offer equity or a performance bonus.

Offer equity or a performance bonus to the right person.  If you have a small company and your general manager handles everything, consider giving that employee equity.  You can grant shares or create a bonus which mimics equity (e.g. give the employee a bonus equal % of the value by which your company’s equity increases after the grant date).  It’s a good idea to vest the equity over time (maybe one-fifth a year for 5 years) to encourage the employee to stay.

Use small markets to create a farm team.

Us your smaller markets to create a farm team of people who you can promote into roles in larger markets.   Lamar Advertising does this.

Outside the box hiring.

Recruit a city permit clerk or ordinance clerk or city planner or DOT employee to join your real estate group.  Or look for a recently retired planning department or DOT employee who’s looking for part-time work.  They know how the system works.  They know what is and is not possible.  They might be bored and they might not be paid very well.

What do you do to find and keep good operations and real estate people?  Email davewestburg@billboardinsider.com or use the comments form below and we’ll run a followup post.

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