What makes a happy real estate agent? And why should brokers care?

To answer the second question: Even if you’re not the overly sentimental type, it’s clear that agent turnover costs time and money, and it’s typically better for your bottom line to retain agents (especially your most productive ones) and help them improve.

And to answer the first question, Placester turned to agents themselves. We asked them to rate how they feel about a number of topics, including how supported they feel by their brokerages in very specific areas—and whether they’d recommend that brokerage as a place to work for their friends.

When it comes to business success metrics, a real estate brokerage could do a lot worse than benchmarking and maximizing agent happiness. Our survey found that happy real estate agents are also productive real estate agents who can provide top-notch service to their clients and cement your brand’s local reputation. And they’re loyal, stating that they feel well-compensated by their brokerages, and would recommend them as good places to work.

Here are some highlights from our findings.

What makes agents happy?

To determine how happy agents are with their jobs and careers, specifically, we asked a series of questions to assess their levels of work-related stress and satisfaction, their feelings about their own monetary security in terms of current leads and future financial planning, and whether they have the necessary skills and knowledge to meet their career objectives.

Almost half (44.2%) of our respondents said that they never or almost never feel overwhelmed by the amount of work that their job demands of them, and a majority (67.3%) said that they agree or strongly agree that they have access to the resources they need to be successful.

Financial stability is also a big indicator of happiness. A little more than one-third (34.6%) of respondents said that they agree or strongly agree with the statement “I never have to worry about where my next lead is coming from,” indicating a solid financial foundation.

An even larger proportion of respondents (71.1%) said that they agree or strongly agree that they have all the skills and knowledge they need to do their job.

The agent happiness/brokerage evangelist overlap

While we could see through these questions how happy agents are in general, we wanted to determine what specific parts of their job and which types of brokerage support were making them the most happy. So we also asked them to rate, on a scale from 0 to 10, how likely they were to recommend their brokerage as a place to work to a friend or colleague. Just over one-third of respondents (37.3%) gave their brokerage a “10.”

Not surprisingly, those “10” agents were also most likely to say that they were almost never or never overwhelmed by work, and who agree or strongly agree that they have all the skills and knowledge they need to be excellent at their jobs, and that they have access to the resources they need to be successful. It was a strong enough correlation that we decided to dig more deeply into what those brokerages are doing to make these agents happy.

Tools and technology

A lot of brokers talk about using technology and tools as a recruiting tool—how necessary is that, really? According to our survey, it’s important if you want your agents to be loyal enough to definitely recommend your company as a place to work. 

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Most agents who love working at their brokerage (75%) said they strongly agreed that the tools and technology provided by their brokerage makes them more productive and successful. And 75% of those agent evangelists also agreed or strongly agreed that they understand how to use the tools and technology that the brokerage makes available.

Marketing and branding

The agents who were the most likely to strongly recommend their brokerage also felt supported in terms of marketing and branding.

A majority of this segment of respondents (70%) said that they agreed or strongly agreed that their brokerage helps them promote their services and attract new business, and slightly more (75%) said that their brokerage helps them build their personal brand.

An even bigger portion of these respondents (85%) said that they understand how their personal brand works to support the brokerage brand, and vice-versa.

Pay, benefits, and financial planning

Like marketing and branding, the compensation, additional perks and benefits, and financial planning available to agents made a difference in terms of how highly they would recommend their brokerages.

Most respondents who would strongly recommend their brokerage (60%) said that their benefits package at this brokerage is competitive with what they’d expect to receive from another brokerage, indicating that benefits are important, but not the weightiest factor.

By contrast, 85% said that they strongly agreed that their salary at this brokerage is competitive with what they’d expect to receive at another brokerage. And 70% said that their brokerage helps them plan for their financial future and prepare for retirement.

Culture and career

The agents who would most strongly recommend their brokerages to colleagues were also likely to say that their brokerages have solid cultures, and they feel they have room to grow.

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Most respondents (75%) said they feel stimulated and supported by their colleagues at their brokerage. Even more (80%) said they have ample opportunities to learn new skills and stay on top of new trends in real estate.