Best Workplaces, Employee Experience, Leadership & Management
A leader in people companies that care, Camden Property Trust puts people first, and that results in higher profits and retention鈥攁nd a company employees love.
Care in the workplace is not a line item buried in an initiative.
It lives and breathes in behavior; the sieve through which all business decisions are made. It鈥檚 often in the things you can鈥檛 see, but feel鈥攚oven into the employee experience at every level.
Welcome to Camden Property Trust.
Prioritizing care is what the Houston-based, multifamily company attributes to its 15-year run on the Fortune 100 Best Companies to Work For庐 list, becoming a 2022 Best Workplace in Texas鈩�, and repeat appearances on the 庐 list.
Its emphasis on care as a business imperative drives employee retention, pride and longevity鈥攁ll measures of a great culture. That culture and its business success鈥�1,621 employees in 73 cities, 170 properties, and recent induction to the S&P 500鈥攄raws the curiosity of some of its peers.
鈥淭hey鈥檙e trying to figure out what that secret sauce is,鈥� says Ric Campo, CEO and board chair. 鈥淲e have very competitive markets and people always shook their heads. [They asked], 鈥榃hat is it that allows you to do as well as you do?鈥� I say, 鈥業t鈥檚 just the culture. It鈥檚 about the people, it鈥檚 about creating that opportunity for somebody to do really well.鈥欌��
Case in point: Camden has acquired failing properties, across the street from its own, that were underperforming by 20% because of poor cultures.
鈥淧ut a smiling, happy, caring culture in that property and the revenues go up,鈥� Campo says. 鈥淭he people are happier, the customers are happier. It has a major ripple effect. No. 1, it鈥檚 the right thing to do. But we also know, guess what? It makes money and it creates value.鈥�
The inspiration to lead with care began years ago when Campo and Keith Oden, Camden鈥檚 president and executive vice chair, worked together at a company with a bad culture. The two, then mid-level managers, left to start Camden in 1981.
鈥淲e left that company and basically said, 鈥榃hat would company X have done,鈥� and we just did the opposite,鈥� Oden says. 鈥淥ne of those things was being genuinely caring about your employees. It鈥檚 ingrained in who we are at every level of our organization.鈥�
鈥淚t鈥檚 not an initiative and it鈥檚 not something that you say, 鈥楾his comes from HR,鈥欌�� adds Campo, who often quotes management guru Peter Drucker: 鈥淐ulture eats strategy for breakfast.鈥�
Passing the 鈥榗are鈥� test
Camden鈥檚 executive team vets all business decisions through a care filter by asking鈥搉o matter the circumstance鈥斺�淚s it fair, reasonable and responsible?鈥�
鈥淲hen people set out their values of fairness, trust, care, how do you display them?鈥� Campo says. 鈥淎nd when you make decisions, even in tough times and in good times, does it flow through accurately on them? It鈥檚 filtering decisions you make every day through that value set.鈥�
In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Camden gave millions back in the form of grants to residents through its on a blank piece of paper.
鈥淥ur rule was really simple, we wanted to build an organization that is a place that we would want to work at forever,鈥� Oden says. 鈥淚f you keep that perspective, then you have a little bit of a different view of who you invite to join the team.鈥�
鈥淲hat happens over time is, everyone sees and knows that it鈥檚 different, and they have this incredible desire to protect it because they view it as something precious. It鈥檚 fragile and it鈥檚 perishable, so you have to work at it every day,鈥� Oden says.
鈥淵ou get enough people who understand the benefits of that for everyone in the organization, and magic happens.鈥�
Do you have a culture you're proud of?
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