Equity Residential Reviews

I worked at Equity Residential full-time for more than a year

Pros – Great training, great co workers, decent product. If you make the right connections you can make it and become a Leasing Manager or Property Manager relatively quickly. They had nice company outings and parties, they also allow you to take your child to school on their first day.

Cons – The base pay and commission is very low, you have to make a significant amount of leases per month to make it worth your while. If you work at a small property it's hard to make decent commission. They constantly change the pay and bonus structure and usually the sales team is the one taking the brunt of the change.

Advice to Senior Management – Pay fair commission to sales people that excel! Everyone deserves a holiday bonus as well

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

I have been working at Equity Residential full-time for more than 3 years

Pros – Equity takes care of its employees. They are a stable company and they make you feel part of a team.

Cons – At times, management may make you feel as if you are just a number.

Advice to Senior Management – Improve the overtime policy. Many managers would send employees home without notice in order to avoid paying for the overtime they earned.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend – I'm not optimistic about the outlook for this company

I have been working at Equity Residential full-time for more than 3 years

Pros – Downtown Chicago Location, Career Growth Opportunities, Access to Upper Management, Appreciation of Work/Life Balance, Casual Dress, Great Coworkers, Industry Leader, Opportunities to be Heard

Cons – Monetary Compensation At/Below Average, Conservative Upper Management, Restrictive on Remote Working Arrangements

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend – I'm optimistic about the outlook for this company

I worked at Equity Residential full-time

Pros – Lots of training
Fantastic benefits package
Stable company

Cons – Difficult for on-site employees to advance into a corporate position.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

I have been working at Equity Residential full-time for more than 7 years

Pros – I love the atmosphere of the beauty of my building and the bond that you develop with your residents. They really make you feel like you are making a difference in their dailly life.

Cons – There is a lot of childish behavior being displayed amongst management and their inner clicks! If your not clicked in - you better tread very lightly, because they will turn on you fast. When coming into the company you negotiate a decent pay rate, but it's hard to get a decent raise on your quarterly review if your'e not a favorite. And same thing goes for the bonuses. This place is just like high school and the property manager is like the big kid on campus; with a group of minions watching their backs and causing havoc whenever they feel it's promitable!

Advice to Senior Management – They need to focus on how to listen and be fair to all employees; instead of being so bias! It's the little people as they may call us, that do the ground work to make you big people seem awesome; but you all get the recognition! One day this company will wake up, hopefully it won't be too late!

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend – I'm not optimistic about the outlook for this company

I have been working at Equity Residential

Pros – I work in the corporate office in Chicago, and love working for EQR. I'm a long term employee (10+ years), and have no plans to leave. Most of the leaders are smart, hardworking, and approachable. Culture is casual, yet fast paced and keeps me interested and challenged. More junior level employees are given the chance to work on really high level work, and are recognized for their contribution. I feel that all of the corporate teams work well together, and there is a true sense of it being a "group effort". I also love that we have gotten much better at remembering what our corporate role is--ensuring that our on site staff can do their jobs well and feel supported.

Cons – I sometimes wonder if there is any strategy involved with how people are paid--talking with co-workers, it seems that different rules apply to everyone. Although the vacation and paid time off is decent, my vacation is less here than it was when I was working for another larger firm headquartered in Chicago. I also feel that we are sometimes slow to adapt to technology & how today's workforce wants to work--it's gotten better in the last year, but I still feel like we lag behind comparable companies.

Advice to Senior Management – Keep doing what you are doing....continue to promote the team atmosphere and fun around the office.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend – I'm optimistic about the outlook for this company

I have been working at Equity Residential full-time for more than 7 years

Pros – casual dress
smart people
strong deal flow
available capital

Cons – not anything that you wouldn't find in any large organization

Advice to Senior Management – too much human resource garbage

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend – I'm optimistic about the outlook for this company

I have been working at Equity Residential full-time for more than 7 years

Pros – Ok pay and benifits if you know someone.

Cons – Be careful with this company. What they give you they can take it right back and will. No matter how hard you work they will find fault someware. It pays to know the regional manager on a personal level so you have security in your job.

Advice to Senior Management – Get more engaged !

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend – I'm not optimistic about the outlook for this company

I worked at Equity Residential full-time for more than 7 years

Pros – Looks really good on your resume. You can meet some life-long friends and great people.

Cons – Lets keep it simple. The ONLY way to get promoted in NY/NJ is to have "thee" hook up. If you do not have this hook-up, dont expect to go anywhere anytime soon. Until people with the hook up have all gotten what they want, that is when normal employees may have opportunities. Expect a amazing review but do not expect a increase, bonus or promotion. Expect cuts from coffee to post-its in the office. Expect lots of phone calls from unqualified employess who have been hooked up with great titles to call you for help cause they dont have a clue what they are doing. Also, expect lots of pressue and stress from upper management. Do not expect your personal life to be the same. You will be working longer hours then required to do more work then required for trash pay.. and do not expect a penny of overtime. If you are a new employee.. equity does not pay for any training until about 6 months to a year after you have started. The on-site staff who is qualified and has not been promoted will be training you. If you are new and want to move up... start drinking with the right people. You do not need to know anything about leasing or residential management. Just become friends with the right people. They will cover you when you make mistakes and it will just get swept under the rug.

Advice to Senior Management – Y'all need a serious reality check. Go sit some of the buildings and see how miserable you have made your superstar employees. Give us back our coffee, for the amount of work we do for you and the pay, that is THE LEAST you could do. I have no idea how some of these employees have put up with some much of your trash. Restaff some of your buildings and stop having this NY Click run the company. You are all pathetic cowards.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

I have been working at Equity Residential full-time for more than 8 years

Pros – - You can be yourself. The employees matter. People listen to you.
- Fun and friendly people to work with. Collaborative environment. And they are generally pretty smart, so you will be challenged and deliver good results.
- Interesting work.

Cons – - Pace of change is constant. Just when you get used to one way to doing things, the company will come up with a new way. Usually the changes make sense and are for the better. Sometimes they miss.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend – I'm optimistic about the outlook for this company