Prime Residential – Scale with Innovation

BACKGROUND

Prime Residential, a West Coast-based real estate and property management company under the ownership of Prime Group Private Equity, experienced hyper-growth over five years. This growth outpaced its operational foundation, leading to challenges. In response, the board appointed new leadership, both from within and externally, to appropriately scale the business. However, the company then faced compliance issues, a lack of structure commensurate with its size, outdated human capital practices, and underinvestment in both employment practices and leadership development.

PROBLEM

Prime Group, now 30 years old, struggled with an unclear vision, a mission that didn’t align with its operations, and values disconnected from expected behaviors and accountability. Despite having an excellent ‘pivot opportunity’ with a newly promoted COO ready to evolve the business, the organization suffered due to its previously flat structure, which lacked clarity in roles, goals, and clear reporting and measurement practices. The turnover rate for its field operation staff hit 80%, affecting 400 out of 500 employees. Additionally, an underinvested and understaffed Human Resources function, equipped with tactical staff lacking the necessary skills to manage a company of this size, left the company facing compliance challenges and equipped with inadequate human capital tools.

SOLUTION

• Initiated a company-wide, cross-functional, multi-level listening tour to assess the company’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats.
• Developed a human capital 3-year strategic plan aligned with the business plans and the vision of the COO/President.
• Undertook organizational restructuring, transforming from a flat and unclear structure to a tiered system comprising Executive Leadership Team (ELT), Senior Leadership Team (SLT), VP leaders, and a formalized corporate governance team.
• Conducted a full compliance audit followed by a 12-month corrective action plan across all HR compliance areas.
• Introduced new job descriptions, role assignments, operational plans for departments, goals, and a new performance management system to enable annual and quarterly measurement linked to outcomes.
• Restructured operational teams in IT, Finance, Operations, and HR to eliminate stagnant practices and overcome achievement plateaus.
• Achieved a 150% growth in the Human Resources department, complemented by new hires, newly designed roles suited to the company’s size and needs, and the creation of practice area leads across all HR disciplines for deeper focus.
• Established an in-house Talent Acquisition team, reducing costs by over $1MM annually.
• Created a Marketing practice and partnered to develop a completely new vision, mission, and values set, incorporating measurable behaviors into all human resources measurement tools.
• Launched the first-ever Learning and Development practice, Prime University, to offer customized individual development plans for each employee, encompassing onboarding, culture indoctrination, technical skills, managerial skills, and leadership development.