Houston-based Camden Property Trust has a reputation for prioritizing its employees. For the past 17 years, it has ranked on Fortune’s 100 Best Companies to Work For list. In 2024, the REIT ranked No. 24.
“The central ingredient is trust,” says Allison Dunavant, senior vice president of human resources at Camden Property Trust. “With that trust and our leadership following our values, we have seen that pay off through the challenges that we have faced over the years. Our leaders have always done the right things for our employees and our residents and have kept their best interests in mind.”
Dunavant says the REIT has done a good job of creating a deep sense of purpose for employees.
“I always like to say it’s purpose over process,” she says. “Our why at Camden is to improve the lives of our team members, customers, and shareholders one experience at a time. It would be difficult to find someone at Camden that doesn’t know our why. We provide people’s homes and take care of our residents and each other. It’s a really noble cause.”
She notes Camden focuses on listening and data. The Forbes ranking is done through an anonymous employee survey, and the REIT starts there to gauge the feedback. Employees have weekly and quarterly check-ins with supervisors. It also has a mentorship program and an onboarding dashboard for new employees to help make their transition to the company a success, with a survey on the tail end of the process to ensure they’re being supported.
“We try to use as much data as we can to track and understand where our employees are at,” Dunavant adds.
The REIT offers competitive perks for employees, including a 25% apartment discount, use of vacation suites at several properties for $20 a night, and an emergency relief funded that is funded by employees for employees that may be experiencing a financial hardship due to a natural disaster or other issue. In addition, it has scholarship opportunities for parents with children attending universities, two-year colleges, or trade schools as well as educational assistance programs for employees.
“We have a mantra here that’s never stop learning,” Dunavant notes. “We want to provide the resources they need to pursue that goal for themselves and their career.”
She also shares there is a lot of internal mobility for employees.
“When we think of flexibility and people’s jobs, we focus on how people want to learn and grow within Camden and meet them where they are,” she says. “You don’t have to leave Camden to find opportunity. It’s our job to make sure you have the resources to get there.”
Dunavant says the REIT encourages everyone in the company to succeed, adding: “We ensure we are providing the same benefits and opportunities to everyone.”
Camden also has ranked on Fortune’s Best Workplaces for Women for eight of the past nine years. Last year, it ranked No. 40.
General parental leave at Camden includes six weeks where employees are paid 100%. For women, in particular, Camden will pay for nursing mothers who are traveling to ship their breast milk home via FedEx and support active participation in professional organizations, such as the Commercial Real Estate Women Network.
“One of the things we heard from one of our employees is how much of a struggle it is to be a working mom with a child that has learning needs,” Dunavant says, adding that Camden established a learning stipend program that helps with tutoring or expenses associated with children’s literacy or math needs.
This year, Camden plans to have two big focuses for its employees: financial wellness and preventive health care.
“We really want to center the financial wellness on where people are in their stages of life—whether it’s saving to buy a house, going into retirement, or managing debt while saving for the future,” she says.
The REIT will be doing this through educational offerings, financial wellness checkups, and through helping employees understand the benefits of the employee stock purchase program and 401k match.
The health care focus will include screening services on-site, at home, and through the mail.
“We’ve seen so many tragic diseases that could have been prevented through regular screening,” she adds.
