ESSENTIAL-LY AWESOME WEEK at Fairfield!

Every year Fairfield is honored to host either a Manager in Training conference at our corporate office or a leadership conference at an exciting location. This year we had to get creative to make sure we were still keeping our onsite teams and leaders motivated and inspired. As a result, we created ESSENTIAL-LY Awesome week at Fairfield to bring special recognition to all of our employees who have worked onsite at our communities and have been absolutely essential during the pandemic.

Fairfield Swag

To kick off ESSENTIAL-LY Awesome week, we sent a little surprise to our onsite locations filled with Fairfield swag. Everyone joined in on the excitement by posting photos wearing and using the swag in celebration of being Essentially Awesome!

Throughout the week, our Property Managers were huge ambassadors for the ESSENTIAL-LY Awesome initiative. They organized special treats for their teams every day, such as morning coffees, smoothies, breakfast bars, and catered lunch and captured some fun moments for us to share.

Move Forward, With Us: Associate Campaign

During this week, we also launched the second phase of our Move Forward campaign, which is focused on the strength and perseverance of our associates. In the video below, our associates share how Fairfield helped them get through the pandemic and insights on what it’s like to work here. If you haven’t seen our NEW video yet, watch it now:

Creating Connections Conference

On Wednesday, May 19, Fairfield had its first ever virtual conference: Creating Connections. We had a virtual conference center complete with Lobby, Exhibit Hall, Theater, Resource Center, Help Desk, and a Meet & Mingle area to encourage chats among the attendees.

The conference began with an exciting opening message from Executive Vice President of Property Management Kim Bender, followed by an introduction from Sue Essa, Vice President of Training and Development, who was our host throughout the event.

It was followed with an inspiring leadership conversation with Greg Pinkalla, CEO; Kim Bender, Executive Vice President of Property Management; and Lisa Haring, Senior Vice President of Portfolio Management. Our leaders provided some insights on what we can expect in the company’s future during a Q&A as well!

We also engaged in a spirited conversation with Liz Culibrk, Senior Vice President of Property Management; Chris Ruffolo, Senior Vice President of Asset Management; and Stacy Wells, Vice President of Strategic Operations that was moderated by Dave Freeland, Senior Training Manager. This conversation spanned from topics in property management to asset management decision making.

If that wasn’t enough excitement, we also had three fantastic and engaging keynote speakers at our conference. Molly Fletcher shared some “Inspiring Game Changes” that we can use to our advantage in our offices and across our communities.

Not only did we create connections, we also created a little laughter with comedian Pat McGann, who gave us an inspirational comedy break.

Finally, Prince EA shared some words of wisdom for a confidence boost and gave us some great calming techniques as well (4-7-8… if you know, you know).

Our conference ended with a fun announcement from Kim Bender and Liz Culibrk regarding our next conference. Drumroll please…

1. It will be an in person conference.
2. It will be taking place Summer 2022.
3. It will be in fabulous Las Vegas, Nevada, right on the Strip!

Surprise & Delight

To wrap up the week, associates from our corporate offices visited at least one of our onsite teams at their community. Some were surprised with balloons, others were surprised with flowers, and many were surprised with delightful treats and gift baskets in a show of appreciation. It hasn’t been very common to visit properties in the past year, but we were glad to make steps towards normalcy and spread joy together. It was great to have the corporate team and onsite teams meet again after so long!