The second year of the pandemic has been a new year of milestones for the team at Voit Real Estate Services.

The broker-owned commercial real estate firm celebrated its 50th anniversary in a year that saw the economy whipsaw from bad to good. The team at Voit also earned its third time among Orange County’s Top Workplaces.

The first year of remote work was a strange pivot for CEO Eric Hinkelman, who prefers doing business in person.

Because the brokers own the firm and work as independent agents, they’re “free to run my business in my own way, while still having a team of amazing counterparts and coworkers to help me work towards my goals,” wrote one teammate.

Eric Hinkelman, CEO, partner, of Voit Real Estate Services in Irvine, CA, on Monday, November 22, 2021. Voit Real Estate Services has landed among Orange County’s top workplaces for the third consecutive year. The company, founded in 1971, is a privately held, broker-owned real estate firm. Under the leadership of CEO Eric Hinkelman, the company has a motto to, “maximize value for our commercial real estate clients through creativity, expertise and service.”(Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)

We asked Hinkleman to share how his team fared in the second year of the COVID-19 pandemic. His answers have been edited for lenth.

Q: It’s been an incredible year for real estate, despite a pandemic. How has business been for Voit?

A: While Voit has faced challenges throughout the last 20 months, just like everyone else, our brokerage business has fared exceptionally well due to the fact that the majority of our brokerage professionals operate in the industrial sector.

Revenue-wise, our numbers are some of the best we’ve seen, although we’re working to bring back the Voit culture on which our company was founded. Our team members enjoy the many benefits of working at Voit, one, in particular, includes our regular social and networking events, which have, obviously, taken a bit of a hiatus throughout the first year of the pandemic.

Q: Did the company have to make any big changes in light of the red-hot real estate market (hiring, new tech, expansion, etc.)?

A: We were fortunate that even before the onset of the pandemic, our IT infrastructure was very strong and lent itself to allow our folks to work efficiently from pretty much any location. Because of this, the Voit engine and our team members adapted very well to the ongoing changes. In both 2020 and 2021, we onboarded several new brokers throughout our offices and continue to seek out the best and brightest in the industry.

Q: Did the office environment change in the second year of the pandemic? Were there new work-from-home policies or did business resume as normal? Tell us what that looks like at Voit.

Some of the adjustments, including working from home and/or flexible work schedules to accommodate working parents without childcare, etc., have remained through the second year of the pandemic. While almost all of our brokers and staff have returned to the offices with normal business hours, we did have some positions that remained remote, for different reasons.

Our approach, then and now, has been to address all situations on a case-by-case basis so our people maintain a healthy work/life balance while continuing to maximize the service we provide our clients.

Q: How are the bosses maintaining communication, boosting morale and keeping the workplace culture alive and well?

A: Now that we’re back in the offices, management has more opportunities to connect with all team members and meet with folks one-on-one. We’ve also maintained weekly company-wide newsletters, and now, getting back to our regular in-person sales meetings.

In July of 2021, we hosted our annual summer event (which was obviously skipped in 2020) for our team members and their families, and we are starting to schedule out more of the socials and client events to come, reinvigorating the culture on which Voit was founded.”

Q: Did wages/commissions/incentives have to go up to bring people back or to hire new people?

A: We have maintained the highly desirable splits for our brokers and competitive salaries along with numerous benefits for our staff that we’ve had in place for many years.

Q: What was the BIG lesson(s) learned now that we’re nearly two years into a pandemic economy?

A: For us, this was a lesson in methodology and approach. We’ve always prioritized and healthy work/life balance for our employees and over the last (almost) two years, we have realized that our people thrive because of it.

One size does not fit all and we have learned that we can create a place of business where people are happy, healthy and where they want to be while providing the absolute best service to our clients. Of course, we are still learning new things every day, trying to adapt and make things work for all of our people – whether it’s in the office or some sort of hybrid model.

Q: What’s next for Voit?

A: Honestly, only time will tell. We will continue to maximize value for our clients and their real estate objectives while operating a business that truly cares about its people. We are open to learning and growing and, hopefully discovering new and better ways to achieve all our goals.

Voit Real Estate Services

Founded: 1971

Headquarters: Irvine

Industry: Real estate

OC employees: 87

Website: voitco.com

“One size does not fit all and we have learned that we can create a place of business where people are happy, healthy and where they want to be while providing the absolute best service to our clients.” Voit CEO Eric Hinkelman

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