In this podcast with MHN’s Laura Valean, Christine Gilmore of Bell Partners shares practical insights on leadership, onboarding and building a culture that keeps employees engaged for the long term.
What keeps great employees from leaving, especially when they have every reason and opportunity to do so?
In this episode of Mission Success: Women in Multifamily, Multi-Housing News Senior Editor Laura Valean sits down with Christine Gilmore, vice president of learning and development at Bell Partners, to unpack one of the industry’s most persistent challenges: retention. And not just any retention—the kind that keeps your best people engaged, growing and, most importantly, staying.
With 15 years at the company, Gilmore brings both perspective and candor to the conversation. She talks about the realities behind turnover in today’s multifamily landscape, from post-pandemic shifts and rising competition to the often-overlooked role of onboarding and day-one experiences.
READ ALSO: How Multifamily’s Next Leaders Are Planning for the Future
What emerges is a refreshingly practical take on what actually works. It’s not just about compensation, and it’s not about flashy programs either. It’s about consistency, intentional leadership and understanding that retention is shaped long before someone starts browsing job listings.
Along the way, Christine shares lessons from Bell’s own journey: what the data revealed, what surprised her team and how small, structured changes can lead to meaningful impact across an organization.
Here’s what Valean and Gilmore talk about:
- (1:12) Why it’s difficult to retain top performers now
- (2:35) What makes high-performing employees stay
- (3:46) When Bell Partners decided to address turnover in a different way
- (7:12) Effective onboarding
- (10:12) How much of retention ultimately comes down to the direct manager
- (12:33) Bell’s Leadership Excellence Program
- (14:48) Connecting learning initiatives to measurable business outcomes
- (16:41) Retaining maintenance specialists
- (19:19) What has changed most in what employees expect from their workplace
- (21:53) First steps to reduce turnover in 2026
Follow, rate and review MHN’s podcasts on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, and don’t forget to subscribe to MHN’s YouTube channel!
