Why do we have high turnover in the Service Teams?

Why do we have such high turnover in the Service Teams and what can we do about it. It amazes me how high the turnover is with service/maintenance technicians and I'd like to hear your thoughts and ideas.

Hi Mark,

To be honest, you shouldn't experience such a high turnover in the service/maintenance area. The only time I see turnover becoming an issue in this area, is when the maintenance staff is either not properly screened upon hire or the onsite manager is not organized or have the appropriate leadership skills to direct and maintain a strong maintenance team. Honestly, I have a few maintenance technicians that have followed me throughout my career, and the only time I replaced a maintenance person is because we took over a new asset and the existing staff didn't meet our qualification, or when sometimes a bad hires falls through the crack. Take a closer look on your employment screening process and your onsite leadership. That should help you determine the issue of high turnover. Thanks

Pedro,
Thanks for posting and I am just asking what people on the forum think may be contributing to a problem that so many companies are facing. I agree with the screening process and the two positions in the industry with the highest turnover are leasing and service techs. Even the ones with good leadership and hiring practices.

I also think much of it has to do with generational expectations. For example boomers expect to stay with one company longer than Gen X or Y and they have very different perspectives on what a company should provide as far as culture and environment.

Having a few loyal technicians is great but what about the companies that have 250-500 service techs? I actually had one executive tellme that maintenance techs are like matches, you just burn them out and then get a new one when needed. He did have high turnover though.. and couldn't understand why.

I appreciate your feedback!

Pedro has a good point, but in my experience it's due to lack of appreciation. Community Managers, Maintenance Sups. and Leasing Consultants are always in the spotlight. It's simple to measure how well they’re doing and reward accordingly. Most times the Maintenance Techs are the unsung heroes. They are at the core of what we do every day but often go un-noticed until something is wrong. This is especially an issue when you have a division between the office staff and maintenance team. I have seen time and again communities that are having issues with leasing or retention blame maintenance. However if you speak to residents more often than not it's the maintenance personnel they like more than the office staff.
Also I think it's time spent on-call that burns them out. If you think about it there is at least one week a month that most of these guys/gals are basically working 24/7. If they're on call they have to assume at any moment they will have to up and leave their families to come in to work. They can't make plans while they are on call, have a beer, go to a game, etc. While they all know this is part of the job, after a while I would certainly be over it. My office staff has been trained to do minor maintenance especially on the weekends to avoid calling someone in. If we get a call during weekend hours for something like a clogged toilet, smoke det battery, tripped breaker or gfi, or to reset the disposal, etc we take care of it, rather than bothering the on call person. This not only increases moral in maintenance, but saves on OT.
Like Pedro I have maintenance persons who have been with me since my first community. They know I am going to do my best by them. In Jan. we decided to add a position to our maintenance team. My HR Dept. was floored because we did not have accounts set up for screening as we hadn’t hired anyone in 6 years. When hiring I don’t necessarily need the most skilled person, we can always train them. I want the person who has the personality to fit the community and who is ambitious enough to want to grow within our company.

Stephani is so correct - being on call 24/7 is very draining, especially for a small team. Also, I see some companies that want to hire a less experienced Tech and pay much lower than I think they deserve. Let me explain: you hire someone with HVAC experience, who is licensed to handle the refrigerants, who can handle plumbing emergencies, change out a water heater, figure out what is wrong with a furnace, paint, install a ceiling fan... Well, you get the idea. We expect these Techs to treat our Residents like Gold (and they do!) but you pay them $12 an hour to start in some markets????

I think there are many times when there are personality clashes within a team or when a new Manager takes over a property.

To ensure you have the best team in place, there needs to be a pay scale implemented based on skill set, certifications earned, education and achievements, such as staying within budget parameters, reducing costs, etc. There should be on-going educational opportunities given to the Maintenance Team (not just the Office and Management Teams) and bonuses given to the Maitenance teams based on resident retention. These Bonuses should be given not just to the Maintenance Supervisors but also to the Techs.

In addition, I think that during the heavy leasing season coming up, we should get extra HELP for turnover completions. After all, how do you expect the poor Techs to turn 45 units (or more!) and stay on top of the A/C calls and the other 50 work orders on these 20+ year properties and do it all with a smile on their face and no grumbling?

When the industry stops thinking of the on-site teams as totally replaceable, things may change. It can be disheartening. Just sayin' ...

I think we need more people like you all in the industry. It is nice to see you understand what we do and how much technicians contribute to a property. Being on call is certainly one of the most challenging parts of the job even when you know you have to do so when you are hired. There are some companies that say technicians are the unsung heroes but they don't actually show it in any way. It would really be nice to see actions that support the claim.

First and foremost, is the screening process for sure, and far too often I see someone hired for their certifications and then they wind up leaving due to their behavior or attitude. Anyone with a good attitude will be willing to learn and go the extra mile. It is a huge mistake to hire someone with technical skills and a poor attitude. Losing one lease over a rude or obnoxious technician costs much more than a few technical training classes for a person that wants to do well.

The seasonal/part time help during peak seasons is a sure fire way to get things done and keep the quality of work high. The bonuses are a great idea and I would like to see more companies adopt a policy that rewards renewals that are more than new leases and also benefit the maintenance team.

When the bonuses for new leases are more than the renewal bonuses it encourages turnover and more work for the service team and turn over expenses associated with make-readies. Crazy Huh?

Getting rid of the Us and Them is a critical component too. Oh I could go on about this forever.

Thanks for your feedback! Anyone have some ideas or successful experiences to share?

Here are a few of easy ways we bring our office and maintenance staff closer together:

Spend 1/2 hour each Monday in an informal meeting. This allows us to chat about our weekend at home, update everyone on what happened onsite over the weekend, discuss the upcoming week. We start off just having a cup of coffee and talking about our lives outside of work. We wrap the meeting up with business.

Our company requires we have a safety meeting once a month to discuss and educate on a specific topic; all staff is required to attend. I always buy lunch for our team we get the safety stuff out of the way, and most times spend the rest of the hour telling stories of experiences within the industry. Mostly funny stories about crazy residents or weird former co-workers….

For any employee birthday we all go out to a nice sit down lunch. Everyone chips in to pay for the birthday person. This gives us a chance to interact outside of work. I am not a fan of hanging out with staff after hours but it is still nice to have time outside of work to interact.

Our company recently asked that we shop our comps in person and suggested we bring maintenance along. We teamed up leasing and maintenance and went shopping. It was fun as we made up stories of who we were and what we were looking for. I took my sup and a tech with me. We had a blast! Same thing with my leasing and other maintenance techs… I was amazed at how different our perspectives were when shopping these sights. Those of us in the office noticed the things that are drilled into our heads like curb appeal, marketing info, leasing person’s attitude, etc. My maintenance people noticed all of those plus things like crooked signs, hand written notices to residents, missing door stops etc. My point is they were just as aware of how the prospect tour should be as they were of any maintenance issues they saw.

I have been accused of favoring maintenance, and maybe there is some truth to that. These guys/girls do all the dirty work but are expected to remain professionals. They are the ones in the attic repairing a roof leak when the temp is 100+, or coming our in the middle of the night to unclog a disgusting toilet. I have a huge respect for all they that I wouldn't.

I have a small property with a part-time maintenance tech (I am the supervisor). He has told me several times and just as recent as Thursday, that I am the best manager he has ever worked for.

He comes from a family of maintenance staff. Father, brother, cousins. He told me he was bragging about me to the family and making them jealous.

He told me many times he would like for us to move on to a larger property together to make more money (this is not what I am interested in).

According to him he makes $5.00 less per hour than his last position.

He's the tech, not the supervisor, which he doesn't seem to mind.

Why does he think we work great together and stays even though he doesn't make the money he would like?

He says I don't "micro-manage" him or call him constantly to find out where he is at and what he is doing. I give him work to do and trust he'll get it done. I make my expectations very clear of what I want done, how fast I want it done and details about how to treat the residents.

Perhaps we are not training our staff enough in "policy" when they come on board. Maybe we should focus more in the beginning on protocol not on plumbing.

We having a weekly meeting and discuss goals for the week and where we are at on projects that are done in between work orders.

Communication and training, I believe, is the best turnover reducer. They know what money they are making when they start, so why would it go downhill after that?

Stephanie,
Those are great ideas and it is nice to see that going out of your way to bring together is the norm. Short meetings are so important to get on the same page and start the daily race with a collective finish line in sight.

It is always the little things that make a huge difference like sharing experinces and telling stories. It really does help everyone see each other from a different perspective and gain a better understanding of what everyone goes through.

Now, I have to say that having the service team go with someone for a comp shop is Brilliant and ultimately it can only help everyone. I bet it was fun too!

Sandy,
Doesn't it just make your day when someone sincerely tells you that you are the best Manager they ever worked with. Plus, if he is actually making less yet very happy it just proves once again that money does not make a person enjoy the workplace.

So, no micro-managing, showing trust not just saying the words,communicationg clearly, and training. Now that is a formula for success and low turnover.

Thanks for the post!

For one thing, you might want to look at the work. The only difference between me and a plumber is the plumber went through the hoops and got the license. I could also jump hoops and get the piece of paper. It is just a test at the State License Board. Be nice to the plumber and he will give you some of the questions that show up on the test, none of which are useful to know in the daily business of plumbing.
All that said, the plumber's license nets him $100.00 an hour including the trip he makes. The Apartment Maintenance Technician, (who basically does the EXACT same work for a PM company), gets minimum wage and up. Soon, the maint tech wises up and gets a little complex about the wage differences. You can argue over a lot of points here, and we all know a complex cannot exist on hired plumbers and electricians and HVAC, but at least realize that $100.00 an hour vs $7.25 an hour for the exact same job gets to tasting a little of the keg before long.

3The primary reason for high turnover is, there is little room for growth. The opportunities don't present themselves for those working the field as they do for office staffing. For example - I started in the business as a Security officer / Concierge. I from there grew into a Leasing Consultant, Leasing Manager, Asst. Commuity Manager, Community Manager into Portfolio Management.

Within this industry, a Service Tech does not have the same opportunity to spread there wings. And for those that are able to ascend to Director status, there is not enough room for an organazation that possesses 3-4 people that are skilled enough to be their compnies director of Maintenance. That is why we have alot of turnover. A Maintennace Supervisor alot of times becomes board with an assignment or wears out his/her welcome. As that happens, they simply move on.

The company I'm working for is presently implementing the type of structure that will keep the Service team interested as opportunity for growth is starting to show itself. But until every company gets on board withthe idea of creating opportunity for upward mobility, the vast majority of those Techs working within the Service departments will operate with no direction or interest. I guess you can say just like a Gypsy to a degree.

These techs need to see their own pot at the end of the rainbow. And it is those thoughts that will keep them so pre-occupied that their thoughts of leaving are greatly diminished thus increasing your level of retention.

HSpencer,
Thanks for posting and giving such honest feedback on how you see it. I think the more we talk about these topics and learn from the perspectives of everyone at every position we can all learn and hopefully make some genuine positive changes.

I will say though, when I was a contractor many of the "professional trades techs" wanted to be service techs on a property and while a contractor may charge 100.00 per hour the technician doing the work doesn't get paid that, even if they own the company.It is true that we do some nasty work but at least we are not literally "knee deep in it" too often.

I really appreciate you takeing the time to post.

Joseph,
You make some valid points and I share some of your beliefs as far as the lack of growth opportunities. I do think it is getting better and the Director positions are increasing overall but having an opportunity is something to strive for and if companies can figure a way to make it happen it will make a difference.

When one does make it to Director status they ofetn take on a more mangerial role as well and their technical abilities are less important than their ability to run the department like a business. No doubt thechnical skills are important but the responsibilities do change and good solid interpersonal skills are required.

What was the 3rd reason?

A number of years ago, I was a senior manager in a financial services organization. Reporting to me I had customer service, product management, help desk, and a portion of sales. Each team had different stresses, deadlines, competencies, and experience. Every 6 weeks or so, I would organize a dinner for my team. This was especially important in the weeks after 9/11 when everyone's emotions were running high and the hours were very long.
These dinners became more regular and people from other parts of the organization wanted to come, and then the CEO (who was going to approve the expense report anyway) invitred himself as he heard how popular the gatherings were.
The point is, that these dinners became opportunities for internal selling and sharing of ideas and stories. Each member of the organization who came felt better about his or her role and how it fit into the overall scheme.
Also, as one of my hands-on jobs included market surveillance, I arranged through HR that every new employee would spend a morning with me so he or she could understand more about the business they were supporting and helping to make successful.
With regards to compensation for similar jobs, offering education benefits, either to trade schools or to the next level of education is always a good way to incent.

@Mark Cukro

Thanks to you as well for your comment on my post. I am, if anything, a realist.
We live not in a perfect world. I have been in the Apartment Management business for a long time. (I even have the T shirt). Prior to property management, I served 25 years in the US Army, retiring in 1999 as a Command Sergeant Major. I have "some" experience in things I can share. That information and $5.00 will likely get you a coffee somewhere, or I can provide you a free one at my office.
I work for a super fine Property Management and Development Corporation. They are excellent in every way. My wife and I started working at the apartment complex simply because (1) The job was available and (2) I was too young to retire, and (3) my wife's mom lives there. (This is all leading somewhere).
The management/maintenance job offers a free apartment and utilities. My home was six blocks away, but however we did move in the apartment and actually spent the week nights there. (The "on-site" syndrome). The pay seemed minimal since I was retired military and wife was retired school system. So for us, it wasn't about the money.
The deal is that the "husband/wife" team breaks down as wife-office and husband- mow/paint/fix. After several months we were promoted to running Six (6) apartment complexes in various stages for the company, and making pretty good bucks and working many long hours but loving it. We are in a unique situation you see. The average Joe Doakes won't do that. That is why my spiel over pay in my post. But you already knew that point, so just clarifying here. In apartment jobs, it's the pay you see. All about the pay.
Thanks if you read this far without dropping off asleep! Best Wishes!!

OK ONE more post and I will consider I have spent my nickle on this subject. I am going to tell you where a service technician really gets to feeling down. Management must get involved in repair vs replace. A tech does not want to put $150.00 worth of parts into an electric range or other appliance that is 12-15 years old. If an appliance is out of it's lifespan, get a new one. Also management needs to know what parts cost them. That makes the decision easier. Your simply losing money all the way around fixing or trying to "get by" with too old stuff. Too many times we are expected to "get one more tenant" out of an appliance that should be considered dead. That is only good business, and shows the tenant you want to provide a nice place for them to live. Also, it stops the old "Well, he just fixed it last week" complaint. Spend the other money and replace the old stuff.
Thanks!

Charles,
I think you hit on something that I have seen at many of the companies that "get it" and that is creating a sense of belonging and approachability. Once that is established very open and honest dialogue can and will take place. Sometimes a mere simple so simple can really be the start of a change.

It is so true, if you want to gain buy in you have to create involvement. Thanks for posting!

Herb,
Amen to that my friend. No tech wants to spend more on parts than an appliance is really worth especially when it is getting old. Even if the money for a replacement comes from a capital fund it just isn't always the best thing to do. To me, it os like having a 20 year old pick uop truck that needs a new motor and transmission for 3,500.00

Is is a good investment. I don't think so. Funny how so many people think it is. Sometimes the best repair is a trip to the dumpster and a brand new purchase.

I appreciate you post and I have to say it is nice to see a Vet on the board. I was with 82nd, 327th, and 426th Airborne. Take good care!

Herb, you are so right. We are only a 7 year old community, but when it's going to cost half the price of replacement to repair an item I say replace it. By the time you factor in labor and the fact that you WILL have to repair the item again at some point you have bought the new item anyway. As a manager I completely understand the issue of not having the budget to buy replacements, but I can not understand throwing good money after bad.
Here, when we have an appliance that needs work my maintenance sup and I sit down and discuss repair vs. replacement. If the cost to repair (including time spent) is more than 50% of the replacement cost, we replace. He can then store the old appliance to rob parts from in the future. Don't get me wrong, I don't want 5 stoves in different stages of disrepair junking up my maintenance shop (yes it's mine too . However if the guts of a stove are bad, we may still be able to use the oven door or other exterior parts.
Another important thing is that maintenance knows and has some understanding of how the budget works. I give everyone a copy of our budget for the month. Additionally we go over our monthly financial statement together to see where we are and how we are doing. IMO this gives everyone some ownership in our finances and makes them feel they aren't just work-horses, but that what they do matters.

Love it, absolutely right