Insanely Great Year

Insanely GREAT SHOP Josh! Thank you for the FOCUS!

A recent Inspiring Message written by one of our Insanely Great Team Members (who will be left un-named), I was Inspired! M

To my most excellent coworkers,

Having been at this property collectively for years now, I have seen many people come and go. While having a trained coworker leave sometimes is an inconvenience in the respect that they know what is going one, it presents an opportunity for those of us left behind. We have the chance to embrace our strengths and rely on each other for help in our weak areas. I have often shared that I had a "go to" coworker for my days off. Now the reason that this worked for us, is the fact that we both were efficient in our work. Files were processed and ready, apartments were walked, the details were taken care of. Now I don't say this to brag that I was a rock star leaser, more that we both were on the same page, there was a consistency-a standard if you will with which we did things. I did not have to worry about things while I was gone because I knew she did the right thing too. I would encourage all of us to work our hardest, and do the right thing. I know that I am thought to be obsessive about things like paperwork and files, but I truly believe if you make it a goal for yourself to have everything right and put together from the time you get an application your workload will feel so much easier. I have every confidence in this team. I know that if we all bring our "A" game and do what we have to do we can and will be successful. Henry Ford said " Coming together is a beginning; keeping together is progress; working together is success" and someone who I have no idea who they are but I liked what they had to say which was "Competition is a by-product of productive work, to its goal. A creative man is motivated by the desire to achieve, not by the desire to beat others." I believe that we are at the second step of keeping together moving towards working together on our way to success. I have seen you all come so far and am excited to see how far we can go. Where do you think we can go???

Or is it a reiteration of what we should be doing:

MASTER MINDS


I don’t know about everyone, but I know here at Brentwood Apartments I do the follow ups on all of our Maintenance work orders. Most of the time as a leasing consultant its hard to find the time to do a follow up with in 24 hours of the service request. BUT we make the time and get it done.
A lot of times, the resident asks, "do you know what they did"? Or what was wrong, or they say, I did not see that they were here. Not to mention, the handwriting is very hard to read.
There are times that the resident has called to say: It's been a few days, have not seen them nor seen a slip that they were here.
We put them on hold and radio maintenance to find out what is going on, they reply they needed to order a part and they left that on the slip. We get back on the phone with the resident and explain to them what they are doing, they are looking around and say, I found the slip, sorry did not see it on the counter, but could not read it. They then ask do they know when they will return to fix it? We get back on the radio and ask maintenance when they expect the part in and for the work order to be completed. (Granted this does not happen every time, but often)

Now, when I lived at the Cove at Fishers Landing, when I got my slips, they were very hard to read what they have done, although it was completed, it would have been nice to know what had been done and why it was broken (you might say)
There have been times that it took me over 2 days before I would see that they set it on the stair rail or on a table….

I think that with Equity, wanting to go above and beyond any other property and be the BEST, I have come up with something that will add that special touch to ALL of our service request.

Here is the idea that I think would add that special touch to everyone.

Once the service request has been completed, I think the person who did the service request should follow up with the resident the following business day before they start with other work orders.
This would not only give a personal touch to all of our residents but also they could explain to them what they did to fix it, and make sure that they ask that the resident complete the survey card. Or even let them know that they need to order a part, and give them a time/day when they will return to complete the service request.
We get calls all the time from residents that say that they have not heard back from the maintenance or they did not see the slip on the counter (I know that sometimes it took me a few days to find the slip when they came to my apartment)

If for some reason that maintenance was unable to reach the resident, they still could leave a detailed message as a follow up give to us to do another follow up with them.

Example:

6/19/06 5:30 p.m. H 101 calls in a work order that the screen door if off track and wont open and close properly and keeps falling off
6/20/06 Lynn gets the work order and goes to the apartment to fix the screen door. The resident was not home.
621/06 Lynn calls the resident to see how the screen door is working out for them. Resident says "Oh I did not know you came by, let me check it out….comes back and says it seems to be working ok…Lynn tells them what was wrong with the door and what he did to fix it. Lynn then asks them if they have completed the Maintenance survey card that he left on the counter with the work order. Resident says "oh, I forgot about it or that they did not see it, Lynn asks them if twouldn'tuldn’t mind taking just a few minutes to complete it and either drop it by the office to mail it out or they could drop it off in their out going mail.


What does this mean?
Not only did Lynn get to give the resident that extra touch of Excellency but also got the resident to complete the survey card and it adds that personal touch to all of our residents.

Wendy

Insanely Great Performance Wendy! YOU ROCK!

Tim J. emailed me the following:
(Tim, I really applaud your effort in expressing this appreciation for a fellow associate).


M, If you are still taking nominations for the 10 ways to be a winner, I'd like to nominate Gary from carpet services. He's very consistent in his work, avoiding the sporadic ups and downs that many of us experience and he always has a good attitude. I'd like to nominate him for "doing the right thing". Many times now, we have thrown a curve at him last minute or changed up the schedule and asked a favor. He consistently takes the approach we need to take care of the resident and do whatever has to be done. T


Tim Jellum
Assistant Manager
503.466.5000
Fax 503.466.5005
E-mail: tjellum@eqr.com

Club at Tan and Tan Terrace Employee's enjoy a fun team meeting that included, of all things, a pinata! Rheba, be careful with that stick! Everyone else, RUN for cover!