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The 2 garages and parking lot I am assigned to clean are all part of an area of garages and another parking lot managed by my employer. There is a Senior Manager over the entire area of parking garages whom everyone reports to. There are 3 managers working under the Senior Manager. Each manager is assigned an area of several parking garages to manage. Some of the managers are also assigned a parking lot to manage as well.
A property management company owns the entire area of parking garages and parking lots.
Two new managers were hired back in May of this year to fill two vacancies.
One of the new managers, a male, was assigned to the 2 parking garages and the parking lot I am assigned to clean. He was also assigned to 3 other parking garages. One of my co-workers has to clean 2 of the garages that he has to manage. This particular manager has been in charge of the monthly meetings since May.
One of our responsibilities is to fill out a maintenance check list of what was done each day and leave it in our manager’s box located in one of the parking garages main office.
Yesterday there was a monthly meeting held by the male manager. He changed the maintenance check list. He divided up the check list into 3 sections… daily duties, duties that are done every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, duties that are done weekly, and duties that are done monthly. For each section he listed which duties are done at a certain time. For example… sweeping the entrance, cleaning the gate equipment and the entry gates are done from 6 a.m. to 7 a.m. The property management company was given the new maintenance check list. The reason why he did this was 1) he wants the porters to be accountable for what they do, 2) he wants the property management company employees to know where everyone is supposed to be at a certain time so when they inspect the garages they will know that we are doing our duties because according to him, he has been asked by the property management company “how do we know if the porters are doing their duties?”, and 3) he wants the every manger working for that area of garages/parking lots to be assured that every porter is completing their assigned duties when they inspect the garages.
These changes did go over very well with my co-workers as well as the porter supervisors over us.
When a new manager is hired, how soon is too soon to be making changes like this? What does this say about the fairly new manager?
Says they reacted to a need. 3 months to observe and put in a process for cleaning garages is not extreme in any regard.
If it didn't go over well with the porters and supervisors, that amounts to a hill of beans - those unskilled positions can be replaced in a heartbeat. The fact that they'd be reluctant to operate under a schedule of duties that was explained in a totally transparent manner would be enough for me to term everyone and start from scratch.
It says your new manager is creating expectations. As noted above, it may have been done in response to a need. The task list sounds like a very reasonable thing for the manager to create. Everyone knows what their responsibilities are and when they are supposed to accomplish their assigned tasks. It is much harder to be a slacker and pawn your work off on others when you are given a list of things you are expected to take care of and, I assume, will be held accountable for if you fail to do so. The porters and porter supervisors can ***** all they ewant; there are people waiting in line to take their jobs.
Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
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More often than not a new manager is hired specifically to clean up a problem.
Changes would be expected almost immediately under new manager. When I took over my group, it was only a few weeks before I made some pretty major changes, including reorganization and changes in assignments. That was 3 years ago and everyone has been very happy with the improvement including those I manage. In your business, the property managers most likely have 4-5 parking companies they could use, and your superiors don't want to lose a lucrative contract.
In addition to what the others have said, there may have been other changes made previously by the new manager, that you're unaware of. As soon as a new manager sees an opportunity to improve something, the change should be made, regardless of how long he or she has been on the job.
When a new manager is hired, how soon is too soon to be making changes like this? What does this say about the fairly new manager?
Often a new manager is brought in, as the owners are not happy with how things have been going. They are brought in, to find the problems and make changes as quickly as possible. To have taken 3 months to find out the problems, and make the changes is kind of slow, and probably should have been done within the first 30 days. The changes he is making, are very reasonable and just getting a routine that everyone follows.
Often the changes have already been planned, prior to you being introduced to the new manager.
I have been brought in to make changes in the corporate world. Example, Brought in as division sales manager for half the nation by a major old time company. I was able to get production doubled within a couple of months, due to changes I made and new people brought aboard in addition to the then current employees.
We had that set in place years ago when I was a shift manager for a huge truck stop and it was housekeeping, fuel cashiers, gasoline cashiers and fuel bay service people as well as the shift managers for specified duties regarding cash counting, deposit and withdrawal from the safe.
I agree with others here. It sounds like this manager is doing exactly what he's supposed to be doing. He's telling his team what he expects of them, and making his team members accountable for their work. That's what any decent manager does. Frankly I'm surprised you and your fellow porters and supervisors even have a problem with it. That's indicative of your team's current work ethic. If you dont like change, quit. Otherwise adapt to it.
He's doing what is being asked of him.. In other words.. It rolls downhill
Now.. The huge fallacy to his plan here is.. What if someone throws a bottle of soda on the entrance equipment at 9am? Decides to clean out their car of all their old papers that are blowing all around the entrance?
You cleaned it all up between 6am and 7am.. But you're not supposed to be out there cleaning at that time.
From that standpoint, it's a dumb strategy. More what he should be focusing on is are you (and your coworkers) getting the job done? Does it matter more that you're cleaning things at certain times, or that they're clean?
Seems he's focusing on the former, which means the latter will bite him in the butt.
He's doing what is being asked of him.. In other words.. It rolls downhill
Now.. The huge fallacy to his plan here is.. What if someone throws a bottle of soda on the entrance equipment at 9am? Decides to clean out their car of all their old papers that are blowing all around the entrance?
You cleaned it all up between 6am and 7am.. But you're not supposed to be out there cleaning at that time.
From that standpoint, it's a dumb strategy. More what he should be focusing on is are you (and your coworkers) getting the job done? Does it matter more that you're cleaning things at certain times, or that they're clean?
Seems he's focusing on the former, which means the latter will bite him in the butt.
Regarding the bolded part in pink...
That is how I, my co-workers, and the two supervisors over us feel.
The two supervisors over us feel that the most important thing is that it gets done, not what time it gets done.
And part of the managers job is to inspect the garages/parking lots they are responsible for managing. This is not done on a specific day at a specific time. It is done when the manager has time to do it based on how busy they are. So yes, he could very well decide to inspect one of the garages he is responsible for managing at a certain time when he is not busy with other work, say at 11 a.m., and notice that the gate equipment is dirty even though it was cleaned before 11 a.m.
Last edited by snugglegirl05; 08-24-2014 at 01:19 PM..
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