by Kim Kilpatrick
December 13, 2010 2:17 PM
When you spend eight hours or more with someone almost every day during the week you tend to get pretty close to him or her more often than not. At the least you tend to become good friends, almost like family. Such is often the case with places like self storage facilities that do not require a lot of people in order to operate.
As the manager/ owner of the facility the employees are often like your de-facto family. No one wants to see there family hurting, depressed, or down and typically want to do whatever you can to bring him or her up. In the case of your de-facto family at work it is your responsibility to keep them motivated or risk production dropping too much and then it may be you that has to look for a job.
“Family is very big to us, and that always comes first,” says Charles Hendricks of Five Star Services, Inc., a self storage company in North Dakota. “We cover for each other, and give good latitude for flexible schedules and time off to have a reasonable family life…”
Morale issues do not just involve the economy. There are a variety of different things that can go on everyday that can bring morale down such as a death in the family or an unexpected hospitalization. Anne Ballard, co-owner of Universal Management Co. in Atlanta sees the importance of being able to raise the moral of employees as well.
“Maintaining morale is key, especially during these poor economic times. It’s crucial to not allow the managers or home office staff to sink into negative thinking."
Some self storage facilities see offering competitive wages as enough of an incentive. Many other facilities like to do more than that in order to try and motivate their employees to go above and beyond the call of duty.
Of course the best way to motivate employees is to give them what they come to work for—more money. Ballard of UMC has a three-step system that makes sure that everyone has a chance at earning some extra money based on how well they perform.
“The first and the most basic is the $10-perlease commission. The second is for stores in lease-up, they get a predefined larger step bonus as they hit each targeted occupancy level. The third is for stabilized stores, they get a percent commission for each month based on all income from all sources.”
In some case it is not necessary to bribe your people with money (although it is nice to have the opportunity to earn more) in order to keep them on top of their jobs. Many employees in the self storage industry (and likely every other industry) just want to feel like they belong to something that is bigger than they are; that they actually matter to the company and are not viewed as an interchangeable piece of the overall machine. It can also be just as important to say a few kind words when someone is doing well and not just saying something when your people make a mistake.
“One of my principles is that people need to be acknowledged and congratulated, not just whipped when they do something wrong,” says Hendricks of Five Star Services. “I believe strongly in positive feedback.”
Sources Used:
“Perking Up: Storage owners find ways to keep employees motivated and satisfied. Self Storage Association Globe News; December 2010.
Five Star Services, Inc.
Universal Management Inc.