The Characteristics of a Good Boss as Opposed to a Bad Boss
Stacy Giroux
COM/155
February 13, 2014
Anne Cox The Characteristics of a Good Boss as Opposed to a Bad Boss
In the property preservation field, having the characteristics of a good boss as opposed to a bad boss is very important to the success of the business. Property preservation is a tough field to be in for several reasons. First, the competition is high because, in this economy, there is a high demand for vendors to clean up the foreclosed properties for the banks. Second, there is a fine line between quality and quantity. This is because there are so many foreclosures that the need to get them done quickly is great, but the need to pay attention to detail is of equal value as these properties need to be in tip top condition and ready to hit the market within five days from the day a preservation company receives the first work order. Quality and quantity do not stop there. Once the house is on the market then the property preservation company is to maintain the yard weekly and the interior monthly. The maintenance list can grow very quickly, again making the line between quality and quantity a very fine line. Third, property preservation companies rely on their crews to do a majority of the work. If the crews are trained and their quality of work is up to standard, then everyone makes money, if not it can break a business.
In the property preservation field, a good boss handles employee challenges differently than a bad boss does.
A good boss will first make sure that all employees are properly trained. There are a lot of details to remember in this field. An employee must take before photos of every property inside and out. This includes the a/c unit, the lock box with code and keys, all four corners of every room, all water lines capped, batteries in smoke detectors, inside of every drawer and cabinet, just to mention a few. Then the employee must take pictures of all work being done, such as, cleaning windows, sweeping, mopping, etc. Finally the employee must take after photos from the same angle as the before photos. Photos are the most important part of the job because that is how the property preservation company gets paid. If there are missing or blurry photos, then the property preservation company has to go back and get the correct photos. This takes time and costs money. A good boss would provide all employees with hands on training on how to take the photos as well as a checklist to ensure nothing is forgotten, whereas a bad boss will just send the employees out assuming they know what to do. The bad boss is then frustrated at the end of the day because he/she does not have all required photos to send to the banks, making their pay on that job held up until all pictures are submitted, not to mention the time and gas wasted to return a second time, which in turn costs money. If this is done repeatedly, the company starts to lose money from having to make repeated trips, plus the banks will cut the company’s work load back until they can get up to par, causing a loss of income.
A good boss knows there is a lot of detailed cleaning involved and provides employees with hands on training to ensure nothing is missed. This is important because once a job is complete the broker then comes out and inspects the property and if they find missed items then the property will fail. If this occurs, the employees have to go back and correct issues which takes time and money so the profits are being cut into and the business loses money. A good boss understands that with all the training in the world things will get missed from time to time. A bad boss will not provide training thus leaving the employees open to making mistakes and costing the business money. There are a lot of bad bosses in this field and instead of seeing the problems and working with their employees to get them up to standard, a bad boss just fires them and hires new people in hopes that they have the experience needed to do the job correctly. Firing someone in hopes to replace them with someone else does not solve the problems it just keeps the cycle going. A good boss gets to know the brokers who are inspecting the properties. This helps the good boss to understand what the brokers are looking for. In turn, a good boss trains their employees to the expectations of each broker. Doing this makes the brokers happy and they come to trust the preservation company. Once trust is built between the broker and the preservation company there are less failed properties. In turn, everyone is happy and the business keeps making a profit.

There are so many fine details in the property preservation field that a good boss needs to keep in mind when employees make mistakes. Taking note of common mistakes that all employees make, making a check sheet based on those common mistakes, and continued training is key to employees doing their job properly, pleasing the brokers, which pleases the banks and motivates them to give more work to the preservation company, with the result being that the business and the employees make a profit. A bad boss does not make these connections so their employee turnover is high and the company’s profit margins are very low.

The different ways a good boss and a bad boss handle employee challenges are quite different. These differences can cost or make the company a great deal of money. As a business owner or manager in the property preservation field, one would want to seriously evaluate the employees and their training. A good boss would provide a training plan that encourages employees to focus on what their shortcomings are and how to rectify those shortcomings. A bad boss will provide little, if any, training. A good boss will continue to ask, “Do I have the characteristics of a good boss or a bad boss?” Doing so will help him or her to stay a good boss and avoid becoming a bad boss and causing their employees and their business to suffer.