9 minute read
BMH Asks: Management Companies
BMH Asks: Management
Companies Executives at four of Hawaii’s biggest management companies discuss how the coronavirus is affecting their employees and operations.
Advertisement
Neil Ross, Senior VP of Operations Associa Hawaii How has the coronavirus changed your day-to-day operations?
We are proud to say that so far the impact on our operations has been mainly behind the scenes with minimal impact to the services we provide our clients. For a long time, we have been setting up our systems to allow for flexibility and remote working. That has allowed the transition at this difficult time to be easier on our team.
Neil Ross
Regardless of the type of emergency situation, be it a health emergency or hurricane, we have to remain flexible and ready to react as the situation and circumstances surrounding us develop. In the case of COVID-19, events change day by day, hour by hour, and so adaptability is crucial. Our past experience with emergency management allowed us to be better prepared for this event, but each situation presents unique circumstances that we learn from and add to our future planning.
Associa Hawaii has a broad suite of software that we use for both internal and external communications. One of our best tools is TownSq, our fully integrated management software. TownSq allows us to communicate with boards, residents, tenants and even multiple associations at once. It also allows residents to communicate with one another and their board members, post concerns and questions, review their maintenance fee account and view documents.
Our dedicated human resources professionals and our leadership team is here and ready to support our staff 24/7. We also provide wellness and mental health resources to our employees at all times, year-round, regardless of the situation.
Mike Hartley, President Hawaiiana Management
As an essential employer, we are open for business. We have had to adjust the way we do business, but we are still providing service and in some cases, more due to the unique challenges of responding to COVID-19 and keeping clients informed of resources that may be available to them.
Mike Hartley
changes have you instituted?
We did not have any specific plans in place for a pandemic. However, we did commence a program immediate- ly and continued to develop it based on directions from the federal and state government. Examples of some of our changes: visits to the office by our clients or the public is controlled, employees’ shifts are flexible to allow for fewer people in the office, and some employees are working remotely to reduce the number of employees in the office.
Remote access for managers, web portals, video and phone conferencing, and email and phone for owners.
Emotional support is available with our employee assistance program. We have re-distributed material to assist our employees.
Daniel Kent, Vice Presi- dent/Senior Property Manager Hawaiian Properties
Daniel Kent
Initially when the impending threat of COVID-19 became clear, we closed our offices to the public to ensure the continued health and safety of our employees and guests. We’ve increas- ingly adjusted our various depart- ments’ schedules to ensure a mixture of remote work and staggered hours while in the office along with adhering to all social distancing and increased
The greenest commercial AC systems in the world are available from the company with the bluest logo.
• Non-ozone depleting refrigerants: Puron TM , R-134A and R-1233 zd(E) with A1 safety rating.
• Among the highest overall efficiency levels • Wide range of seismic compliant solutions • Easy serviceability and Carrier Hawaii support • Micro processor controls for maximum performance and reliability
30MPW AquaSnap ® Water-Cooled Packaged Scroll Chiller (Puron) 30XV AquaForce ® Air-Cooled Screw Chillers (R-134A) 19DV AquaEdge ® Water-Cooled Centrifugal Chillers (R-1233 zd(E))
23XRV AquaEdge Water-Cooled Screw Chiller (R-134A)
precautionary sanitation measures. All previously scheduled annual/board meetings during this time period have been rescheduled in order to protect everyone involved.
We already had a long-term, strategic task force in place prior to this event. This allowed us the twofold ability to focus on the following critical processes: • 1) Adapting in real-time to the constantly evolving city, state and federal health-related directives. With fine-tuned implementation and deployment of daily/weekly departmental and company-wide changes as necessitated in order to continue to provide the highest levels of service to all of our clients despite the increasing logistical challenges. • Forward planning to continue to stay ahead of the curve, and foresee likely upcoming scenarios that would further impact our employees, site management teams and properties we oversee. Being proactive, especially in times of crisis, is of the utmost importance to us.
We have rolled out Microsoft Teams to all of our employees, which offers them the ability to work and communicate remotely within their previous groups, as well as follow company-wide updates. Another feature our team members can utilize is the ability to use a virtual network to remotely access their full workstations while off-site. Capabilities include remote calls and video conferencing internally, as well as with our site management teams and building residents.
Despite the current obstacles, we have worked around the clock to ensure our daily office functions continue to run smoothly, payroll is processed and vendors paid on schedule, and all correspondence is handled in a timely manner.
Yes, our site managers and their teams have always been the ones we work closest with. All of our property managers are in regular communication with their on-site counterparts, and continue to provide all necessary professional assistance, guidance and support to them.
We have been creating and sending continually updated relevant association-related information for the ongoing COVID-19 situation to our site managers for their reference and to assist in responding to the questions and concerns of residents.
we’Ve movED & still open
808-422-2132
CONSTRUCTION CONSULTATION SERVICES:
q Life Safety
Inspections
q Specification &
Contract Bidding
q Project
Oversight
q Construction Inspection
Construction Management Inspection LLC (CMI) is a multi-disciplined construction consulting firm experienced in assisting clients in managing the entire construction process. Our projects include asphalt resurfacing, spalling investigation/ repair, roofing, painting, drain & plumbing replacement, electrical/ mechanical systems, high risk components and more.
visit us @ our new office* 1013 kawaiAhao street Honolulu (Kakaako), 96814
same great service. New location.
Since 1957, HBM provides quality solutions in Janitorial, Building Engineering, Maintenance,
HVAC and Lighting. Services we offer are: • Emergency / After-hours Services • Garage Cleaning • Handyman / Repair Services • Floor Care & Cleaning • HVAC Installation & Maintenance • Water Extraction & More! *currently by appointment only during the conronavirus pandemic
Keven Whalen, Vice President Touchstone Properties
The coronavirus significantly impacted the way we do business. During the early stages of the pandemic, we regularly amended our procedures to follow best practices recommended by the CDC and state Department of Health. With the current “stay-at-home, work-fromhome” order, we have provided several of our employees the necessary tools to work from home.
For those essential employees who cannot work from home, we’ve implemented staggered work schedules so that employees can work safely and implement social distancing while at work. Our employees in the office are provided disinfectant and other cleaning materials to regularly wipe down work stations and shared office areas.
Access to our office is currently limited to employees only. To minimize the exchange of paper from person to person, our building managers are submitting invoices and documents for our accounting department to process electronically. We’ve shared our internal practices with our clients and resident managers so they can implement safe working procedures in their work environment as well. We’ve also implemented recommendations from our clients based on changes they’ve made to promote safety in their work environments.
Keven Whalen
Over the years, we’ve implemented various technologies so our managers can work remotely and efficiently. However, much of our daily work life includes direct human contact—from meeting with board members, resident and general managers, homeowners, co-workers, vendors, and conducting board meetings. Like many businesses, our main challenge has been adjusting our daily work routines to continue working safely.
Our managers have remote access to our server, accounting system, phones and email. The main change in communication is the person-to-person contact. Our office still accepts calls, emails, mail and messaging through our website.
I’ve utilized video conferencing more in the last two weeks than in the past two years. Video conferencing has immensely helped to meet with our various clients, managers and vendors. We are utilizing UberConference for our electronic meetings. There are many platforms for videoconferencing like Zoom, Go To Meeting and Cisco.
Yes, we are working with our managers daily as they are dealing with concerns from residents. We’ve found that regular communication is very helpful to remind residents of the cleaning and safety measures implemented by staff. It’s important for residents to know that the building is taking these additional measures. If you are regularly disinfecting elevators, door handles and other common elements, be sure to remind the residents that you are doing so. We’ve found that this regular communication can relieve the concerns of many worried residents. ❖
263-9885 www.PacificRimGlassTinting.com
H A W A I ‘ I E N E R G Y C L E A N E N E R G Y A L L Y
