We have all seen the show \u201cUndercover Boss\u201d. There have been two instances over the past 2 years that I have placed myself in the relief management\/temp world as an \u201cundercover boss\u201d.
\nWhat is it really like to be a relief manager?<\/p>\n
\u201cEasy\u201d you\u2019d think.
\nYou just come in, do your job, leave at the end of the contract and get paid well.
\nYou are greatly mistaken.<\/p>\n
When I first put the feelers out about starting Real Strategix Relief Management Program it happened by sheer accident.
\nAs you quite possibly know I am a Trainer. I have over 15 years\u2019 experience in all aspects of Property Management, trust accounting and consulting.<\/p>\n
I kept receiving calls from associates in the industry asking if I knew a Relief Manager. So I thought there is no way I can actually make my new business venture work unless I \u201cLive it myself.\u201d
\nRelief Management is different than Real Estate temping (which we also do) as relief managers are generally placed \u201calone\u201d with no one to turn to. Many managers go overseas; some on cruise ships and you are given a half day handover if you are lucky.<\/p>\n
I knew that due to my own professional experience that \u201cI got this\u201d. Admittedly, it was hard for me to take my consultant hat off and put my \u201cRelief Manager\u201d hat on. I knew I had to step up and be a Relief Manager if I wanted others to do so for my business.<\/p>\n
I thought I was extremely over qualified for the job at hand. It was hard for me to sit in an office alone and just twiddle my thumbs. It was a permanent complex with no office hours so I just sat there, waiting\u2026.<\/p>\n
The first particular office did not know the extent of my background and had just heard through the grapevine that I might be interested. They knew that I was a former property manager who was a new manager consultant and they trusted me with their business.
\n\u201cI got this\u201d.
\nThen the twiddling of the thumbs stopped with one phone call.
\n\u201cHi! I am Tash and the owner said that I could break my lease if I needed to because my husband was in the army and I may have to relocate.\u201d
\n\u201cOk Tash that is fine. But you understand there is a break lease fee and you have to pay rent until the new tenant moves in and \u2026\u201d
\nAnd then \u201cTash\u201d lost her banana peel\u2026. She was livid, screaming at me that I should know; the notes should be there that the owner agreed when they moved in\u2026.bla bla bla…
\nThere were no notes. I went through the software; files, emails and had to tell Tash to do same (she could not find anything in writing either). As far as legislation and her lease agreement showed, Tash was responsible for those payments.<\/p>\n
Over the case of the 3 weeks I met many more Tash\u2019s and it was then that I really understood the difficulty of being a Relief Manager.
\nLike Tash initially told me; when her head spun on her shoulders and smoke came out her ears, that when the onsite manager returned \u201cyes Tash was right\u201d it was a verbal agreement.
\nThe owner somehow forgot to mention that to me\u2026funny that.<\/p>\n
As a Relief Manager, all they have to work with are the facts and what is written in front of them.
\nI am trained in 8 different trust accounting software and can tell you every one of them has a \u201cnotes\u201d section and if you are not using it, it is what we call \u201cTash times\u201d.
\nIt is now the time to start.<\/p>\n
Relief Managers are increasing their prices due to this very fact. They come into an unknown situation more like a private investigator. However, if resorts and complex owners are not diligent with their note keeping they are basically getting paid to be yelled at by Tash.<\/p>\n
When Real Strategix receives a relief management enquiry, the first thing we tend to ask after the basic questions is if you have a \u201crelief management bible\u201d or a go to book.
\nIf you have never had a property sell under your management or had to do an insurance claim or apply to QCAT for abandonment or have a guest destroy a room \u2013 I guarantee it will happen when a Relief Manager is there.<\/p>\n
They need to know what you want them to do in this instance (yes a lot of it is legislation and they will know that) but \u201chow much are incidentals, who is building insurance and with, the tractor that takes the bins out has broken down \u2013 who will fix it?<\/p>\n
Start your bible NOW!
\nI also guarantee that you will NOT be 100% happy with your relief; they will do something different that you as a manager would not do and you will not be pleased.
\nBut remember THEY ARE NOT YOU; they haven\u2019t run the resort for 4 years. They are there to help make your life a little bit easier so you can enjoy your holiday!
\nONCE AGAIN \u2013 MAKE SURE YOUR RELIEF MANAGER HAS PROFESSIONAL INDEMNITY INSURANCE!<\/p>\n
Undercover boss, over and out\u2026\u2026<\/p>\n
Lauren Kropp
\nDirector
\nReal Strategix<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
We have all seen the show \u201cUndercover Boss\u201d. There have been two instances over the past 2 years that I have placed myself in the relief management\/temp world as an \u201cundercover boss\u201d. What is it really like to be a relief manager? \u201cEasy\u201d you\u2019d think. You just come in, do your job, leave at the end of the contract and get paid well. You are greatly mistaken. When I first put the feelers out about starting Real Strategix Relief Management Program it happened by sheer accident. As you quite possibly know I am a Trainer. I have over 15 years\u2019 experience in all aspects ofRead More →<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1100,"featured_media":292,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"_mbp_gutenberg_autopost":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,15],"tags":[],"class_list":["entry","post","publish","author-laurenrealstrategix-com-au","post-291","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-landlords-tenants-renting-and-management","category-motels-and-hospitality"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theonsitemanager.com.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/291","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theonsitemanager.com.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theonsitemanager.com.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theonsitemanager.com.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1100"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theonsitemanager.com.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=291"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/theonsitemanager.com.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/291\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":293,"href":"https:\/\/theonsitemanager.com.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/291\/revisions\/293"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theonsitemanager.com.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/292"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theonsitemanager.com.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=291"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theonsitemanager.com.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=291"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theonsitemanager.com.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=291"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}