maintenance technician

senior maintenance technician

maintenance person

apartment manager

senior maintenance person

McKinley

McKinley dominates the rental market in Southeast Michigan. They recruit a lot and sell their recruits on the fabulous pay and benefits. However, they have a company culture that is based on the idea that if you apply a ton of pressure to employees and reach for unobtainable goals that you will achieve amazing things (they call this the "Big Fat Audacious Goals") The problem with this philosophy is that they rapidly burn out exceptional people and come to see people as disposable commodities that can be used until there is a cheaper option. 
I worked for McKinley as a sales associate and customer service manager for a mere 5 months and 3 weeks (an average lifespan of employee there; as full benefits & pay raises kick in at 6 months) In that short time I was promoted twice, took my property from 88% to 100% full; and had a renewal rate of 90%. My performance was lauded and praised. Nonetheless, it was made clear that my job was never safe, and that no matter how well I did or how many goals I unexpectedly reached, that my team and I should always be ding MORE.
During those same 5 months; my property went through 6 different regional managers. Each manager came in on their first day and fired someone. This was a tactic used to establish authority & cause staff to feel insecure (they truly believe that if an employee feels secure that they don't work as hard. Insecurity and stress are believed to lead people to work harder & place the company first. Stress is supposed to bring out everyone's best; so it would be artificially caused if it appeared to be absent. When I was supervising staff, I was told to "never let them feel comfortable") 
I was a casualty of the last regional manager change. I never had a conversation with this man; and the person who he assigned to terminate me professed that he didn't want to, nor knew why I was being eliminated. My guess was that I had just had a raise and my benefits would soon be kicking in. This seemed to be how the others that had been fired had been selected: as a means of cost control.
Be aware that accepting a position with McKinley will likely result in constant stress, threats about your job and all the jobs at your property, mind games aimed at increasing productivity, far more hours worked than promised, a sacrifice of your personal life, uprooting your life, constant office politics, and likely termination prior to your benefits or salary raising. If you continue to look for jobs while you are employed and are using this a bridge in between other jobs than it might be worth it. If you are looking for long term employment with a solid company: then run, don't walk, from this company.

This company is poorly run, at least at the Orlando offices. But it seems that the rest of the company has similar complaints: High turnover rate, slave-driving, and the constant fear of losing your job. It all begins at the top. I saw many good people get fired while I was with the company. They will usually fire you right before your benefits kick in. I worked with a community manager who blatantly told me that she grew up in a household, where, "People of color were referred to as something other than people of color." As a minority I found this extremely offensive. She later told me, as I was being transferred, that she had gone through NINE, (9!!), Senior Sales Associates. Nothing I did was ever good enough, nor will it ever be for you! The amount of hoops that you will have to jump through to keep your job becomes more difficult, and in the end, when you are doing a three person job, they will let you go. But that will be your blessing, because it truly is a horrible place to work. All of the reviews are very much the real deal. Corporate in Ann Arbor, is a bunch of kids, working and sleeping with one another, power tripping when they come down and "walk" the moldy, sub-par, ghetto properties this company specializes in acquiring. One of the District Managers actually got arrested for Domestic Violence -- The whole company knows!! But this is the type of personality you will run into with this company: Controlling, overbearing, and incompetent.They will try to overwork you and scare you with their system of "Feedback," which is just a way for them to write you up. The tenants will come to you for answers as to why their roach/flea/mold infested apartment still has the same problems they complained of months ago, and the managers will ignore, or have you take their messages. The last manager I was with had a "Jabba The Hut" style of management: Sit on your butt and do nothing while looking disgusting. Yet the rest of the staff suffers because of his lack of professionalism. Some Assistant Managers refuse to move up to a higher position because they know Mckinley treats people poorly. Every property will be the same, because that is the Mckinley way of treating their employees. Oh, they also mess with your commissions. STAY AWAY!!! Expect to be overworked, no breaks, and staying late -- everyday. There are better jobs out there for you.

Typical day starts 20 min before the office opens. Gives you enough time to setup your computer, clean things up etc. Hours are 9-6 but you will NEVER leave at 6pm. The earliest I was ouot of the office was 6:30pm. The job consists of just about everything from answering phones, responding to emails, showing apartments, setting up model apartments, answering resident questions, responding to resident complaints, assisting the residents fax, posting ads, following up with appointments, leasing apartments, cleaning units, posting notices on doors etc etc. Your day goes by pretty fast if you are in a high traffic complex. Your barely have time to use the restroom much less stare at the clock. I enjoyed my office staff and direct manager. The company as a whole however makes you feel insignificant. They are constantly firing the managers without any notice often times this causes a burden to the sales associates. There is absolutely no training implemented they just kind of throw you out there and have you figure it out. There is no sense of job security or feeling of advancement. Benefit don't kick in until after 6 months which really sucks if you happen to get sick. Speaking of being sick there are NO sick days allowed prior to 6months having one even with a drs not will result in a warning/points (After 2 your third is termination). While working here I felt as though I did not matter only what I was bringing to the company financially (as in leases). I was left with No job security, No growth within, No acknowledgment of successes. Highlight of the job was my coworker and the residents who show their appreciation of your hard work.

I was hired on the spot as a Senior Maintenance Tech after they came to town and took over management of a community I was already working at as well as three other communities the previous company managed. I was familiar with them all. They initially cut my pay by two dollars but I accepted the job anyway. They sold the company as a "structured", "family-oriented" and "loyal" place to work. WHAT A FOOLISH MISTAKE and TRUE LIE!
They pushed for HARD work and I kept up. Overtime was daily, untiil they cut it out. I was even given a raise, email praises, etc for my dilligent hard work by the corporate teams who were ALWAYS at the community I worked.
In the FOUR months I worked with the company, I went through three different managers numerous vendors, contractors and fellow maintenance techs. It got to a point where I was cautious about recommending anyone to them because of industry relationships ,that i'd built for over ten years, being broken because of their experience and negative dealings with this company.
I was FIRED for being off work during the weekend, in which I wasn't on On-Call
.???????????????
The manager at the time had only been there for three weeks and they allowed her to terminate me. FOR BEING OFF WORK. She made a scheduling mistake trying to do my job, and blamed it on me. I WAS TOLD " YOURE NOT A GOOD FIT FOR THIS COMPANY."
????????

Basically I was USED to figure out the property and show the corporate staff the issues of the property. When they were done with me they threw me away,LIKE THEY HAD DID EVERYONE ELSE(OVER 10 PEOPLE) THEY INITIALLY HIRED.

I was left alone after a week with no training and had to deal with screaming resident because of the previous poor management and try to train myself at the same time. I had to reach out to other sister properties and introduce myself asking for help. I was left alone in the office for four months.  They hired a new asset manager who decided I was making too much money and they let me go. Hands down the worst company ever worked for. This company is also very well known for selling their properties and not notifying their employees so basically employees show up for work like a regular day and are either fired on the spot, locked out or have to re interview for their same position most likely at a lesser pay.  Upper management will talk to you with absolutely no respect.  While I was left alone as a Senior Sales Associate the regional would not mind calling me in the evenings or on the weekends in regards to things pertaining to the property. I was not salary I did not get paid for those times I spent on the phone with him. This is typically something a property manager would deal with. I also was forced to take the on call phone for maintenance on multiple occasions. I have no maintenance experience. The reason I was left alone after a week was because the property manager that was there for only 3 weeks quit due to the horrible upper management and the office being in complete disarray.

With many years of experience, I joined the team at McKinley. I have never been so micromanaged in my entire career. Upper level management are so disconnected from what it’s like to be on-site, they have no idea how their stringent expectations and need for perfection is mentally affecting their employees. 

The product is embarrassing  (at least on the properties I worked.) The maintenance staff try but with the limited budgets, supplies etc it can become a challenge to keep up with issues. 

PTO is generous, however you need a flow chart to make sure you are meeting all the necessary caveats to be approved.  I once was told that in order to take an emergency half a day off I would need to give a ride to an employee from one location to another before leaving. Basically, in order to use your PTO all the stars must align. It’s truly a joke- 

DO NOT work here unless you are the kind of employee that doesn’t mind having their every move monitored and scrutinized. I understand oversight but the management style here is oppressive and does not promote growth. They basically want robots to work for them. 

I resigned in an immediate fashion and was never contacted by anyone to understand why. If they truly cared, they would want to know why good, capable team members are leaving abruptly. 

I was excited to work for the company but was extremely disappointed with the false sense of community and lack of support. The daily workload is that of 3+ people and the extent of a positive company culture is a teams chat that you are forced to participate in. Though denied, there are cliques throughout the company and shady behavior is defended as long as you are a strong performer. There is minimal work life balance, especially in management positions due to the overbearing work load. I had emails from upper management sent at 3am. Employee turnover is extremely high and offices are often left understaffed in multiple areas- from maintenance to management. Direct management is some of the best I have had, but upper management is disconnected from the lower-level positions. Management ignored concerns for employee safety and offered resignation as a solution. There is little opportunity for advancement, but management is happy to promote to salary pay to eliminate overtime hourly pay. Bonuses are awarded quarterly, but the standards to achieving them are changed constantly and they will fire you just so they do not have to pay your bonus. The only positive aspect of this company is the compensation; but ultimately is not worth the stress.

Stay away at best. Sure do talk a good game but you WILL get the short end of the stick. Giving up a very respectful job to come to this place and ending in regret fullness. Looking forward to making a difference you will soon be over shadowed by get it done now and how dare you ask for assistance. Being salary in my first week I was asked to work the weekend totaling 70 hrs only to follow up with 65 hrs the next following week .You are not joining a team in place but simply replacing a feed up employee and a recent firing of a employee who's spot needs to be filled. I never had a position i didn't like even when the odds were stacked against me but this company showed me that they are still out there and now I know what NOT to do unfortunately. Upper management will sell you the stars only to leave and hit you long range with "as per our conversation" and "this will result in" terms. You want work done? just e-mail corporate and all work will stop till its resolved never minding whats happening at ground zero and what we had to do or finish. I write this very beside myself as i wanted to make a change but I was never givin a chance to in my short weeks employed watching 3 people get fired or walk also making me the 4th to exit shortly after.  

 Suggestions...Undercover Boss also "Learn what you say"

This place will harm every aspect of your humanity if you stay long enough. Just don't. Walk away. KGB STYLE TACTICS. They do things like hand you A company Phone that is pre installed with remote viewing software which they use to listen in on you while at work and HOME! 
They are not ashamed of it either. Do not log into your google account at work as they will steal your password and link up with your email account. Any personal info that they find they will throw in your face with A devilish grin. Think you're just talking with the Supervisor. Nope! The entire office is on speaker phone as he asks you A list of loaded questions. Usually, the supervisor will give you A clenched tooth look to kind of warn you. This DRAMA has nothing to do with actual work. Its just a bunch of lady office slobs hungry for drama and gossip while the men do dangerous work. At least 60 percent of your energy will go toward defending yourself against false narratives, false accusations and believe it or not, criticism of your family and personal life. 
This is A group of people that will not just try and hurt you while you are their, they will try and hurt you when you leave as well. I cannot stress enough how dangerous it is to your career to work for Mckinley. 

Lets be real. Run down apartments. Upper management wont care unless you’re favored even if you work hard. Quick to let the best people go but keep those who lack a lot. Truthfully if you’re not part of upper management or favored you can kick rocks when ever. Be prepared to be on your toes alot of times if not consistently attacked even if its old. Good pay though and starting point but after 3-6 months look for better. Nobody ever on the same page here. So many places and never seen such a disorganized company. They pull things randomly out of nowhere last minute and expect you to go with it whether you like it or not. Only good thing was the pay but the pay blinds everyone from what’s happening. Safety is their least concern as well mention you dont feel comfortable about something boom you’re gone out the door. The list goes on. Got hired for M-F unless summer season now randomly last minute its a permanent thing. Over promise but bery under delivered. Even if you do nothing wrong you will be gone in a instant just cause they felt like it. List can keep going. Then they wonder why turn overs are so high. Everyone replaceable which is true in any company. But company that wants “feedback” but cant handle it either. Its a joke here. 

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Maintenance technician 27 salaries reported	$22.19 per hour
Senior maintenance technician 8 salaries reported	$26.00 per hour
Maintenance person 2 salaries reported	$20.75 per hour
Apartment manager 10 salaries reported	$69,300 per year
Senior maintenance person 12 salaries reported	$23.50 per hour

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