The culture at Bell Partners seems to be shifting to one that favors the corporate level employees over the on site workers. In a recent company wide meeting, it was announced only corporate staff would be paid for covid time off despite many of them not being exposed to it the same staff entering the homes of residents are. They pay maintenance mid level compared to other Property Management Companies which is one reason so few Techs want to work for them.
Compounding the pay issue is regional management team that do not address major concerns of staff until the issues begin to cost money. I’ve had to do snow removal many times with no equipment save shovels the maintenance manager bought himself. We were denied a quad or functioning plow for budget reasons.
Bell does have many diversity and inclusion courses, but they barely have any LGBTQ+ or minority staff (especially in upper management). This may be because HR misunderstands or ignores the concerns or marginalized people.
Bell isn’t a bad company to work for, but I feel any criticism for it is internally squashed which is leading to a declining work environment. Moreover, choices are being made to benefit corporate staff exclusively more frequently.
Example: Renewal bonuses are becoming extremely hard to get as prices for rent skyrocket and people refuse to renew.
Corporate is rewarded based on property revenue which means their bonus structure is at odds with that of on-site staff.
Maintenance is working twice as hard to keep up with turns and it simply does not feel rewarding when OT is the only reliable way to see paychecks similar to the pre Covid ones.
Maintenance is low moral, over worked, underpaid, and very stressed in my region. Bare in mind there are Bell properties in other regions that aren’t like this. I would just check the apartments Google reviews before applying. Chances are if the rating is low and specifically due to service request issues, you’re might be walking into a difficult job that’s seen lots of turn over for one reason or another. I would avoid applying to any property that’s going through construction, ownership transition, or renovations. The weight of everyone’s mistakes in any of those situations is always placed squarely on maintenance’s shoulders.
