Selection of people for maintenance is crucial for us

The selection of people for maintenance is crucial for us

"The maintenance worker and the Facilities Manager work in tandem. What I enjoy about working in the industry is the combination of technology and communication. Most important to me are honesty and a willingness to work hard. I joined Arrider because the company atmosphere and trust is important to me. I want to work with people who care about me and on whom I can rely," says my colleague Petr Priesel about his job.

His route into the world of facility management was through a trade where he worked as an electrician on renovation and construction electrical work. He moved into the industry thanks to a friend as a maintenance worker, so he knows the job first-hand. He helped build the technical team and moved into the role of Facilities Manager.

Within Arridere, it is the Facility Managers who lead the maintenance staff at each site. They are their closest colleagues and supervisors. We therefore interviewed Peter to find out what the job of a maintenance manager at Arridere entails, what kind of people we are looking for to join the company, what he personally values most in them and what is key for us when selecting them.

I was looking for a company where I would be happy and they would be happy to have me

Peter, what was your journey into the facility management industry and why did you decide to join Arrider?

I am a qualified electrician and have been in business for most of my working life. I was mainly involved in building refurbishments and doing construction electrical work, and later I got into locksmithing. About 4 years ago, a friend approached me with an offer to work in Facility Management. At that time in another company. I started as a maintenance worker with the goal of helping build a technical team and later leading it from a facility management position, which I did. I joined Arrider about 16 months ago. It was again thanks to the same friend who transferred here. He was great to work with and I was also impressed with the way Arridere works. I was looking for a company where I would be happy and where they would be happy to have me too. Because it always has to be a two-way relationship to make it work.

So how does Arridere work? Martin Kaleta said in an interview that we do fuck-up management. It must be a challenging situation sometimes. How does it work?

With insight, with calm, with discretion. With a smile. That's typical of Arrider. I've always enjoyed solving problems. Facility management combines the technical and the human side. I enjoy the creativity around it. The fuck-up management that Martin was talking about is that the maintenance person and the facility manager work as a team. Situations that can throw a client off are actually our daily bread. We've got them all set up, we know when, who, with whom. We have clear roles and responsibilities. In short, we can calm things down and resolve them efficiently.

Please describe to us what a day in maintenance looks like and who do colleagues in this position most often work and communicate with?

This depends a lot on the type of project. Whether it's office buildings, rental housing, or maybe a hotel or other type of resort. In terms of working hours, we can offer several schedules, such as 7 - 15 or 10 -18. Short and long weeks are also possible. Here we always try to find the best intersection between the needs of the project and the personal situation of the colleague or candidate. The daily routine includes a daily technology check, minutes are taken for this, each building has multiple technical rooms and machine rooms. Then it is also possible that unexpected events and accidents occur. These then need to be dealt with. These requests go to the help desk. Coordination is handled by the facility manager. Again, rental housing or public spaces have their own specifics.

Honesty, willingness to develop and decent communication

What kind of people are we looking for in maintenance? What is most important to you in candidates? What do you think the ideal candidate looks like?

For me, honesty is key. It is extremely important for me to be able to trust him. A technical background is also important. We're looking for electricians who can work independently. Their work is not just about electricity. It's complex. The willingness to develop is also key. The modern buildings we look after sometimes have quite complex technical equipment. Of course, we don't expect them to be known immediately. Training is expected, but the willingness to learn it simply has to be there. Someone develops technically and gets better and better, they simply grow as the technical building operation field develops and moves on. Someone else develops more in communication and organization and may move into a coordinating role over time. We are in a service industry so decent communication, reliability and responsibility are must haves.

What interesting technologies do colleagues work with, for example? How does it work when you come across a complex technical problem, for example?

For example, heat pumps, air conditioners, boiler rooms, SMART HOME technologies. The training is more or less on the job. The maintenance technician is always trained on all the equipment on the site he is taking care of. The training is provided by the equipment supplier on hire and then of course there is ongoing training. When there is an investment in new equipment or technology, that's when the training takes place, the maintainer usually works with the contractor as part of the installation. Each building is specific. If there is a complex technical problem, the facility manager helps to solve the situation. He then deals with the situation with the service organisation or, for example, the fire brigade. The maintenance man must know that he is there and that he can rely on him. Of course, the maintenance guy has to be able to communicate with the clients when I'm not there, but we solve problems together.

For example, what have been some curious situations that you've had to deal with colleagues? What surprised you, for example.

I could find more. But for example, situations like the one where we had to deal with the fire brigade coming because the cooks had burnt something. And that's no exception. For example, we had a tournament at the golf resort we take care of and the flood came and flooded the buildings and the machine room and we had to deal with it. Well, when we finished dealing with the damage, right afterwards a pipe burst in another building and there was water everywhere again, 287 cubic meters of water came out. That's what life says. But to be balanced, this job often brings those happy moments when we really think it's worth it. And that's when you manage to resolve a situation like this. Or overall, when the customer is happy and lets you know it and compliments you. The feedback on that work is often from really big multinational companies that have standards that are very high.

I appreciate the humanity and look forward to the new energy in the team

Today, Peter, if you could go back those 5 or so years when you were considering the industry, what advice would you give?

I would probably say to myself, don't be afraid of new things. If you enjoy the work, you can do anything. It's about learning. You can't do it without that. But it's not just facility management. It's everywhere. We're looking for people with the right attitude first and foremost, and it's also important for us to fit in humanly. Arridere knows how to choose people in this respect. We are currently filling more maintenance positions. I'm looking forward to bringing new energy back to the team.

What do you personally appreciate most about working here?

I most appreciate the humanity here and the support. I know that if I get in a bind, I'm absolutely not afraid to go to anyone in management openly and ask for help or advice. Arridere just knows how to pick people apart and we work very well as a group. I'm not worried about us not being able to do anything. There's always a solution. It allows me to function as a boss in a less directive way, which I can do, but I'm not comfortable with. It's just that functional relationships also bring that kind of working comfort. It doesn't mean any artificial comfort. But the fact that we work together in a professional way can be fun, and when the going gets tough, we're in it together. Some of my colleagues and I don't see each other for maybe six months, but when we do, we like to see each other.

We are looking new colleagues for locations in the centre of Prague

We are expanding the ranks of our colleagues in technical maintenance. We are looking for maintenance technicians and facility managers for locations in the centre of Prague. What does this job entail and who are we looking for? Our colleague Petr Priesel has been through maintenance and now he is leading these works from the position of Facility Manager and we interviewed him for you.

JOB DESCRIPTION

Satisfied employee,
satisfied client

We build our company culture and our services on solid values. Trust comes first. We respect, but at the same time demand respect. We listen, respond and act openly at all times. We are looking for creative people with a positive attitude to join our team. We believe that when the team and each one of us is happy, the client is ultimately happy.

Services with a smile

We take the worries of our customers on our shoulders. We do it gladly and with a smile. Are you interested and would you like to be there? We are expanding our technical maintenance team and looking for new colleagues for locations in the centre of Prague. All close to the metro. Take the first step, get to know the position and get in touch!

More about us