Above and Beyond!

Today at Daniel's job they had a "retreat". I would call it more of a training since they didn't go anywhere and they were mostly just listening to speeches. However, they did do awards. Daniel was given an "Atta Boy" award. This is received by techs and managers who have gotten calls from customers through the office saying how much they loved the service they received and that they really appreciate all the company does... and so on. Next he got the "Above and Beyond" which is a national award in his company. His company is part of a company that is based in Phoenix, but they are owned by a company that is based in Maryland. So this is a very cool award and no one has gotten it here. He got this award for adding recycling to the company. When he was just a tech they had 2 big, acid covered dumpsters and were paying way too much not to mention all the things that could be recycled were just getting thrown into the landfill. By adding recycling he cut annual waste cost by 20%. This may not be a huge thing to some, but he added this improvement in the first 2 months that he was hired as Regional Manager. This is the letter that his General Manager, Ryan, sent to nominate him for this award:

2011 Above & Beyond Award.  Nomination:  Daniel Schneyder, Regional Manager.  Daniel came back to the pool business after finishing a degree in Spanish.  As a residential route tech, he grew his assigned route by 80%, from the smallest revenue to the largest.  When he was promoted, we had to split it because no other person could handle the workload he had been doing week after week.  This was done without focused advertising, just word of mouth and effective customer communication.  As manager in charge of all residential service, he hit the ground running.  He pro-actively contacts customers to get issues resolved, equipment repaired, and parts replaced.  He effectively teaches and trains techs, strengthening their weaknesses, meeting them poolside as needed.  He recently decided to broaden his scope of pool service by “diving in” head first to commercial service.  He rode with the commercial manager, two techs, and then filled in proficiently when vacation schedule offered an opportunity.  He has worked hard to learn CAIS, and is broadening his expertise to include payroll, advertising, and helping with our IT networking needs.  Daniel saw an issue with our weekly trash removal.  We were throwing away large amounts of recyclable material.  He contacted the disposal company, changed our agreement and service, added a recycle bin, and now we pay 20% less each month for being greener.  If there is a problem, Daniel will asses it, resolve it, then tell me about it.  It’s wonderful to have his initiative as part of our team.

Besides having the awards and listening to some presentations, they also had lunch and did some role playing to help the techs when they get into tight situations, like how to control the situation and help the customer understand their role in keeping their pool nice. But aside from this the main reason they were all really interested in going was because they were doing "door prizes" or a raffle. They gave away a $25 gift card to Chili's, a $25 gift card to Best Buy, a GPS, a Kindle Fire, and a 40" TV. After all but the TV were given away Daniel thought his odds of being drawn were slim, which he was totally fine with, but then his number was drawn and he won the TV!
Since we don't need another TV, we plan to take it back to Best Buy and investing it back into some craft projects for me to spruce up the house.

I am proud of Daniel for doing all that he can in his job and trying to go above and beyond in every aspect of  it. I know that he doesn't like being rained on or the heat of this cruel Texas sun, but he does it every day and for the most part enjoys it.