Game On: How Friendly Competition Spurs Motivation and Pride

When Those After-Hours Calls Bring a Joy to the Maintenance Supervisor

Friendly competition among teammates inspires a new level of pride, motivation, and fun to the job.

It’s hardly good news when a regional maintenance supervisor gets “that call” at 7:30 pm from one of his supervisors.

But that call came in recently to regional maintenance supervisor, David Alvarado, CAMT, at apartment operator Atlantic Pacific Companies.

“Okay, what’s the problem,” Alvarado said first.

In response, however, he heard joy and even giddiness from one of his top Supervisors.

“You can call me ‘Guru’ now,” he said. “My name’s not Tony, it’s Guru.”

That technician had reached a performance rating through AppWork, a mobile maintenance workflow system that tracks performance.

He had completed enough work orders at a certain level of quality to earn his “Guru” badge.

“When I first saw the gamification standings on AppWork, I thought it was kind of cool,” Alvarado said. “But I had no idea it would be such a big deal for my guys.

These are grown men and they’re teasing each other about the badges that they earn.

“It has brought a whole new level of pride, motivation, and fun to their jobs.” For the techs, tracking their performance gives them a chance to show the company how much they are worth to the company, Alvarado says.

Atlantic-Pacific began using the app earlier this year. It helps schedule and organize work orders, track performance, and deliver daily actionable reports that save time and prioritize needs based on the onsite team’s strengths.

Its resident text communication tool ensures greater efficiency and transparency. Its documentation functions for each work order relieve burdensome administrative busy work.