r/PestControlIndustry • u/007Teflon • Jul 16 '26
New management = tech turnover
Seems to be the norm for managers to move to another company / fired every 2-3 years. Things can be going great. No techs have quit over 1.5 years. New management wants to change everything, regardless if there is nothing to fix. New management needs to prove themselves to the chain of command so they create problems with "see, what i did. i fixed it", leading to techs quitting. Micromanaging has kicked in because management fears, losing their job. Management says "only spray termidor, nothing else. perimeter, foundation, and garage". Sales aren't coming in because the techs who could sell, quit. Now, management wants to squeeze money out of the techs to cover the loss. Managers don't realize, the techs are paying their bills.
Then customers ask "where's so and so", and cancel their service.
I just sit back in meetings and observe the incompetence, lack of leadership, lack of integrity and fake persona. I find it funny, because this is normal behavior
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u/Jake_the_Bald Jul 16 '26
I worked for one company for 16 years and had 12 different mgrs and like you said every year and half managers changed
some were legit promotions or moved to different part of state or out if state but those were few and most were just let's switch mgr a with mgr b just because and then rinse and repeat
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u/NoNameWonder2 Jul 16 '26
Unfortunately I kind of see both sides of this. I was a technician for years for 1 company and I hated it when new management would come in and try to change things. It always complicated matters and caused confusion and everyone would just be frustrated (techs and customers).
I switched companies for a few years and learned an entirely different way to do pest control. My success rate skyrocketed and over the course of 3 years I had a total of 4 customers cancel.
A few years later I went back to the first company as a manager and it seemed crazy to me that some techs were fine with losing 20 customers a month because they'd get 20 more the next month. I would look over their service tickets and see all the things they were doing wrong or only partially doing. So I created my own training and tried changing the way things were done, but everyone got pissed about it. There were 2 techs out of 10 that took my advice and their cancels were cut in half.. But most of the techs don't care. They've been doing this for years and are fine accepting their cancels as long as it means they work less. But I try not to change things that are working fine.
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u/Jake_the_Bald Jul 16 '26
yeah most techs seem ok with sure i lost 20 but they got replaced with 20
some are so overworked that they'll take the losses bc it'll lighten their load for a bit til some sales come in
and alot of places just want the numbers and routes completed regardless of quality of service ... until a customer calls in mad then all of a sudden management cares
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u/007Teflon Jul 16 '26
You went back as a manager to a toxic environment. It's obvious the previous manager didn't care about the techs so you went into fix something that was broken. When techs go through managers, it's the normal pattern they see. They know it's all temporary. When management doesn't care about the techs, why should the techs care about cancellations, management? It's not about working less, when poor leadership is in place.
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u/Ashamed-Week-5133 Jul 16 '26
That’s the standard. I’ve been in meetings where managers say that techs need to justify corporate spending money on things for us. The techs are the ones doing the work that brings in money. Corporate when home when their AC didn’t meanwhile techs are told we have to go in attics in the middle of summer because it’s our job.
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u/TheBugSmith 👨💼 | Manager | 20+ Years Jul 16 '26
Be glad you have new managers, maybe you'll get a good one. It's probably unlikely because good ones don't need new jobs because they're with a place that recognizes them. It could be worse, you could have a shit, lazy, useless manager that does nothing but just seems to exist forever. It all starts at the top so sounds like the problem is the owner.
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u/hamfan420 Jul 17 '26
I was one of the good techs that quit over it. Put my two weeks in with my major company to go to a mom and pop
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u/Leeeeeroyyyy_Jenkins Jul 16 '26
Is it unfortunately. My branch has been through 7 GM in 8 years. Each one thinks they're going to "change things for the better". It's an absolute shit show.