by Sanford Simon
'The Galaxy - A Nice Place to Live'. That's the slogan under the Galaxy logo.
At Christmas time each year we have a luncheon for our employees. At this luncheon we celebrate the employees who, during the past year have had a significant anniversary, their 5th, 10th, 15th or 20th year in the employ of the GTCA. This was the first time I had the opportunity to attend this luncheon and speak with our employees. I was struck by the spirit that was shown by the Galaxy personnel who attended. I realized that there were two views of the Galaxy. There are the owners and residents, and there are the employees. In most correspondence we talk about the thoughts of the owners and residents. This article is dedicated to the employees.
Eduardo Duarte, a porter in the Building and Grounds Department started working at the Galaxy on March 15, 1978. He is the longest employee in tenure at the Galaxy. There are seven other employees who have been here longer than 20 years. Just for information, additionally there are 15 employees with over 15 years and not at the twenty-year mark. Thirty-one employees have served with between ten and fifteen years of employment. Twenty others have passed their five-year anniversary.
All in all, about 70% of our employees have over five years of tenure at the Galaxy.
Mike Walsh, our maintenance manager has been with us since 1982 and has come up from "the ranks" to his present position. Our longest serving front service person is Hallman Angel Hernandez. "Bobby" Bilbao, recently elevated into a management position as In Unit Services Supervisor, started in the maintenance unit in February 1980, and doesn’t look old enough to have twenty years of service. Seven of our concierge staff have been with us over ten years. These long service citations are repeated in each department.
What does all this mean? First of all we have a stable workforce that serves us well. They are willing to learn new tasks and want to perform them well. Many seek advancement within the complex. They like working at the Galaxy. It was evident from the luncheon that they want this to be a leading condominium and they are proud to be of service. They want to do it right and get it right. They have been around a long time. They look at this complex and see a future.
Many of these men and women have raised families and sent children off to higher education and college while working at the Galaxy. They are proud people. We must be proud of them.
Our management team is working hard to impress on all of the employees with the concept that our standards must be high and we can improve on our everyday performance. With the length of service that many of these men and women have served we have a ready audience willing to listen to ways and means of improvement. I get the impression that they want to do the best job possible.
Most of our employees live in the immediate area. They are from Guttenberg and the immediate surrounding towns. Many walk to work. The guards, porters, front service people and maintenance personnel are the unsung heroes of our building. They keep the hot water running and clean our halls. They see that the Galaxy functions. If the 'Galaxy is a Great Place to Live', it also is a 'Great Place to Work'.
Copyright © Galaxy Towers Condominium Association 1996 - 2001. Written permission is required for reproducing materials contained herein.
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