Best Places to Work Honoree 2022
Organization Name: ohDEER South Shore
ohDEER stands for:
O = Original - ohDEER was created with an idea from our founder Kurt who began with deer control and evolved into a customer service business which specializes in deer, tick & mosquito control.
H = Honest – There is a focus on interacting with honesty and integrity both clients and each other. Management also communicates honestly with our employees about goals and where the business is at.
D = Driven – Our employees are driven/motivated and energized to succeed because of both the intrinsic and extrinsic rewards.
E = Engaging – Our employees are engaged and friendly with our clients and each other every day.
E = Effective – The employees really appreciate the fact the product and methods we use are truly effective and sets them up for success. Our culture is also effective because it allows our employees to become more autonomous and feel more effective.
R = Reliable – Here the “R” stands for reliable, but it could also stand for rewarding. Our culture is both.
All of the above describe our core values and culture. Positive, fun, friendly and collaborative are also excellent adjectives to describe our company culture. The collaboration that occurs at ohDEER lets goals be achieved and problems to be solved in a positive way.
Our owner, Dave's, drive for exceptional service has allowed him to build a team of men and women who are equally as driven and is what makes ohDEER South Shore such a great place to work. With someone such as Dave, who is the epitome of our core values, our company attracts team members who have grown with the company and reached personal and professional goals that they never would have dreamed of.
ohDEER South Shore is driven by a positive team driven culture which includes rewards and incentives at every level (technician through management). Payroll incentives, gift cards, as well as verbal and written recognition are given for meeting goals or providing great service. Verbal recognition of great performance is given daily. Technicians are recognized immediately with a group Slack message if a phone call is received stating what a great job they have done or when a wonderful Google review is given. In addition, you never know when a surprise breakfast or lunch for everyone will occur. Everything that happens at South Shore Deer, Tick and Mosquito comes from a positive and uplifting perspective.
For an employee who has the desire to learn and grow, opportunities are endless. In house training is offered for both skills and knowledge growth. Dave, our owner, is a business coach for other businesses and has gone through extensive training on his own. His knowledge and skills are consistently shared with his employees. Communication, time management, marketing, and leadership training are encouraged to help with individual growth. Employees are given the opportunity to use these skills to advance and grow within ohDEER South Shore as well as gain skills to move on to other things if desired.
Over the last year, the business has grown. People were needed with skills to provide more customer service, leadership, team management, training, etc. Every one of the people that filled these roles came from the internal promotion of our dedicated team members. In some cases a new role was created in order to utilize the employee’s strengths, because we wanted to retain the employee and their current role was not the best fit for both sides.
We are in our busy season now, so as a mid-week boost, each employee is provided with a meal to eat or take home on Wednesdays. The meal is provided by a local business, who also happens to be a customer. ohDEER South Shore also tries to hire veterans, whenever possible, as thanks for all they have done. ohDEER also has a relationship with a financial planning firm and recently brought them into the office. They met with the employees, as a group and then individually, to offer some guidance regarding budgeting and planning for the future.
ohDEER South Shore is extremely effective communicating with both customers and employees. Emails, text messages, customer portal, phone calls and door tags are all methods used to communicate with our customers. These methods are used for both service-related communications, as well as special opportunities we are offering. Slack is utilized by employees to communicate issues regarding equipment, client, or service or to just to share an idea. If an employee is out in the field, in office, or at home someone can always be reached, and response time is extremely quick. There is also a weekly meeting to communicate new information, clarify any concerns and set goals.
ohDEER has a STUPENDOUS community program. It is called T.I.C.K (Take Initiative Check Kids). This program provides education about ticks and how to protect yourself and especially children. Education is provided about the breeding cycle, where they live, what they look like, safety precautions and how to check for and remove ticks. The greatest thing is we treat pre-schools and nonprofit area playgrounds for FREE on Sundays.
