Let Me Tell You About Emily

By Brandon Carpenter, VP of Operations

Emily came to us a little over two years ago after working as a teacher. When she came on board, I’m not sure she envisioned a career in the pest management industry but we knew she was something special. She’s always eager to learn and grow and take on more responsibility. She has risen to every challenge we’ve put before her, so now she is our Residential and Commercial Services Manager, overseeing those two important divisions.

To be successful at EPM, you have to be a caring and compassionate person. Emily truly understands how stressful a pest problem can be for a homeowner. From time to time I overhear her conversations with our customers and it’s apparent how much she cares about the individuals on the other end of the phone. Hearing how she interacts with our customers – how she listens and empathizes with their issues – makes me proud to have someone like Emily working so closely with them.

Emily’s communicaton skills are second to none. Whether she is communicating with me, a customer, our technicians, or her co-workers, Emily is as great a listener as she is a caring friend, coach and mentor.

And she’s also a “doer”! When she trained to learn about our residential division, she quickly picked up on the complexities of scheduling our technicians to make their routes more efficient while meeting the unique needs of each homeowner. Her attention to detail is amazing, and she’s a spreadsheet person (which I happen to love). Keeping important schedules and data in spreadsheets isn’t something we asked her to do. She just took it upon herself as a way to keep things more organized.

As a member of our employee engagement committee, Emily embraces and promotes our “Fun Fridays” and other company outings and events. She is a company cheerleader and sincerely wants everyone to have a good time at work. That kind of enthusiasm is something you can’t teach, so in addition to her other great qualities, it’s a bonus that she brings that sparkle to EPM.

What EPM Means to Me

By Emily McAleese, Residential/Commercial Manager

I am the Residential and Commercial Services Manager at EPM. When I moved to Columbus and found EPM, I wasn’t sure what it would bring me. But I really do love the opportunity. It’s brought me growth, experience, a career path, and the realization of new managerial possibilities.

I started as a Residential Specialist and then I stepped up and took on all of the residential and commercial division responsibilities. I’m now managing the schedules of technicians and our customers’ needs and there are a lot of moving parts and pieces to juggle. For example, a technician may need to have special equipment on board to meet the demands of the job on any given day. It’s my job to route technicians to the office and to customers and to try to do it all efficiently. I try to make sure they have the right gear to do the right job at the right time. You have those days when everything clicks and it’s all going well. In other words, I’m trying not to send three technicians to New Albany in one day, because that is not what is best for business.

I’ve learned that listening is key in this role. I’m dealing with homeowners who’ve discovered something upsetting. They’re not happy to have termites or carpenter ants or other pests that could do damage to their home (which is likely their most valuable investment.)  I am that first person at EPM listening to their concerns. So I really take my time and I try to help them feel more calm. Something that sets us apart at EPM is that we can get out to our customers really quickly and that helps to ease those concerns. And that gets back to juggling all those moving parts and pieces. I’ll try my best to get someone out that same day, even it it means moving things around in the technicians’ schedules.

Something else we really pride ourselves on at EPM is that we don’t try to upsell or oversell people in these vulnerable situations. We are giving them honest advice because we truly care about them. I might spend 30 minutes on the phone with a person, but it means the world to that individual. EPM is where someone picks up on the first ring and provides the information that is needed. I’m also looking out for our technicians along the way, as well. I never want to create a schedule that a tech looks at and then feels stressed out about. It’s really satisfying when it all comes together.

Outside of work, I’m enjoying exploring Columbus. I’m a transplant here, so I love visiting all the metro parks, going kayaking, and just seeing all the really cool spots that Columbus has to offer. I try to get to all the Columbus Clipper games and Blue Jackets games, and really love that I can walk to them from my new home in the downtown area!