Company Grows Its Business While Shrinking Its Staff - Community Manager FirstService Residential Employee Review

Prospective employees should understand that the company’s recent growth has been accompanied by a strategic reduction in staffing in several critical roles. Work once handled by corporate support teams has been thoughtfully reallocated to frontline managers, who now enjoy the opportunity to absorb additional responsibilities—often without additional resources, authority, or time. Many of the tools and supports managers need to function effectively have been converted into standardized forms and “ticketed” requests. These systems are impressively inflexible, creating a bureaucratic experience less reminiscent of a modern organization and more evocative of a Soviet-era bread line: lengthy, opaque, and requiring unwavering patience, repeated paperwork, and the quiet hope that today might finally be the day your request is fulfilled. Simple processes that once relied on professional judgment and direct communication are now automated into one-size-fits-all workflows that anticipate no exceptions and require frequent repetition and duplication of effort. Efficiency appears to be measured not by outcomes, but by compliance. What was once an agile, nimble organization now moves like a hulking mass—large, slow, and resistant to course correction, even when the destination is clearly no longer optimal. The company proudly promotes six core values: Aim High, Own It, Improve It, Build Great Relationships, Do What’s Right, and Be Genuinely Helpful. Associates are expected to integrate these values into every interaction with customers, coworkers, and vendors. At the organizational level, however, these values appear to be more aspirational than operational. Vendors, for example, may find themselves waiting extended periods for payment while navigating a growing stack of forms, shifting explanations, and procedural deflections—an experience that manages to disregard every stated value simultaneously. On the plus side, once you are hired, job security is remarkably strong. The company is deeply reluctant to terminate underperforming employees, seemingly out of concern for unemployment claims or the possibility of nuisance litigation. For managers, this translates into leading teams where accountability is largely theoretical. Performance concerns are addressed through an endless cycle of write-ups, performance improvement plans, and the quiet hope that the individual will eventually resign—preferably without requiring a difficult decision. In summary, this is a stable place to work if your primary objective is employment continuity. If your role involves managing people, driving performance, or expecting systems to support rather than obstruct your work, prepare to adjust your expectations—and your patience—accordingly.