Society Manager roles and responsibilities

In Housing Societies, Management Committees, also known as Resident Welfare Associations, drive the day-to-day functions to achieve their community’s goals. The Chairperson or President is the head of the Management Committee, the Treasurer takes up all financial responsibilities, and the secretary ensures the association mechanism runs in an organized manner. But large Gated Communities with 1000+ units also need Society Managers to aid the Committee with administrative duties. This Blog covers all you need to know about Society Manager roles and responsibilities.

Society Manager roles and responsibilities – Requirements

• A Society Manager must be aware of builders to association handover compliances.

• They must have basic working knowledge of STP, waste management, leaf and garbage shredders, electricity, etc. 

• They should also be able to look into society accounting because they are supposed to hire accountants for the society.

• One of the fun Society Manager roles and responsibilities is helping the Management Committee organize Society events such as festival celebrations, national holiday celebrations etc. 

Entering and Exiting the Office: Task Checklist

We spoke to Mr. Vinod K C who is the Senior Estate Manager at Brigade Group. He provided us with his valuable insights from his experience. Here are some of the daily responsibilities carried out by Society Managers, according to Mr. Vinod:

• Upon entering their office first thing in the morning, Society Managers are briefed by the Security about the previous night’s activities. The manager then takes note of any suspicious activities and re-briefs the security staff accordingly. 
• They conduct a briefing with the technical about tickets and operational issues. 
• They check for any important mails, verify the attendance and checklists. 
• To plan their day ahead, they jot down a To-Do List in their diary. 
• Then, one of the crucial tasks is going for rounds around the society premises and examining if all areas are clean, the security is alert and common areas like pools, gym, lifts, DG and other such common facilities are spotless and well-maintained. 
• If they come across any snags, they raise tickets for the same.

• Before exiting their office at the end of day, they account for income and expenses. 
• If the community uses a management software like ADDA, they update the software of the daily functionalities. 
• Checking for any pending tickets, and replying to emails also falls under one of the Society Manager roles and responsibilities (if any). 
• The To-Do list is cross checked and any important works are carried forward to the next day.
• Finally, before winding up the day’s responsibilities, the society manager ensures that sufficient Diesel is in stock for DG, night technical team is available for their duties and sufficient water is available for the night. 

Pros and Cons of Being a Society Manager

Pros: 

• If rules and regulations are duly implemented and discipline is diligently followed, the job is relatively easier. 
• Creating a good rapport with customers, bringing in transparency and showing endless dedication is rewarded with a lot of sincere appreciation and gratefulness from members. 

Cons: 

• Often, differences of opinion can arise between the Society Managers and the other Management Committee members on a myriad of subjects. 
• Managers have to be available for phone calls even on certain holidays.
• Stakeholders often expect escalation of matters at odd hours. 
• There are no fixed working hours.

Challenges tackled by Society Managers

Managing huge communities on a day-to-day basis is no easy task and it comes as no surprise that managers face multiple challenges at their job. Shedding light on some of these challenges, Mr. Vinod K C says, “Sometimes, residents ask for certain works that are not covered in the common area maintenance schedules I often come across conflict among the members on odd topics. In case of beehives or bees, some residents do not want any harm to be inflicted on the bees whereas others regard them to be a nuisance and wish to get rid of them by any means.” 

Diplomacy is an important virtue in a position like this. Residents may point out flaws in the working of the staff. In such scenarios managers have to carefully maintain an atmosphere of peace by keeping a balance between heeding to resident’s complaints and addressing them with the staff. 

“People’s skills are very helpful.” Mr. Vinod K C adds. “You can’t always say no to customers. When children wish to play football or cricket on the lawn, we can only advise them to use the available facilities such as Basketball courts.” 

What are some Society Manager roles and responsibilities during times of crisis (such as COVID-19)? 

• Managers have to make sure that essential services are rendered to residents even when certain resources are closed or partially unavailable. 
• In such times, managers have to keep up the morale of all stakeholders and motivate the Society Staff to carry on with their jobs. 
• In a pandemic like COVID-19, they may have to create a working plan where they work on alternate days. 

And those were some of the major Society Manager roles and responsibilities. Let us know if we missed anything!