Solar
We’re celebrating our 10th year of solar installations at Extra Space! Over the last decade, we’ve been dedicated to our solar program, and we are seeing rewards for this effort. With half of our wholly-owned portfolio powered by solar, we’ve produced enough solar power to offset over 30 million pounds of coal burned or over 3 million gallons of gasoline consumed. Our solar efforts reduced our electricity while producing a great return, showing clearly how sustainability can be at the intersection of what’s good for the environment, the community and our shareholders.
COVID Response
Our mission of “helping customers to their better tomorrow” during life transitions hit even closer to home this year. Due to COVID-19, we saw new essential uses for storage as our team helped families make room for kids or grandparents moving back in together, helped individuals make room for a new work-from-home office, or in one specific example, helped a pulmonary nurse store her apartment as she moved from state to state to help on the frontlines of COVID-19. We are proud to help people as they navigate their life changes, in good times and in hard times.
Our COVID-19 response was focused on the safety of our employees and one million plus customers. Starting in early March, we quickly adjusted company procedures and policies as we committed to be “Extra Safe, Extra Clean”. These efforts included:
- All stores and offices being restructured to support social distancing recommendations including installations of stanchions, plexiglass barriers and sanitation and mask stations.
- New relief pay policies to support paid leave for employees exposed to COVID-19
- New travel policies restricting travel
- Work-from-home options for teams capable of working remotely including the majority of our call-center, division offices, and headquarters.
- A new “contactless” renting process allowing customers to fully complete the leasing process over the phone or online through our new Rapid Rental technology.
- New cleaning guidelines to enhance cleanliness at all facilities.
No employees were laid-off, were furloughed, or had pay rate decreases due to COVID-19. In addition to taking care of our team, we found ways to support the efforts to fight COVID-19 including donating over 10,000 N95 masks kept in our stores’ emergency supply kits to hospitals in the Northeast and providing free storage to hospitals and those fighting on the frontlines during this crisis.