As an employer of automotive repair techs, you have two problems.
First, there’s a huge shortage of qualified repair techs in the industry. We discussed this at length in The Auto Repair Technician Hiring Dilemma.
Second, you want the good repair techs you do find to stay with you – despite all the competition looking for them, too. And not just stay, but develop their skills over time, master their craft, and ultimately make more money for your business.
What motivates that sort of commitment? Let's discuss a variety of rewards you can use to accomplish that.
Wage Rewards
The first thing most people think of when it comes to employee retention is wages. Simply put, if you don’t pay your workers a fair wage, they’re going to look elsewhere. This, in fact, is a key contributor to the current auto repair tech shortfall. Many new trainees end up leaving the industry because they can’t make a living or support a family. Businesses are reluctant to pay more because new trainees are inefficient and can’t bill as much work as an experienced tech.
As a business owner, you have to juggle hourly productivity with your need to keep and develop new talent. You don’t need to be the highest paying shop in your area to attract good techs, but if your new techs – some of whom just invested everything they had in training and tools – can’t earn a decent living, they’ll be forced to turn to something else.
Think of employees as investments, not just expenses. Consider what they’ll be worth to you one year, five years, or even more down the road… and factor that into your starting wage decision. Otherwise you’ll end up with a revolving workforce of low-paid, inexperienced and inefficient repair techs, often causing as many headaches as they solve.
Compelling Work Rewards
Another reason for so many early opt-outs from the auto repair industry is the lack of variety in the work new trainees are allowed to do.
Many shops relegate new techs to simple, routine tasks such as oil changes and tire rotations. That’s because those are well-defined, basic tasks. Even if an inexperienced tech takes a little longer than needed to complete them, it won’t cost the shop as much.
Contrast that with troubleshooting a new model or with new technology. Inexperience will play a much greater role there, causing the job to take much longer. And since you probably won’t pass on a cost like that to your customer, the business takes the hit instead.
But here’s the problem: your auto repair techs want to work on the new, exciting stuff, too. If all you ever give them are routine, boring jobs, they’ll soon become disillusioned. Then they’ll leave, and you’ll hire the next inexperienced new tech and start the cycle all over.
A better solution is to make sure your new repair techs have fun, too. The majority of their work can still be those routine tasks you need to get done. But a portion of their weekly duties should be spent on something that stretches their knowledge. Something that excites or inspires them. Something that reminds them why they wanted to be an auto repair tech in the first place. That is what will motivate them to stay.
Efficiency Rewards
Most auto repair jobs have labor hour expectations attached. These can be modified by individual efficiency factors assigned to each employee. Ideally, you want your auto repair techs to complete each job quicker than expected. So why not encourage that by rewarding their performance?
If one of your techs is allocated six hours for a job, but completes it in three, who benefits? The shop does, of course. Now you have an additional three hours to bill towards another job. By offering small bonuses for exceeding their personal efficiency goals, your techs will be motivated to work faster and be more productive.
You’ll have to balance speed with quality, of course. Fast Trak’s blog on Measuring Automotive Repair Technician Performance gives some performance criteria to consider.
Developmental Rewards
One way to keep new auto repair techs in the fold and motivate them to succeed is to focus on their development. Right from the start, offer them a training plan and possible timetables, so they can see their future mapped out for them. This gives your employees a sense of purpose that can provide some powerful motivation.
You can provide training and development as part of your employment to set you apart. Or you can offer advanced training as a reward for achieving performance goals.
Identify some mission-critical skills, as we did in our article on continuous education, and pay for those training and certification fees. This can be done carte blanche or earned through performance on an individual basis. Or you can offer bonuses or raises for completing high priority trainings. Lump sum bonuses, if large enough, create excellent short-term incentives for employees, while still costing less than a raise in the long-run.
Mentoring and Personal Rewards
Most human resource organizations agree that mentoring has a strong impact on employee satisfaction and development. Harvard Business Review identifies three types of mentors: peer, career, and life. While some mentors in your shop could provide all three, we’re dealing mostly with career mentoring here.
Assigning each new employee a more experienced tech to act as their mentor helps your newbie establish personal relationships and set down roots. But be careful – an ambivalent or disinvested mentor can drive a new employee away fast. If you’re going to offer a mentor, make sure your mentoring program has some structure, and your experienced technicians understand the importance of their roles.
Mentors bridge the culture gap for new employees, helping them fit in with your existing staff. They also will feel more appreciated and welcomed. The bonds formed in a mentoring program can be extremely strong, and can help with your retention rates down the road.
Other Rewards
Here are a few other rewards that can help attract and motivate new auto repair technicians in your shop:
- A used (but serviceable) set of spare tools can be a huge benefit for a new trainee. This alone can relieve much of the financial stress on new techs, if you catch them before they’ve invested in a high-end tool set under some exorbitant payment plan.
- Another big factor in employment, the better your healthcare plans, the more likely you’ll be to attract new techs – especially those with families.
- The amount of vacation time you provide is important when making your pitch to the best auto repair tech prospects. It also helps with retention.
Keep Your Goals in Mind
Some businesses will look at the ideas we’ve presented here and see only the costs. But you have to remember what your goals are: attracting, retaining, and motivating the best staff of auto repair technicians you can find.
With today’s auto repair tech shortfall, you need to motivate your new techs from A (apprentice) to B (master) as quickly as possible. That takes thinking outside of the box. I hope the ideas presented here will help you do just that.
Peter Fitzpatrick is the CFO of Farsight. Farsight offers ruggedized tablets and software for multi-vehicle diagnostic and repair solutions.
