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Paying Techs For Taking Training Classes?


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For all you shop owners who send your technicians to training, do you pay only for the class itself or do you pay the technicians his hourly rate for the hours he attends the class? I want to encourage my technicians to continually improve their skills and it seems like they would be losing hours if I did not pay them out for the hours they would have been here instead of in a training class. How do other shop owners handle this situation?

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If it's during the day we pay their regular hourly rate. If the training is at night we pay a flat $50. We also pay for all the training. Never thought about paying mileage but I will now. My reasoning for the $50 for the night class is that they are voluntary and I want them to be vested somewhat in the class. There is not that many of those classes sin the evening so it's never been an issue. I am one of the very few that actually pay them.

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All the classes I send them to are at nights. I pay for the class and food but the agreement is they volunteer their time because we both benefit equally and they should cover at least their time. This way at least they seem committed to further their knowledge and career.

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All the classes I send them to are at nights. I pay for the class and food but the agreement is they volunteer their time because we both benefit equally and they should cover at least their time. This way at least they seem committed to further their knowledge and career.

 

I agree.

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  • 4 weeks later...

I do not pay them mainly because I was never paid so I never thought about it. At my last shop working for someone the training was voluntary but I'm pretty sure techs that did not go did not last long. I do pay for the training. I may consider giving them gas money

 

How many of you that used to be techs got paid to go to a training class? Was it a dealer chain or independent?

Edited by Handson
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  • Have you checked out Joe's Latest Blog?

         5 comments
      I recently spoke with a friend of mine who owns a large general repair shop in the Midwest. His father founded the business in 1975. He was telling me that although he’s busy, he’s also very frustrated. When I probed him more about his frustrations, he said that it’s hard to find qualified technicians. My friend employs four technicians and is looking to hire two more. I then asked him, “How long does a technician last working for you.” He looked puzzled and replied, “I never really thought about that, but I can tell that except for one tech, most technicians don’t last working for me longer than a few years.”
      Judging from personal experience as a shop owner and from what I know about the auto repair industry, I can tell you that other than a few exceptions, the turnover rate for technicians in our industry is too high. This makes me think, do we have a technician shortage or a retention problem? Have we done the best we can over the decades to provide great pay plans, benefits packages, great work environments, and the right culture to ensure that the techs we have stay with us?
      Finding and hiring qualified automotive technicians is not a new phenomenon. This problem has been around for as long as I can remember. While we do need to attract people to our industry and provide the necessary training and mentorship, we also need to focus on retention. Having a revolving door and needing to hire techs every few years or so costs your company money. Big money! And that revolving door may be a sign of an even bigger issue: poor leadership, and poor employee management skills.
      Here’s one more thing to consider, for the most part, technicians don’t leave one job to start a new career, they leave one shop as a technician to become a technician at another shop. The reasons why they leave can be debated, but there is one fact that we cannot deny, people don’t quit the company they work for, they usually leave because of the boss or manager they work for.
      Put yourselves in the shoes of your employees. Do you have a workplace that communicates, “We appreciate you and want you to stay!”
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