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We are a small rural shop; my guys are on salary and average 55-60 hours a week. Between the salary & bonus plan I think we are fair on our pay. We only charge 65.00/hour for mech work but our main shop is a tire shop, so we don't get into much other stop besides brakes or light mech work. The shop stays very busy that we some nights must stay late to get everyone taken care of. 1 employee focuses on the mech. part & helps with tires, the other is mainly tire & office sales & paperwork. There are a few times a month that the tire guy will need to do an afterhours call from anything from a jump start to a tractor tire repair. I want to compensate him for his extra work but not sure how to figure something simple & fair. I also don't want to make it something that they will start running more after ours because they will get more pay then if they were able to go out & do during reg business hours. Anyone with idea what they do hate to give profit away we still need to pay for the truck & fuel?

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65 an hour? When is the last time you called around to see average hourly shop rates? I know each market is different, but we are at 127 an hour and I think we could do another bump.

I second on the salary thing. Make sure they are commission in your accounting software, then you can pay a base plus commission. 

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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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