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Why Not Give a Tech a Pay Guarantee?

Joe Marconi

By Joe Marconi
in Human Resources, Employees

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  • Joe Marconi changed the title to Why Not Give a Tech a Pay Guarantee?









weighit Enthusiast

weighit

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I was a service writer at a Mercedes dealer years ago, the pay plan there was the light line techs were given a 40 hour pay, even if they failed to flag that amount of hours, the next tier was set a 45 and the heavy techs were set at 50 hours pay. The owner was a nice fellow and wanted each employee to want to come to work, but also wanted zero, none, no comebacks. His thoughts were if your sure your going to at least flag 40 hours there was no reason for any short cuts, rushed jobs and the possiblily to cause a comeback. that just ticked off the customer and made the dealer look bad. I have to say the entire service department worked extremely well and everyone seemed interested in doing a good job. And that was back when labor rates were in the mid $60 per hour range. None of the other dealers in the "Motor Mall" did that and seemed a lot of the techs in those other dealers were always coming in applying for a job. We rarely had any turnover in our techs.

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weighit Enthusiast

weighit

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7 hours ago, Joe Marconi said:

A great strategy, based on culture!

Would you say that the technicians consistently produced the hours that were needed to maintain sales and profits? 

Oh yes, very few ever actually collected the guaranteed hours, but it was there as a security for the guys that really took the time to ensure quality work and not be penalized for the hard job or that one that kicks your butt. It made that whole service department seem to click like a well oiled machine. I liked working there. 

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  • Have you checked out Joe's Latest Blog?

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      Want to End Your Technician Shortage? Focus on Retention!
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      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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