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Becoming a Shop Owner with Meg Richards [AW 185]


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Meg Lewis, BJ’s Automotive Diagnostic Center, Belfast, ME, NAPA Auto Care Technician of the Year 2022.  Carm and Meg discuss the shop's transition to a four-day workweek to promote work-life balance, the challenges of finding and retaining skilled technicians. Meg shares her experience as a female technician. They also discuss the need to change the perception of the automotive industry and attract more women. The episode concludes with a discussion on succession planning and the shop's community involvement

  • The decision to move to a four-day workweek (00:03:14) Meg discusses the idea of transitioning to a four-day workweek and the process of deciding which day to take off.
  • The role of a diagnostician as a technology specialist (00:07:55) Carm suggests renaming the role of a diagnostician to a technology specialist, highlighting the importance of technology in automotive diagnostics.
  • The collaboration between a technology specialist and a mechanical specialist (00:08:48) Carm and Meg discuss the complementary roles of a technology specialist and a mechanical specialist in automotive repair and the importance of their collaboration.
  • Challenges with staffing during COVID-19 (00:10:02) The impact of COVID-19 on staffing, including layoffs, struggles to find new technicians, and the use of apprenticeship programs.
  • The decision to pursue automotive technology (00:17:36) Meg discusses her early interest in working with cars and her decision to pursue automotive technology in high school and college.
  • The importance of attracting more women to the automotive industry (00:18:09) Carm suggests changing the perception of the industry and highlights the unique traits that women can bring to the workplace.
  • Overcoming physical challenges as a female technician (00:19:31) Meg talks about how she adapts and finds creative solutions to overcome physical challenges in her work as a female technician.
  • Importance of communication in internal succession (00:27:14) The significance of regular and effective communication between the owner and the successor in a business's internal succession process.
 

Thanks to our Partner, Dorman Products.

Dorman gives people greater freedom to fix vehicles by constantly developing new repair solutions that put owners and technicians first. Take the Dorman Virtual Tour at www.DormanProducts.com/Tour

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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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