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How do you handle End of Year Bonuses?


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This year I am giving away things that have take home value as Bob Cooper likes to call it :)

 

One of my techs loves going to the movies so one of his bonuses will be a gift card to the movies. Every time he goes to the movies and use the gift card he'll think, "hey my boss is a pretty good guy" :)

 

One of my techs has a new born baby, I'm probably going to give him among other things a Babies R Us gift card. Also he really loves his professional as an auto tech and has a passion for the business. I saw him eyeing a nice jacket from Mac Tools. I may get one of those for him too. Maybe get some of his patches sewn on for him since he likes to walk around with his ASE and shop patch.

 

Money is a great bonus however its fleeting. Its seen once and its gone whether they use to to buy something or they put it in there bank account they will hardly ever think about it again.

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The bad thing about money bonuses is that there is no way to evade the taxman, so a $100 bonus is $70 in your employee's pocket and about $117 out of yours, but we do money because that is what most of our folks need at Christmas time. We put it in their check a couple of weeks before Christmas so they can spend it as they please. I like the gift card idea, but (call me paranoid) I don't like things I would have to explain in an IRS audit.

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Unfortunately, the owners stopped giving bonuses. We used to get them and they were appreciated. The owners say they apply more money to our 401k plans, but not everyone participates in the program. I know the younger guys, the ones with little kids and all the expenses thereof could certainly use the additional cash. I've been around for a long time, but even I appreciate the money and the gesture more than a 401k contribution. I don't know, it just feels like a thumb in the eye.

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Salaried, hourly with or without an incentive tied to it we seem to cover the gamete when it comes to compensation plans at our facility seeing how we run a collision repair division along with a preventive maintenance general repair center and the easiest thing we seem to all agree on is that year end holiday bonuses are done based upon a percentage of gross income regardless of who you are on that food chain. This year we did a 1.5% so on a 80K they received a gross check of $1,200.00 and a 20K helper picked up $300.

 

These percentages do have targeted numbers tied to them within the operation that each person in each department has complete access to and within your area of the operation you have control over with obviously the seasoned staff members begin watching on January 1st.

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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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