Dealing With Substance Abuse And Addiction Issues Among Your Techs And Staff
We all know that the combination of substance abuse and addiction is major issue affecting a large number of people across our country. We see the stories about it in the media every day. Many of us know of friends, relatives, or acquaintances who suffer from its effects, either directly or indirectly.
As a result of its being a part of the larger world that we live in, your repair shop and its employees will represent both the good and the bad trends that exists in the larger society. This means that the substance abuse and addiction issues that plague the world outside your shop are very likely to enter your workplace, causing a wide variety of problems.
If not controlled or prevented, the fallout can affect your profitability, your staff culture, your insurance rates, your customer satisfaction levels, and even the survival of your business. What this means is that you must be vigilant...
Dealing With Staff Turnover
To achieve high levels of performance in your shop, you need to have a complete staff of techs who are ready, willing and able to serve your customers’ automotive repair and maintenance needs. When a tech leaves, it makes a hole in your organization that negatively affects your work flow, your cash flow, your profitability, your techs’ morale, and your customer satisfaction. If dissatisfied customers leave your shop, they probably won’t be back, so the effects can be long-lasting. And then there is the time, effort, and expense required to find a good prospect to replace the one who has left.
Dealing with staff turnover is an ongoing occupational hazard in the auto repair industry. Finding the right new tech for your shop is a major hassle, every time it becomes necessary. But instead of watching this turnover process play out like a never-ending slow-motion train wreck, consider creating a shop environment that will make...
Keeping Your Techs Productive And Happy
Once that you have your techs properly trained, working together toward the same goals, and aligned with your shop’s processes and procedures, you can move to the next level. Let’s take a look at what it takes to improve your techs’ productivity, and how to keep them happy as you work toward the achievement of this goal.
Productivity: it’s a lot more than just efficiency
While many people use the terms “efficiency” and “productivity” interchangeably, they are really two different things. As a shop owner, you want to reach high levels of both. Here’s the difference between them:
Efficiency: Efficiency is the measure of how long it takes a tech to finish a given job, compared to the number of hours of labor allowed for it (and billed to the customer). If a tech takes four hours to do a four-hour job, that tech has achieved a 100% efficiency rating. If the tech gets it...
Managing Your Techs For The Best Results
Now that you have hired a team of outstanding techs of various skill levels for your shop, it’s time to put them to work. This is your labor force, and you must deploy it in such a way that you achieve these goals:
- Efficiency
- Profitability
- Customer satisfaction
- Employee buy-in
Let’s take a look at some of the ways to manage your techs to get the best possible results for your business.
Once they’re hired, train them properly
If you hired them right, your techs should all know how to fix cars, according to their individual skill levels. But that’s just the beginning. As your employees, they need to understand how your shop works, and how they fit into it. This is the first part of the training process, and it includes a knowledge of:
- The workflow process in your shop
- Your shop’s mechanical equipment and how it works
- Proper operation of your...
What To Look For When Hiring A Tech, And Tips On How To Find Good Ones
The shortage of good technicians is a fact of life in the auto repair industry. Combined with the high rate of employee turnover in the average shop, it is a virtual certainty that you will need to hire new technicians at some point in the near future.
When it does come time to hire, what should you look for in a new tech? And how do you find the best techs out there? Let’s take a look at what it takes to get great techs that will be a credit to your shop’s reputation, as well as your bottom line!
It’s a tough market out there
The independent auto repair industry is facing a perfect storm when it comes to hiring technicians. It’s truly a difficult situation:
- Older techs are retiring in large numbers, creating vacancies and a loss of in-shop knowledge.
- There were only 37,400 graduates of post-secondary automotive tech training programs in...
