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Letter to the Editor

Keeping Techs Working

Much of the industry's labor woes could be solved if fewer workers left early in their careers

The next time you are trying to hire a technician to fill an opening at your shop, think about the 12,251 applicants - all with hands-on work experience in shops - who are out there, somewhere, not working as collision repair technicians.

Who are they - and why aren’t they responding to your ‘help wanted’ ad? They’re the 12,251 technicians who, according to a recent industry study, left the collision repair industry last year for a job in another field.

That’s right, every year more than 12,000 techs - almost six percent of the technician workforce - pack up their toolboxes and head off for other careers. That doesn’t include the 2,100 who retire, the 26,000 who go to work for another shop, or the 5,250 who take other jobs (as estimators, for example) within the industry. These are just the technicians who decide for some reason that the collision repair industry isn’t for them.

Those numbers, all taken from an I-CAR Education Foundation study, go a long way in explaining why a lot of people are talking about a ‘technician shortage.’ The problem, it seems, is not just one of attracting more young people into the trade, but of keeping more technicians working in the trade throughout their productive years.

So if you’re ready to do your part to keep those 12,251 techs fixing cars this year, keep reading. Here’s what some shop employees have to say about why technicians leave during their productive years - and what you can do about it.

Techs speak out

INSIGHT spoke with a number of technicians and former technicians about what compels them to stay - or to leave - the industry.

The industry’s inability or unwillingness to distinguish good technicians from the "hacks" is what discourages many techs, according to one.

"In a nutshell, you have flourishing hackmeisters, and unappreciated, starving craftsmen," Hearn said. "The inept, the larcenous and the wretched receive the rewards and adoring affection, while the worthy are financially disrespected and dismissed."

"Having spent over 25 years in shops myself, the biggest factor driving the tech exodus is health," said Charlie Barone, a former shop owner and former editor at Auto Body Repair News. "You can only conduct chemical warfare on these guys for so long; the ones unaffected by isocynates and VOCs wind up with knee and back ailments. They say it is an ugly thing to see when a bodyman grows old. If you want to keep them on the line longer, you have to take a holistic approach to their physical and emotional well-being."

Allen, a technician in the Pacific Northwest, said that while compensation and a good benefit package is important, what he thinks most technicians lack is respect from shop owners. He cited working conditions as an example of how his current employer doesn’t seem to care about technicians.

"We have bitter cold winters here," he said. "The heat is turned off at night to cut costs. Come Monday morning, we might have frozen pipes because it is so cold in the shop. Our high-pressure car washer was frozen for two-and-a-half days after Christmas weekend. Yet we are expected to start work immediately before the shop is warm enough to even open your tool box to grab your frosty dolly."

Allen said he bets there are also many technicians in the south that are expected to work in extremely hot and humid conditions. "This takes a toll on our health," Allen said.

But perhaps what he would most appreciate from employers, he said, is something that he believes costs them very little: more flexibility about his work hours.

"I was not able to get so much as an extended lunch to see my daughter’s elementary school programs," he said. "Try to explain that to a child. I have been there long enough to have acquired three weeks of vacation time. But [scheduling] the time is like pulling teeth out of a chicken. There is always an excuse not to take it when I want or need to, like it interferes with his fishing trips."

Many shop owners gripe that technicians never have to hear complaints from customers. Allen’s perspective is very different.

"I am consistently asked to drop what I am doing to, ‘Hurry and pop this part on for Mr. So-and-So,’ while [the shop owner] gets the kudos and the ‘Gee thanks’ from the customer," Allen said. "I'm left with not so much as a ‘thank you,’ much less being paid for my time."

Like Allen, 45-year-old technician Henry Netter in Philadelphia, Pa., says it’s not a just a paycheck but "quality of life" issues that are important to him.

"I enjoy picking up my little girl from school and asking her how her day was," Netter said. "My company allows me flex time to do this. And I'm able to get out a bit earlier on Fridays which makes the weekend a bit longer. Of course I start a lot earlier, but the work gets done and my boss can depend on my being there. I feel that if you allow me my ‘quality of life’ time, I'll give you ‘quality of repair/production’ time. Fair deal?"

Five critical concerns

In summary, technicians from around country say that the shop owner who wants to keep his best technicians working in his shop for more of their career needs to focus on five areas.

1. Working conditions

Make the shop a clean, safe, comfortable place to work. Even small improvements on a regular basis will demonstrate your respect and concern for the people who work for you. Mark Moffett, who has run his own shop, said his current work as an equipment vendor takes him into many shops in Pennsylvania and New Jersey. He said the techs in one shop were thrilled when the owner cleaned up, painted and did some minor remodeling to the shop.

"Too many shop owners just look at the bottom line and don’t understand how showing they care about their workers will benefit them," Moffett said.

2. Tools and equipment

If you’re not ensuring your technicians have what they need to work safely - and often as a result more productively - your view is too short-term. Texas shop owner Bobby Johnson believes one key to keeping technicians interested and able to work in the industry longer is to take good care of them from the start.

"The shop needs to provide safety equipment in the early years of a tech's career: safety glasses, kneepads, back supports, proper respirators, safety clothing and gloves, just to name a few," Johnson said. Shops should also look for equipment - such as lifts to raise vehicles to more comfortable working levels - to make the job less physically demanding, he said.

3. Compensation

Shop owners need to develop ways to ensure that as technicians’ productivity levels off, their income doesn’t become stagnant or decline. Teaming that technician with an apprentice may be one solution.

"We need to start paying experienced technicians for what they know, not just for what they do," said Larry Edwards, an automotive industry consultant based in Charlotte, North Carolina. Pair an experienced technician with a young apprentice, Edwards suggests, paying the journeyman a few dollars for each labor hour the apprentice produces. This rewards the journeyman for helping train a new technician, and can help increase an older technician’s income.

4. Benefits

Johnson said the benefits - such as medical insurance and a retirement plan - that may not mean as much to a technician early in his or her career - become very important to them as they age. If you’re among the two out of five shops still not offering medical insurance, don’t expect to stop losing employees to the majority of shops that do. But also look for creative - and often low-cost - benefits that will appeal to experienced technicians and their families: movie passes, warehouse club memberships, etc.

5. Time

Virtually no people in today’s workforce - from company owners and presidents on down - feel they have as much time as they need or would like. Employers who determine ways to give employees at least a sense of more control over their time will enjoy the benefits of a loyal workforce. A number of technicians mentioned "flex time," the ability to get away occasionally during "normal working hours," as very important to them. One shop owner swears he could drop his group medical plan, reduce the number of paid vacation days, and stop handing out end-of-year bonuses - and still not lose an employee because he’s found the one thing they want most: 3-day weekends.

The shop’s crew works 9-hour days - allowing the shop to extend the hours it is open for customers - but everyone gets every other Friday off. Having only half the team on Fridays occasionally results in some confusion or problems, the shop owner reports, but the schedule is so popular that everyone pitches in to cover the bases.

Average age: 36

There’s a common misperception in the industry that the technician workforce is aging. So few new techs are entering the industry, one posted message on the Internet said, that the average age of technicians is 53. Wrong. The I-CAR Education Foundation study found the average age is under 36 - lower even than the national workforce average age. There is a sharp decline in the number of technicians over 40 years old - much worse than the rate of decline of males in this age group in the general workforce.

Reducing that decline - by keeping experienced techs working longer - could greatly reduce the technician shortage, and at the same time make the industry much more appealing to the young people it also needs to attract.   o

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