Recruiting & Retaining Technicians
Where is your next technician coming from?
What about the technicians you'll be looking to hire 10 years from now?
Deborah Lockridge
Senior Editor
It's no secret that most companies lure experienced technicians away from each other. But that can only get you so far. What about five or 10 years down the line?
"The challenge today is getting the next generation excited about becoming technicians," says Mike Jeffress, chairman of the Technology and Maintenance Council of ATA and vice president of maintenance at Maverick Transportation. "We have to educate the next workforce about the challenges associated with being a technician, the technology that's associated with it, and the self-fulfillment one can obtain."
That's why a successful technician recruitment program must include reaching out to young people to get them interested in a heavy-duty maintenance career. Yet many companies find it frustrating to work with schools, because the education world is different from the business world, says Jack Sukala, a member of the board of directors of the Technology and Maintenance Council of the American Trucking Assns.
"The best thing to do is see what kind of needs there are," Sukala says. "Ask the school what kind of assistance they are looking for from industry. A particular school or instructor may not be familiar with your company, so explain what you do. Put your cards on the table - what you need, what you have to offer."
Some of the things you can do in working with vocational schools include speaking to classes, donating equipment, participating in job fairs and career days, setting up an intern program where students can work during the summer, and hiring new graduates. Typically, a company that has been involved with a vocational program will be more likely to get the cream of the crop when it comes to graduation time.
"We'll sit down with a group of new students just coming into the school, and we'll explain to them what our expectations are for them to accomplish during their tenure at school if they want to come out ready to go to work," Jeffress says. "We help them understand what we're looking for. Most of our technicians were students from those schools, and the reason they came to work for us they tell us, is the time and effort we have taken to make sure their future is something that's bright and something they can look forward to."
Taking a longer-range view, Maverick gets involved with younger students as well. "During career days at a couple of schools, I go to the sixth-grade class and take a truck and teach them some basics on electrical system, the number of computers on the truck - that type of stuff - to try to entice interest at a young age," Jeffress says. "Fleets need to take some time and go to grade schools, high schools, spend some time with the next generation."
Finding Experienced Technicians
Of course, you don't want a shop full of nothing but new graduates. But the pool of experienced mechanics is pretty tight, and most companies hire their seasoned technicians from the competition.
"I'm not an advocate of stealing technicians from other companies," Jeffress says. "I don't think it does anything to resolve the issue." Most of the trucking companies in Little Rock, where Maverick is based, he says, have a "gentleman's agreement" not to entice technicians with higher pay. "On the other hand, if someone's unhappy with third shift and someone else can offer him a first shift, we look at that as helping him stay in the industry."
Keep an eye and ear out for possible hires, even if you don't need a technician at the moment. At FleetPride, for instance, management is encouraged to always be in a recruiting mindset. If you take the time to talk to every applicant, even if you're not in need of someone right now, it gives you a better feel for who to go after when the time does come.
Don't overlook your current workforce as a source of information. "You can't beat a referral," says Dennis Beal, vice president at FedEx Freight. If one of your technicians recommends someone, he says, typically that means they know that person's abilities or know they can get along with them. On the other hand, he says, the company has had minimal success with offering monetary rewards for successful referrals. "If people really like a place they work, they're going to refer someone anyway."
When the company opens a location in a new area where referrals aren't an option, Beal says FedEx Freight holds job fairs, preferably close to the facility or at the facility so prospective applicants can see where they would be working. These are typically done in conjunction with operations people who are also hiring.
The newspaper is usually a last resort. Many fleets have discovered that the quality of most respondents to newspaper ads is not what they would like to see.
Darry Stuart of DWS Management, a fleet consulting service, believes that some fleets put too much emphasis on seeking out highly experienced, seasoned technicians. "You don't need a shop full of master technicians," he says. "You need good basic mechanics."
One solution is to grow your own. FedEx Freight, for instance, often hires someone with limited experience - perhaps someone coming out of the military - and brings them on as a trainee. The company's in-house education program is based on the ASE certification program. It promotes these trainees to full-fledged technicians once they have passed the courses and demonstrated their ability. An added benefit is that these technicians seem to have more loyalty.
Stopping Turnover Before It Starts
The best way to keep your shop full of experienced technicians is not to lose people in the first place.
One of the most important areas to keep an eye on is wages. Make sure you stay up to speed on what the competition is paying. Don't forget benefits, such as health, life, disability insurance, vacation, 401(k) plans.
"The rule of thumb is, if you leave a job three times in 10 years, you'll double your pay," Stuart says. Too often, a company's payroll system or corporate pay policy doesn't allow for big enough raises for a technician who has excelled, so he ends up moving on to a company that will pay him more. Stuart recommends giving technicians a raise schedule up front, so they know what to expect.
Closely aligned with pay is a career track. For instance, you might have one level of pay for trainees. When they take and pass ASE tests, they get incremental increases in pay. Then they are promoted to a full-fledged technician, with another pay increase. Another increase in pay comes with becoming master certified ASE technicians. Beyond that, they could become shift leader/coordinators, with an increase in pay and responsibilities. From there they could go into supervision and management.
Ongoing training is part of the process. If you're giving your technicians paid training, it's a reason for them to stay - or if you're recruiting, a reason for them to sign on. When the Arizona Department of Transportation created a stipend pay incentive for technicians to achieve ASE certification, employee turnover rates dropped 35%, to less than 5%.
As technicians get older, often they start looking for other lines of work because they're getting tired of lifting heavy axles and brake drums. But these experienced techs are exactly the ones you don't want to lose. Come up with options for them to go into a supervisory role. Fleetpride, for instance, often will pair the experienced technicians up with new technicians as trainers/mentors.
Be a good manager. Provide regular reviews and feedback. "Most companies I see have no formal evaluation process," Stuart says. "They're afraid if they do then they'll have to give a raise. The real reason for the evaluation process is to force communication. We spend a lot of money and effort on hiring, and we spend little effort nurturing and motivating them."
Work shifts are another bugaboo. "In general, the biggest problem that we have as far as technician turnover are the odd shift hours," Jeffress says. "For example, second, third, or even weekends. We try to combat that with different incentive packages, such as shift differential pays or additional time off." Fleetpride, for instance, has found that four 10-hour shifts instead of five eight-hour shifts are popular with its workforce.
Provide a clean environment. "Your competition is not just the other trucking companies," Stuart says. "It's the dealerships, both auto and truck. So if you walk into a Cadillac dealership, do you see any dirt on the floor? I had a fleet I worked for that when it rained, they had three inches of water in the shop. The corporate office was beautiful, but the garage was a dungeon."
Stuart points out that you don't have to build a brand new state-of-the-art facility. "You can still have an old facility that has a high level of cleanliness and organization." Things like good lighting, clean toilet facilities, and all the tools and equipment needed to do the job go a long way.
"We also have a heavy emphasis on safety," says FedEx Freight's Beal. "Not only for the technicians, but also for the motoring public, so the technician doesn't feel he is asked to do shoddy work or let something go unfixed. When they're asked to cut corners, it really cuts into pride of workmanship."
Similarly, Beal says, most technicians prefer to work on new equipment, rather than trying to keep an old junk fleet wired together.
Make sure the technicians feel like they're part of the company. At Maverick, technicians are involved in developing the yearly business plan, and developing action plans that will support that business plan.
No matter what your program involves, be up front and clear about it during the recruiting process.
"You've got to put forth what you have to offer in a way that's meaningful," Beal says. "It doesn't need to be fancy. It needs to be direct and in a way they can understand. They're interested in pay, working conditions, the hours they're going to work, and the equipment they're going to work on." If people are going to have to work at night, for instance, tell them they're going to be working at night.
"You have to hold yourself out to be what you are," Beal says. "If people come and find out you're not [what you said you were], they won't stay. There's always someone out there that's willing to pay a quarter more for a good technician."
Recruiting and Retaining continued...
