technicians and technology

[ammbets]

Interested in other Dealers on what they are doing in keeping up with changing technology?
For example,Todays technicians appear to give up to easy,especially if they cant find information on SI 2000 or no help from Technical Assitance.Some of the younger techs
appear to have no drive or motivation/excitement level,such as fixing vehicles or quality of a repair be done right.I am talking the full circle taking pride in your work and delivering a vehicle back CLEAN! We do spot check vehicles at times, but time can be utilized better.If any one has a franchise that they believe has a good crew and cares about customers along with ways of getting the latest greatest info.on todays high tech vehicles please I would like to read your comments.

[marc nichols]

I'm on the MFR side of the fence and read your posting with interest. This is a new twist to a growing problem; what can the industry do to attract quality people into the industry? There is an increasing shortage of technicians, not to mention skilled or motivated technicians. The industry excited young people in my youth but apparently not so much today. Any ideas out there?

[Doug]

We could spend hours on this subject ! I have hired some youngsters from the local community college (one on a work co-op arrangement) and I'm happy so far but,frankly, their work ethic is hardly awe-inspiring. My shop foreman is mentoring them and I'm expecting good results.

One thing, though, when it comes to *attracting* future technicains.....as an industry I think we'll have to start considering some alternative and more lucrative pay plans.

[Israel]

I have been a tech for 11 years now and I have seen many changes in technology.Most of the older techs seem to want to stay away from all that pcm bcm abs sir lingo that I was taught going through ASEP. They are more comfortable woring on pre computer cars. I dont know if pay is a factor all I know there is not always an op code for certain daignosis and punch time scares most managers due to audits. I guess some techs cant write a good story and auditors burn them every time. Truthfully good techs are hard to find because they dont get the pay they feel they deserve. I left chevrolet because my pay was crumy no matter how hard iI tried to learn as much as I could the dispatcher always had his favorites who were not alowed to starve. My passion was chevrolet and made sure I did as much as I could but there was always an obstical.

[jerrymi]

As a technician, I do agree there needs to be change. I do see techs giving up on SI2000,and rather get the job done, stand around and shoot the breeze.
On the other hand, I know some very good techs whos priorities are in the right place.The only problem is, they have left the dealer to start their own repair buisness

[gman]

You are right, we could spend hours on this one. Our base problems have been here for years, and will be with us until the end of time: The dispatcher has favorites, Warranty work doesn't pay me for my time. My flat rate is too low. etc.
A lot of these in certain shops are well founded, however, in many cases it is a "tradition" handed down by older techs to our new guys; they are prejudiced toward these areas from day one.
Let's look at these individually.
My dispatcher has favorites:
Probably one of the most common complaints. The sad part is that it is true in most shops. In some shops it is simply a case of "I'm going to take care of my friends and to h--l with the rest" in others it is an honest effort by a dispatcher to get work through a shop repaired properly and in a timely manner. This will leave techs who are slow, constant complainers, or those who have an unrealistic opinion of their skill, feeling like they are left out. An interesting note: In two of my shops I had installed an ERO system. (a computer dispatches based on skill, promised time, etc.) thinking that this would finally put an end to the dispatcher gripe. I purposefully did not allow the preassignment of jobs to techs (except comebacks) and let the computer do its thing. Wow, the complaints about dispatch favoritism went through the roof. Some techs were convinced that the system had been manipulated to favor certain others. If you will look at these techs individually, in many cases you will find that the complaints are an attempt to cover poor productivity, lack of skill, or the age old feeling we all get sometimes - I don't want to work too hard for my pay.

Warranty work doesn't pay me enough:
Its true! Its true! While area service managers(manufacturer) will tell us to repair the vehicle, document the time, and submit the claim, its not that black and white. I feel that most of the ASM's I have dealt with are serious when they say the above, but when the audit team arrives it is a different attitude all together. Isn't it great to have someone with very limited and biased mechanical knowledge sit down with your claims (possibly up to two years old) and tell you you did not diagnose and repair properly when even their engineering staff couldn't help!! On the surface the relationship is usually friendly, but lets face it, it is adversarial at best and it causes service managers to be slow in granting large amounts of diagnosis time. In a lot of cases, those of us who attempt to diagnose, repair, final inspect, and make sure the technician is taken care of, do so at the dealers expense. On the manufacturers side they often deal with techs of varying skill levels and poor service management that leaves the door open for fraud. There is no easy answer.

My flat rate is too low:
"I'm only making $20 a flat rate hour and your labor rate is $64! I want to go back to the old 50/50 split." ever heard this from your older techs? I still hear it occasionally, but the attitude that "I deeserve a bigger share of your labor rate" is still alive and well with techs of every age. In todays market where we face such tough competition for the customer pay dollar, unless you have a skill level based flat rate system, or employ "maintenance techs" you are feeling the pinch. It simply is not feasable to have a highly paid tech do maintenance work. There are, of course, several ways to handle this but none of them make techs happy. I have found that the best approach is to begin by going over the financial statement in shop meetings. Let everybody know where you stand. Put together small groups that include techs to work on specials and labor pricing. Anything you can do to bring understanding of the economics involved will help. Unfortunately, in a society that revolves around the dollar and an industry where you are only as good as last month's performance, this one is here to stay.

On the younger generation entering our profession:
No, they do not have the same level of motivation as a whole. Their desires and intentions differ greatly from those of people my age. (40) They were exposed to very different things than I during their upbringing, and they have been told that the day of corporate loyalty is dead - they will have to change jobs at least 5 times before they land at the career from which they will retire. So I can't lay all the blame with them. What I have found is that if I am very specific about my expectations and I set short term goals with specific rewards or penalties, I can quickly separate the workers from the players.

One last thing. As service managers we often fail miserably in the area of recognition and we fail to realize just how important this is. Whether it is a simple word of appreciation for a job well done, or recognition of some type at a shop meeting; do it! and do it often. The best part is - its free!

gman

[joe r]

gman is right. however, on the pay scale i believe, as does my dealer, that auto technicians are underpaid compared to other trades. a plumber charges $90 an hour, a computer repair tech $150 or more. But an auto dealer only charges $65 to $75 in most cases.
why shouldn't we as an industry charge a reasonable amount for the skill necessary to do the job? i don't think $100 an hour for some type of work is unreasonable.
when young men are choosing a career, what does the auto business have to offer in the way of income? many techs today are making the same money they were ten years ago because of the wall many of us have set at $20 per flat rate hour. a young person looks at the wages of an auto tech and takes his skills in another direction.

Joe R

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