Auto Technicians – Is there a shortage?

Seemingly everyone is looking for Technicians – so why can’t anyone find any? There’s definitely been an increase in demand since Covid issues are becoming less and less. An increase in demand coupled with less Technicians coming through and training at a young age, leads us to think about three of the problems companies need to look at when hiring Technicians:

1: Compensation

Technician compensation is something that has to be addressed before the shortage becomes a crisis. Flat rates are becoming outdated. With less warranty work coming in and Technicians wanting more, the way Technicians are being paid has to be reviewed and we’re finding Salaries and hourly becoming for effective. Adopting hourly pay with some sort of production incentive seems to be the strongest way forward. Having hourly pay has always scared clients, but coupling in an incentive-based production pay negates too much risk.

2: Working Conditions

If technicians aren’t attracted to that shop, what makes you think your customers are? The presentation of your dealership does not stop where the service department begins. So many of the dealerships we’ve seen have excellent dealerships and below standard Service Departments where Technicians can often be left to the cold (or heat) and are almost siloed from the rest of the business. The Groups that are attracting the best candidates address this by extending the quality of the dealerships to the Service Departments, making the working conditions more attractive to candidates.

3: Professional Development

Most, if not the vast majority, of new technicians and even those who have been in the field for years see little to no future opportunity for advancement beyond a service writer or service manager position. Even the technicians who do make it to a writer or manager slot are rarely given the training, coaching, and feedback to become effective at those roles.

So many shops want to hire experienced Technicians but at the same time don’t want to put their technicians through development. There’s no better way of keeping your technicians than developing them yourselves. ASEs and brand certifications are vital and if your Technicians feel valued then they will stay with you for much longer.

It's certainly not an easy market, but luckily here at Team Automotive Staffing we’ve thought about some of these issues and are on hand to help you find and keep Technicians. We have a huge network and database to help fill your shop with great techs and then we provide aftercare to our candidates to make sure they’re the right long-term fit for you.

Get in touch with the team now to find out more: info@teamautomotivestaffing.com