Fixed Ops Journal - October 2022 - F21

Money talks: Flat rate dents job satisfaction
S
ervice departments continue to
see high turnover rates in the service
manager, service adviser and
technician ranks. Especially troubling
is the number of technicians
who are leaving their jobs every year - almost
30 percent - and the cost for dealerships.
" We're losing a great deal of money when we
lose a single technician, " said Meredith Collins,
managing director at automotive consulting
fi rm Ducker Carlisle, which collected
service data from a number of automakers.
" When you extrapolate that to the whole industry,
the average dealer's losing about
$500,000 a year on technician turnover. "
And while Collins said money isn't the only
issue when it comes to tech defection, pay
goes a long way when it comes to job satisfaction.
In
the survey, only about 25 percent of technicians
said they were satisfi ed in their job. Additionally,
they overwhelmingly said they
wouldn't recommend the career, which harms a
dealership's ability to recruit new technicians.
Collins said one factor of technician dissatisfaction
is pay methodology. More than 75 percent
of technicianss are paid a fl at rate.
Ducker Carlisle discovered that technicians
paid a fl at rate have the lowest overall satisfaction
- less than 30 percent - and the smallest
percentage who expect to stay in their job
for two years - less than 70 percent.
" Digging into the numbers a little bit, one of
the key drivers we think is behind that is all of
the time these technicians are spending at
work not being compensated for their time, "
Collins said. " What we've heard from technicians
in this last year is nearly one-third of
their time while they're at work is for noncompensated
labor. And they estimate that this is
costing them about $17,000 a year on average. "
Another deciding factor on whether a technician
stays or goes is the dealership culture and
relationships. Ducker Carlisle found a big disconnect
between technicians and service advisers.
Th e productivity of technicians correlated
with how well they agreed with the statement
that they communicated well with advisers.
Th ose technicians who strongly agreed they
communicated well had a billable time of nearly
70 percent. Th ose who strongly disagreed
had a billable time slightly above 60 percent.
In another fi nding, service advisers and technicians
also disagreed over whether they communicate
properly. Across brands, typically 60
percent and higher of advisers said they communicate
properly. For technicians, those
numbers were typically 30 percent and lower.
" Obviously, this is a huge gap in perception, "
Collins
said. " Th e service advisers think
they're doing a good job of communicating;
technicians disagree. And it's costing them
money. "
- Dan Shine
Women in ranks calls for rethinking culture
W
hen the Tech Force Foundation
gathered the stories
of 60 female technicians,
there was one constant in all
their stories.
" To me, a very striking thing that in this day
and age 100 percent of the women faced some
sort of diffi culty because they were women in
a perceived male profession, " said Dana Rapaport,
chief of diversity and inclusion at the
foundation.
But one other aspect also stood out .
" Th e other thing that sticks out is how much
how many of these women have just a lot of
drive and deep sense of achievement for doing
this role and being a technician, " she said.
" It's not just a job to them; it is a career and
they are taking it as far as they can. "
And some of the obstacles that have stood in
the way of women becoming technicians and
advancing in their careers are fading away.
Th is generational change - older male technicians
and automotive employees who resisted
women in some automotive roles - are
retiring and being replaced by young people
who are more accepting and welcoming, Rapaport
said.
But as more women enter dealership service
departments, Rapaport said some adjustments
will be needed. Facilities or changing rooms for
women, for example. And equal opportunities
to advance like their male counterparts.
And a reassessment of dealership culture is
important as well.
" I encourage all employers to set some
guidelines and standards and have a discussion
at management level of what they feel diversity,
equity and inclusion might mean in
their business, " she said.
" And then they need to sort of spread and
train that, that belief and that corporate culture
throughout. "
Rapaport said the introduction of more
electric vehicles, which requires a laptop as
much as traditional tools, also spells an opportunity
to bring more women into technician
roles.
" Th is is actually one of the most exciting
parts of the evolution of the automotive industry, "
she said. " We're evolving to be more
computer oriented every day, whether we
want to or not. And for whatever reason,
women gravitate a lot to those kinds of more
technical roles, and they are excellent problem
solvers and excellent diagnosticians. "
- Dan Shine
OCTOBER 2022 PAGE 21
Fixed Ops Journal - October 2022

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