Attracting, retaining good staff key to success
Every business sector is concerned about employee turnover, but perhaps none more so than the automotive repair industry. With qualified collision repair technicians scarce in many areas of the country, the cost of replacing an employee is high — and the adverse impact of staff turnover on customer service can be tremendous.
Bob Tschippert, senior vice president of automotive specialty markets for Universal Underwriters, an insurance company serving the auto industry and affiliated aftermarket, says it's worth making the initial investment in the right staff members and keeping current employees satisfied to save significant time — and money — down the line. "It's hard work," he admits. "It's easy to have discussions about it, but it's hard work and it takes a lot of effort every day to make sure you're doing the right things."The key to providing good service to your customers, he says, "starts with hiring the very best people. Do a comprehensive job of screening applicants." The second stage, he says, requires shop owners to make sure the people they have hired are trained properly for their positions.
Why invest so much at the outset? Because replacing an employee isn't just costly, it also can be detrimental to your business, says Tschippert. "The obvious cost is a disruption to your customer — if they've developed a relationship with an employee and you disrupt that relationship, there's a customer retention issue right there."
Of course, the actual cost of replacing an employee varies from business to business. In Tschippert's company, for example, the cost of replacing an account executive may be in excess of $100,000 — and depends on factors such as the employee's tenure and level of expertise, but there's no doubt the process of rehiring and retraining a new employee disrupts day-to-day business. "It's a very expensive proposition," he says. From the acquisition of the new employee — whether through want ads or an agency — time interviewing, the background check and training. There's just a huge cost associated with that."Employers, therefore, should focus on employee retention at the outset. Investing time and money in adequate employee training programs may translate to increased employee loyalty, which can mean huge dividends down the line. "I think that a good takeaway is that, anytime you ask an employee what do they owe to their employer, one of the first things they would mention is a hard day's work, commitment, loyalty back to the employer," Tschippert says. "When you ask the follow-up question 'What does an employer owe to the employee?' the first thing you hear is 'training.' "
He adds, "People want to do well and want to succeed. If you've done a good job of hiring the right employee in the first place, all you need to do is give the training piece to help the person succeed."
But an employer's efforts shouldn't stop with training and a regular paycheck. Shop owners or managers also should institute a six-month job review to check in with employees and gauge whether they're on track to achieve their goals — whether financial or training related — and establish a more formal annual review to find out how well both parties worked toward these goals. "It's putting the ball back in the employee's court, if you will," Tschippert says. "You give them knowledge and expectations and then give them access to the training."
Contrary to popular belief, pay is only one of many factors that influence an employee's job satisfaction — and possibly not even the most important one. "In any market you have to be able to be paying a competitive rate, but it really is only part of the picture," Tschippert says. "If you were paying someone and they weren't growing, advancing their career, or knowing what they need to do to advance their career, they wouldn't want to stay. People want to have a career, not just a job."
Other important factors in employee retention include employee benefit programs, which are becoming increasingly rare as rising health insurance costs take a toll on small businesses. "A business that provides health care would be viewed as an employer of choice," Tschippert says. "Even if you were paying an above-average wage, so much of an employee's paycheck would go toward individual health care, they're on a vicious cycle and can't get ahead. But if you have someone who can provide health care, they're going to keep the employees, they're going to get new employees.
"Several years ago employees could assume that everyone has a competitive benefits program, but today employees are asking, 'What do you provide?' There's so much going on with pension plans, there's a heightened sense of awareness of what an employee benefit package is. It's no longer just assumed that it's there."
Jack Harris, owner of Jack Harris Autobody and Painting, an I-CAR Gold shop in Kaysville, Utah, shares a similar perspective, which has helped him achieve higher-than-average employee-retention rates. His 18 employees have been on his staff an average of about 15 years, with a handful of employees exceeding 25 years with the shop. He attributes his employee's loyalty to his philosophy of treating employees with respect.
"They're one of the biggest assets you have, so treat them well," he says. "A lot of employees have been with us a long time, so I listen to their needs and take care of it."
He also believes in the importance of training, providing access to I-CAR classes as well as on-the-job apprenticeships. "A lot of them [the technicians] just start out as helpers, and we train them," he says. "We work with them progressively up the ladder so that they're as good as or better than the other person. We also give them an equal amount of work and equal quality of work, type of work, so that everyone thinks they're getting a hard job."
But perhaps more important than the other factors, Harris stresses the importance of communication. "I check with them every day, how they're doing on their jobs, do they need anything," he says. "I personally walk through the shop and tell them good morning and see how they're doing and see if there's anything they need." Knowing when an employee is having a bad day and giving that person some extra slack can go a long way toward retention. "There's always opportunities elsewhere," he reasons. "Keep 'em happy, they'll stay."
Brett Bailey, general manager of A&B CARSTAR of Riverside in Kansas City, Mo., a member of the CARSTAR network for more than 10 years, says attracting and retaining qualified technicians is both easier and harder as an affiliate of a collision repair consolidator. Not only do certain talented, dependable employees decide to relocate within the network, thus leaving important positions open, but being in a network is akin to posting a "neon sign — everybody thinks it's a big corporation and going to be a cakewalk and have great benefits." These types of workers, he continues, are "just here for benefits and not concerned about their jobs."
Still, he says that being able to provide health insurance for employees — a benefit of his affiliation with CARSTAR — outweighs some of the drawbacks. "It's worth it to have good people and for them to be able to live comfortably," he says. "But it's still a big expense."
Bailey must be doing other things right as well. Of his 32 employees, most have clocked in excess of 10 years at the shop, with the longest-term employee beginning his 25th year at A&B CARSTAR.
According to Bailey, the best way to increase employee retention rates is surprisingly simple: keep them busy. "I'm lucky the business that I operate is strong — we do between five and six million [dollars] of revenue [per year] — and usually have a backlog of work," he says. But others are not so lucky. Lots of idle time, with technicians standing around waiting for the next project, is a sure sign a business is in jeopardy.
"High turnover happens when you promise the moon and can't deliver," Bailey adds. "Most body men or paint techs work on commission, and if you don't have anything for them to work on, you're out of luck."
