Fred Honore, Mark Polzin and James Svaasand participated in Wednesday’s panel discussion at the HD Repair Forum in Fort Worth, Texas.Technician training, recruitment and retention dominated a panel discussion on successful practices in heavy-duty collision repair shops Wednesday at the Heavy Duty Repair Forum in Fort Worth, Texas.
To the panelists, the focus on employment was obvious — there’s no such thing as a successful service shop without quality people.
As Penske’s Vice President of Collision Repair Operations and Development, James Svaasand has determined one great way to strengthen employee performance is by engaging with them. He says employees are any company’s “single greatest resource” and shouldn’t be taken for granted. At Penske’s 26 heavy-duty collision centers in North America, Svaasand says managers are instructed to regularly engage with all of their associates, asking questions and learning about their work and lives. He says this engagement has reduced employee turnover — a key issue for all service shops — while also providing the company useful ideas for best practices to use within its service bays and larger service operations.
“Any tech who has done a job more than once has thought about doing it better a second time,” he says.
Mark Polzin says he’s had similar success as president at Budget Truck & Auto. He references a decision last year to enable his shop manager to create his own recruitment strategy to draw more young technicians into the business. Polzin says he was initially puzzled last June when he found six high school students hanging around his business, only to later learn they had been invited by his shop manager to learn more about Budget’s career opportunities. Polzin admits he never would have considered such a move but says that it worked — four of the students remain in the business as part-time associates, working after school to help Budget’s full-time technicians.
“I wouldn’t have thought to do that,” he says.
And engagement is more than just listening, says Fred Honore with Gerber Collision. It also helps to invest some of your time taking an interest in your employees. Honore says sends personal birthday and anniversary cards to all of his associates as a way to show his appreciation for what they do. With eight locations and a growing workforce Honore says he doesn’t know if he’ll be able to do that much longer, but says when he is no longer able to do so he will request his shop managers do the same.
“We try to coach our managers to honestly care,” he says. “If you don’t with a sincere heart care about your people” you can lose them. “It has to be more than the job and the benefits.”
The trio also note the importance of proper recruitment of new employees. At Gerber, Honore says “we are not looking for perfect techs. We are looking for people who are trainable and willing to learn.”
Penske does the same, says Svaasand. “We hire for character and we train for skill.”
Polzin says that’s what’s been so great about his new high school associates. Though most of their work now has been focused on cleaning, sanding and paint prep, he says each student wants to know more about Budget’s operation.
Finally, Svaasand mentions the importance of thinking outside the box to find potential candidates. He says Penske has started attending local car shows to recruit attendees. Svaasand admits that sounds unconventional but says the young people Penske finds at these shows are passionate about restoring vehicles. They understand the meticulous workmanship required by the collision industry and are intrigued, not turned off by it.
