Stemming the turnover tide: Investment in your business can help retain your best technicians

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Updated Oct 10, 2019
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Reducing Technician Turnover 1

As employment turnover issues continue to plague the trucking service channel, more businesses are investing resources in the recruitment and acquisition of new technician talent. It’s a valid strategy that makes sense considering the need.

But recruitment alone will not solve any business’ employment problems. To halt employee turnover and begin building a dependable team of technicians, service providers also must stick the landing. New recruits have to stick around.

According to a 2018 survey by Randall-Reilly (publisher of Trucks, Parts, Service), of more than 1,200 professional technicians in the trucking, agriculture, construction and automotive industries, more than half of today’s technician population has worked for at least two maintenance or repair businesses in the past five years. In the trucking market, specifically, 56 percent of the more than 800 technicians surveyed claimed they are on at least job No. 2 in the last five years. A staggering 20 percent also admitted they’ve had three jobs or more.

Additionally, despite the revelation that two-thirds of the heavy truck technicians surveyed by Randall-Reilly also have a vocational degree in their line of work, only 11 percent said they would not consider leaving trucking for a different industry if offered better wages, training, career advancement opportunities or a favorable location.

For a market desperate to retain talent, such a willingness to exit by the industry’s educated professionals should be alarming to anyone responsible for keeping a technician position filled.

Yet it’s also important to note that while employee retention is getting harder, keeping quality technicians isn’t impossible. Those same surveyed technicians who were so open about their propensity to job hop also were adamant that such career moves aren’t made on a whim.

Technicians say they leave employers because they feel underpaid and underappreciated. They also admit that when they find an employer that treats them well, they are willing to stick around.

In responding to Randall-Reilly’s survey, one technician said he deliberately evaluates a company’s culture when considering a new role. “How much do they value my position? How much do they value their technicians?” he asked. “Being appreciated and valued is really important.”

Several other techs referenced employee morale and management styles. One said: “The biggest factor for me is the person I work for. People don’t quit jobs; they leave poor management.”

And while other more tangible factors such as salary, benefits and paid time off also were referenced as recruitment and retention tools, the survey responders made it clear such benefits alone won’t keep every technician happy.

As one technician succinctly said, “I would love to actually be able to work around other professionals that know and understand the industry and make work flow easier.”

In Part III of our 2019 Special Report on trucking’s technician shortage, TPS seeks to evaluate these comments further, clarifying what technicians desire in their occupation and show how proactive service providers can develop strong employment retention strategies to reduce turnover.

Click here to download the Randall-Reilly technician wage survey

TARGETING TECHNICIANS, PART 3

Stemming the turnover tide: Investment in your business can help retain your best technicians

Want technicians to stay at your shop? You better pay

Knowledge is power: Technician apprenticeship programs can increase retention rates

Workplace culture can be a technician retention tool

Millennials aren’t from Mars: Generational perceptions impact technician retention

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