Digital Dealer - September 2019 - 18

D E A L E R OP S & M ANAGEM ENT: H/R, Cul t ur e, Fi xed Ops

By Brian Bastin,
Program Director, Automotive
Dealership Management,
Keiser University

Off the Sidelines
& in the Game
Staggering! There is no
other way to describe it.
Whether you look at it as a
percent (14%) or a raw
number (7.1 million), the
number of men 25-34 years
of age who are not in the
workforce is truly staggering.
Just 20 years ago, the
percentage sat at a meager
six percent. Why are these
statistics important? Simply
put, it represents an
opportunity to fill those
technician vacancies, which
keep many service managers awake at night. These
numbers only point to the
underemployed or unemployed male workforce. The
unemployment rate of
women who only have a
high school diploma is nine
percent. This could be
another great source to fill
the technician shortage.
According to NADA, tech
schools graduate roughly
37,000 aspiring technicians
per year, but the industry
needs over 75,000 just to
meet demand. Over the
next decade, this will lead
to a shortage of over a
quarter-million technicians.
Historically, technician work
has been hard and dirty.
While the days of the shade
tree mechanic dissipate due
to the high level of computerization in today's vehicles, technician work can
still be tough and grueling.
Long hours of standing on
18

SEPTEMBER 2019

concrete in an unairconditioned shop will wear out
the heartiest of souls. Fewer
people see it as a viable and
rewarding career. This is
the challenge dealers must
overcome by directing the
narrative.
Dealers have a wonderful
story to tell but fail to sell its
merits. First, technician work

the advanced systems on
today's vehicles, technicians
need to stay current or face
being left behind. Technicians spend countless hours
reading the latest technical
bulletins and conducting
simulation training on
today's vehicles, which are
essentially computers on
wheels.

IT IS ONE THING TO
ATTRACT SOMEONE TO
A JOB, BUT KEEPING
THAT PERSON REQUIRES
THE RIGHT CULTURE FIT.
SOMETIMES CULTURE
NEEDS TO ADAPT."
can be financially rewarding.
The average technician,
according to NADA, earns
$61,000 per year, on par
with the average salary of all
other professions in the U.S.
Top technicians, in large
metro markets, experience
even higher compensation
with pay reaching more than
$100,000 annually. Next,
technician jobs provide a
stepping stone into other
opportunities. Some former
technicians try their hand at
service advising or scratch
the entrepreneurial itch by
opening their own independent service centers.
Lastly, technician jobs are
mentally stimulating. With all

D I G I TA L D E A L E R . C O M

Dealers need to lure
these millennials off the
self-imposed sideline and
into the game. These people
are missing out on the opportunity to provide for their
future in a hot and thriving
job market. By waiting years
to enter the job market,
they create a pay penalty.
Pay rises as your career
progresses. When a person
delays entering the job
market, they enter at a lower
rate and are never able to
fully reach the maximum
earning potential of their
earlier starting counterparts.
There is a false stereotype
that millennials do not want
to work hard. While this is

not the case, they do prioritize
things differently than some
other generations do. Millennials desire the opportunity
for growth and development,
to be part of something important, gel with the company
culture, and have flexibility in
work schedules. To get here,
paradigms need to shift, and
dealers need to look to other
industries for best practices.
Aside from moving from
apprentice to master tech,
traditionally, there has been
limited room for technicians to
do other things in the dealership, except for service advising. Dealer apprentice plans
can change this. A technician
doesn't have to be limited
to technical work or even
service work, for that matter.
Progressive dealers can
offer apprentice or education
classes for technicians to go
into parts, service advising,
variable operations, and even
management. There is no
substitute for knowing all the
positions in an organization.
That way you truly know what
an employee can and cannot
do and what the frustrations
of that position are. Dealers
can run programs on their
own or offer education reimbursement for their employees. This builds loyalty and
fulfills the growth aspirations
of the workers.
It is one thing to attract
someone to a job, but keeping that person requires the
right culture fit. Sometimes
culture needs to adapt.
This culture change may be
financial in nature or more
structural. From a financial
perspective, we have seen
pay plans go toward more
salary in areas such as new
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