The annual Voice of the Technician survey, conducted by online platform WrenchWay and its partner, the National Institute for Automotive Service Excellence (ASE), revealed significant trends in the industry about what technicians want from their employers and work situations.
The survey drew nearly 5,000 responses through organizations WrenchWay and ASE work with -- a steep uptick from about 800 last year, according to Wrenchway cofounder and CEO Mark Wilson. Although most respondents were automotive or diesel technicians, collision repair techs made up a small percentage.
A panel made up of WrenchWay and ASE representatives evaluated the numbers and shared their findings.
What Technicians Want from Employers
When evaluating employers, 87% of respondents said they must have proper equipment in a shop, while 13% said it would be nice to have. A well-documented career path topic attracted must-have answers from 38% of respondents and nice-to-have answers from 55%. Paid vacation was a must-have for 83% and nice to have for 16%.
Pay structure among technicians was a key category for the Voice of the Technician survey. Red and green numbers indicate changes from last year.
When it came to pay scale, 36% of techs preferred an hourly/salary structure, 25% an hourly rate with production bonus, 19% a flat rate with a 40-hour guarantee, and 18% a traditional flat rate.
Hourly/salary structure saw a significant rise from last year, while hourly pay with a production bonus fell. George Arrants, vice president of the ASE Education Foundation, said that may be because bonus amounts could feel unattainable, and techs might prefer to know exactly what they will be making in order to budget and invest adequately.
Lots of young people today are working not for extra spending money, but to actually support families, Arrants asserted.
“Their decision on where to work at that early part of their career has to do with what they can make and what they can bring home,” he said. “Knowing the potential workforce that you have and being able to get them in and show them you care and making sure they have a livable wage -- I think that goes a long way.”
Work Schedules and Commutes
When it came to work schedules, a four-day/10-hour day tied with five days/eight hours at 32% each.
“Either way as long as there are no weekends” drew a 7% response, and “as many hours as I can work” pulled in 27%.
Arrants said he thought the four-day/10-hour response would have been higher, but the lower rate might be based on technicians not understanding how to make a shorter week work for them, alongside the fact that parts suppliers might not be on the same schedule.
Techs looking at new employers said they would make a daily commute of 15 minutes or less at a rate of 8%, while the 16- to 29-minute choice drew a 35% response. The 30- to 59-minute option got a 48% response, the 60- to 89-minute choice drew 7%, and the 90-plus-minute response got a 2% response.
The swing toward longer commute times, Arrants posited, might be related to job commitment.
“That’s pretty impressive that 48% would be willing to go a half hour to an hour. That basically adds two hours to your day,” he said. “Does that also say for the right job they’re willing to make the commitment to that company, which goes back to culture?”
These statistics, Wilson said, could mean shops should expand their applicant search radiuses to net technicians tired of conditions in their current jobs.
Tech Satisfaction
Technician satisfaction levels with current employers came in at 34% overall, down 13% from last year. The issue of whether shops do a good job of teaching new techs and compensating mentors drew a 28% positive response, down 14% from last year. And the question of whether shops provide good benefits drew a 53% positive response, down 10% from last year.
“A lot of this comes down to executive leadership if it’s a dealership, if it’s a shop,” said Jay Goninen, WrenchWay cofounder and president. “If the only thing you’re focused on is that month’s profit and loss, it’s really hard to attack some of this culture stuff. It comes from the top down in what you signify as the most important things.”
Progress in tech satisfaction levels will help with retaining people in the industry, he said.
“Being able to judge yourself, figuring out how you get better…That’s going to move the scale up,” he said.
And in the category of “what’s important to techs versus what employers provide,” 87% of those surveyed said proper equipment was a must, while 58% said their current shop provides it. Paid training drew must-have responses from 67% of technicians, and 51% said their current shop provides it. Paid vacation was a must for 89% of technicians, and retirement benefits were a must for 72%, while 53% were satisfied with their current benefits.
Higher pay was a key industry issue that needs to be solved, with higher pay coming in at first or second for 78% of respondents and better pay structure coming in at 55%.
Overall Takeaways
Answers on a lot of issues, Arrants said, have stayed virtually the same over a period of years, indicating that action is essential to move the needle as a younger generation comes up.
Simple things like communication, he asserted, can go a long way.
“I don’t think it’s something that’s going to turn around overnight, but we’ve got to get some of these things moving in the right direction, because we want to attract these young people to our industry as our demographic is getting older,” said Matt Shepanek, vice president of credential testing programs for ASE.
Obtaining honest feedback, Wilson said, is key in making improvements, adding that talking to techs in one-on-one settings or groups where they feel comfortable giving open answers can help.
The industry, he said, could also do a better job of sharing positive stories with the next generation in its recruiting efforts. For instance, he pointed out, 60% of respondents said their shops offer fair and adequate compensation, but the same subject was a big complaint when it came to the overall industry. This discrepancy, he said, could mean it took that person a long time in their career to find a job that fit them in this area, but that it’s still their No. 1 concern about the industry.
Shepanek agreed that sharing positive anecdotes is important and can offset statistics.
“While the numbers might not have looked great in some of these items in the survey,” he said, “there are a lot of people that are out there doing a lot of good every day.”
Elizabeth Crumbly