3 Ways to Engage and Retain Your Top Service Technicians

SATISFYD Service Technicians

Good service technicians can be hard to come by these days. Not only is the workforce beginning to favor and encourage independent contributors, technicians in particular happen to possess very unique skill sets – and not all are created equal. With as difficult as it is to find highly-skilled technicians that are willing to work full-time, it becomes that much more important to retain the good ones that you already may have on staff. Plus – and you’ve heard this one before – it’s much more costly to acquire new talent as opposed to the cost of retaining existing talent. 

Turnover happens – that’s just the nature of business. That being said, some of the most common reasons for employees leaving your organization are entirely avoidable – given you have a solid retention strategy in place. Let’s look at three of the best ways to retain your best service technicians. 

  1. Train and Empower Your Workforce to Grow

Across the board, lack of engagement is one of the biggest reasons your top service talent might throw in the towel. What good is an advanced and unique skill set if there’s no incentive or opportunity to use it? On top of that, the best service technicians are the best because they’re always eager to learn, acquire new skills and grow within their respective careers.

By offering continuing education opportunities, on and off-site training, and/or room to advance within your organization, you’ll be providing your technicians with incentives and motivation that they’ll have a difficult time finding elsewhere. This type of empowerment is also a way for your dealership to demonstrate commitment towards employee growth, and service technicians especially will appreciate the fact that they have a career path to follow under your leadership.

  1. Invest in Their Equipment and Workspace

There can’t be much that’s more frustrating for a service technician than having to work with outdated, unreliable equipment. These types of hands-on professionals love their toys, so it’s important to ensure that you’re providing a workplace environment that feels up-to-date (not to mention safe).

And that goes for more than just the mechanical equipment. Service techs are busy enough as it is, and they certainly shouldn’t have to bother with outdated ticketing systems, buggy transaction platforms, or lousy customer communication tools. While these sorts of workplace updates can seem expensive upfront, remember how expensive it would be to lose good talent, and over equipment that needs updating anyway.

  1. Be Proactive About Listening and Gaining Feedback

Last but definitely not least, it’s critical to systematically obtain feedback from your employees on a consistent basis. Not only will you gain valuable insight into the wants and needs of your workforce, but you’ll also be demonstrating that you’re proactively trying to create a better work environment for your team, while also keeping them in the loop as well (feedback works both ways).

Think about it – without seeking feedback, how would you ever know that your service technicians are unhappy, until it’s too late? Communicate with past and current employees to better understand what factors are causing dissatisfaction – and do this on a set schedule, perhaps once per quarter to start. You may want to consider a standardized solution to help you organize this type of feedback, map out actionable next steps, and track overall employee satisfaction over time. 

Bonus Tip

You may want to consider implementing (or expanding on) a referral bonus program. This is a win-win, as this will incentivize your current employees with opportunities to earn extra cash, while also creating a new way to source talent when the time inevitably comes.

Your Top Service Technicians Should Want to Stay

Turnover is a growing and highly-expensive problem. Especially when it comes to professions with unique skill sets, such as service technicians, it’s more critical than ever to develop and maintain strong retention strategies that are designed to attract and retain the best of the best. 

Offering continuing education and career growth opportunities, investing in reliable and up-to-date service equipment/tools, and consistently obtaining feedback from your workforce are a few sure ways to increase employee retention in the long-term, and keep your top technicians from jumping ship. Remember, if you want your employees to invest their time and skills into your business, you need to invest in them as well. Otherwise, you’ll be investing much more in acquiring temporary talent.

SATISFYD’s Voice of the Employee (VoE) solution gives you the tools to assess and improve employee engagement. Engaged employees are more enthusiastic and committed to your organization while being more efficient, productive and innovative. SATISFYD provides insight to improve business processes, reduce turnover, and create a stronger, more aligned workplace. Learn more here.