Minimize “ non-collectible ” time . What is non-collectible time ? It is time that a technician is out of his work area doing something other than working on a trailer . Such as moving trailers around on the lot , going after parts off-site , building maintenance , plowing snow , running errands for the sales department , etc . Keep your techs in the shop working on trailers to produce billable hours .
Every serviced unit should be inspected for required repairs / services to ensure it is safe and reliable . We call this a unit health check . You might be asking yourself ; how will this increase Technician productivity ? During this inspection , the Technician will find additional billable work to sell to the customer . This type of work is typically fast , easy work that the tech can do while the trailer is in your shop . I ’ ve seen this one item alone increase tech productivity by 30 % or more . This inspection should take 10 minutes or less and performed at no charge to the customer .
Your parts department must understand that their primary mission is to support the technicians . The parts department ’ s goal is to quickly get the technician the correct part . Instead of making the technicians go to the parts department , why not have the parts person go to the technician ? It will improve order accuracy and prevent further technician downtime .
Structure compensation plans to support increased labor sales and shop productivity . Technicians , service managers , and parts persons ’ pay plans should motivate your employees . If not , it is not the right plan . For hourly technicians , consider increasing their hourly pay when they increase their billable hours . An example would be a technician who is paid $ 20 per clock hour and is 45 % productive ( see second paragraph calculation ). I recommend establishing tiers at 4-hour increments where the tech ’ s hourly wage would increase by $ 2 at each four-hour increment . For example , if the technician produces 18 billable hours in a 40-hour week but increases to 22 billed hours , the technician will then get paid $ 22 per clock hour . At 26 billed hours , the tech gets $ 24 per clock hour . At 30 billed hours , the tech gets $ 26 per hour , and at 34 billed hours , the tech gets $ 28 per hour . We have been using this hourly tech bonus pay plan for over ten years and it works ! Set up the service manager with a 50 / 50 pay plan ( 50 % salary and 50 % commission based on labor sales or gross profit . If your store has a parts person , set their pay at 50 / 25 / 25 based on parts sales and shop productivity with 50 % salary , 25 % commission on parts sales , and 25 % bonus based on technician .
Why wait ? Implement these six proven ways to increase your technician productivity today . It will give your techs a pay raise , help you recruit new technicians , get more shop production , decrease turnaround time , improve customer satisfaction , and the dealer gets a pay raise .
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