New hiring advice

[VAR]

Hey all Auto shop owners,

 

Got a question and need all the input and advise I can get.

 

A little history, I am Alan and I am a proud owner of a small Automotive shop. We only have 3 bays and 1 tech. I have been the service advisor/manager of the previous company for the last 5 years.

 

About a year ago, the previous owner called it quits and closed the place down due to financial difficulties.

 

Long story short, I kept the same locations address, changed the business name due to logistic reasons and kept the best technician for the shop.

 

He is currently and has always been a flat rate techician, meaning that he is paid according to what he produces/completes.

 

I am coming into a possible problem where I am in need of more production. He was much more assertive in the beginning and now he is not producing as much as he use to. He used to take 20 minutes lunches and now he is taking 1 hour lunches everyday.

 

I have tried to motivate him by giving him raises, bonuses, and positive reinforcement as much as possible.

 

I am inclined to bring another tech in. Flat rate or hourly? My tech is pretty sensitive and if I were to bring another tech in flat rate, he may be offended and possibly complain about a lost of hours for him.

 

On the other hand, if I brought in a hourly, I don't want him to use him as a personal assistant and try to take extra hours for what the hourly guy completes.

 

I have been straight up with him and tried to motivate him and would not want to lose him as my lead tech.

 

Any opinions and suggestions would be appreciated.

[Joe Marconi]

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[VAR]

Thank you so much for your response. One of my other concern is also whether I have enough work to satisfy a new hire (hourly or flat rate).

 

At this point, my lead tech knows that anything coming through the door is for him to earn. But it would be a problem if I hired another flat rater and not have enough work for both of them.

 

And if I hired an hourly tech, would I send the hourly home early if it is slow?

[mspecperformance]

Another question is do you have enough hours to go around for 2 technicians?

[VAR]

That is one of those questions where the shop generally has enough work for 2 techs in the summer time but now in the winter time yet.

[KMS]

I think you need to talk to your technician. If his work performance has drastically reduced find out why. There is something going on in his personal life. There is a reason he lost motivation. If this doesn't help, find someone who is money motivated, or find out what motivates the tech you have now. Good luck and never let an employee be the fall of your business.

[Pjauto]

You may have made the same mistake I did. I am paying my flat rate tech too much on the hour and that is was is slowing his production. It seems nice to pay them well but if they are comfortable with say $1,000 a week in pay, they will work really hard for that 1k at $20 am hour or not very hard at all for $30 an hour. You would think that everyone is as money motivated as you are but I've come to find out that is just not true.

 

 

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