Ken Hines makes it a priority to keep his dealerships’ technicians happy. As a result, the fixed operations director and service manager at Reynolds Ford of Norman in the Oklahoma City area hasn’t had a technician leave his facilities in the last decade.
Much of that is due to the fact that Hines utilizes technician pay plans that establish productivity and efficiency goals, incentivize employees, are tailored to individuals, and allow for flexibility.
The fixed ops director—who oversees two dealerships with service departments that combine to gross roughly $17 million annually—also feels it’s important to be fair to both your dealership and the technician when a choosing pay plan.
Hines, who has used multiple pay plans during his lengthy career, notes the positives and negatives of the industry’s main methods of technician compensation.
Plusses: In a large shop, a team pay plan, in which groups of employees pool their skillsets to benefit one another, has its merits. Hines notes that, in theory, inexperienced technicians could work under the watchful eye of A- and B-techs, and receive guidance.
Plusses: A straight salary pay plan can help keep technicians from feeling rushed while making repairs. That can result in work that’s above reproach.
Minuses: Hines, whose employer used a salary-based pay plan for three years a while back, found that technicians can lack motivation with this setup.
“We just took what technicians had averaged, bi-weekly, for the previous three years, and said, ‘We’re going to guarantee you this many hours,’” Hines recalls. “But there wasn’t a carrot on the other end of the stick.
Plusses: In Hines’ experience, pay plans that are commission based and flat rate (which compensate workers based on the completion of jobs) typically inspire technicians to work as efficiently as possible, with an eye toward increased paychecks.
Minuses: It’s possible that technicians might feel rushed while working on a plan that implores them to be as productive as possible.
Plusses: In theory, a hybrid pay plan could mesh some of the best elements of multiple setups. That was Hines’ thinking, years ago, when his facilities started using a compensation setup that paid technicians a base salary plus commision.
Ultimately, he feels it’s important to utilize a pay plan that inspires technicians to work hard and appreciate their employer.