Contractors frequently ask where they can find good technicians. Sorry to disappoint, but this article is not about how to find great technicians. The general unemployment rate is 4 percent and the unemployment rate among technicians is close to zero. There is no easy way to acquire skilled technicians.
In addition to this super tight labor market, it may be harder than ever to keep the employees you have. According to a new survey by staffing firm Robert Half, 64 percent of employees favor job-hopping. That’s up 22 percent from a similar survey four years ago.
Not surprisingly, Millennial workers felt the most favorably about changing jobs frequently, with 75 percent of employees under 34 stating that job-hopping could benefit their careers.
You may not be able to readily acquire skilled technicians, but you can do something about keeping the ones you have. The purpose of this article is to help you keep quality employees through improved employee retention techniques.
As Peter Senge said in his book The Fifth Discipline, people do not comply with a purpose, they enroll in it. Enrollment means that the person actively chooses to align their own vision for their life with the higher organizational purpose.
Long-term employees need to know they are working towards a common goal. Millennials (born between 1981 and 1996) are especially purpose driven. Your company should have a clear purpose statement and all of your coworkers should understand that purpose statement and where they fit in to making it happen.
Notice there is no mention of a mission statement. The terms are often used interchangeably. A company’s purpose is more than a mission statement or a vision. At its core, a company’s purpose is a bold affirmation of its reason for being in business.
What’s your reason for being in business? When you ask your employees, their response is “I don’t know. To make the boss richer.” YOU can’t blame them for feeling that way. If they are not told differently, shouldn’t they just assume it’s all about you and the money?
Need a purpose statement? Search the Internet for examples and come up with a truly inspiring, yet simple purpose statement. Here are three good ones:
According to a recent study, 86 percent of Millennials would commit to a company for five years if they offered student loan assistance. Student debt is one of the largest financial burdens they face.
You could offer your coworkers a program of student loan relief if they offered your company a commitment in return. You might offer the program after a certain “probation period” when you are reasonably certain you want them to stay.
Highly productive employees are disproportionally compensated compared to low performing employees. That is to say, top performers might produce 40 percent more than low performers but make just 20 percent more money. Even though you try to keep your payroll a secret, most of your employees know what each other makes; at least they think they do.
Everyone knows who the low producing employees are and they bring the rest of the group down. When low producers are paid nearly as much as the top producers, overall productivity and morale will suffer.
Consider compensating your technicians through a combination of guaranteed income and a set of performance-based incentives (PBI). PBIs should make up at least 35 percent of their income. PBIs are harder to incorporate with non-billable employees but it is still very much possible. PBIs should make up at least 20 percent of their overall income.
This might be the absolute number one reason people stay or leave. Most contractors have a difficult time offering genuine heartfelt praise. Be sure to find something to praise them for and offer that praise every day or two.
Negligent retention happens when an employer realizes, or should have realized, that an employee should be terminated, and the employer still retains that employee.
Winners tend to want to hang around other winners. The same is true for your employees. If you have employees that don’t pull their weight, there will be resentment among your best employees. Few employees will tell you to your face that they resent someone. You must identify these people and let them go. This is often easier said than done. Remember, when you have a position filled with a toxic and/or low performing employee, you are ruining the opportunity to fill that position with someone much better.
Create a set of guidelines on how to identify bad employees and establish a timeline on when to deal with them. By decreasing negligent retention, you will increase employee satisfaction, reduce turnover, and increase productivity.
Considering how difficult it is to find and keep qualified technicians, you have no choice but to get more production out of the staff you already have. Work on fine-tuning your company’s operations so that you can squeeze out more billable and productive time than ever before. There are many productivity related key performance indicators related to efficiency. Here are three to watch:
Please see my article titled “How to Increase Service Technician Revenue” for additional information and KPIs.
Since it is not easy to acquire and retain great coworkers, it is more important than ever to keep the ones you have. It is also important to identify and remove employees that are detrimental to your company’s purpose statement.
Since job-hopping is more common, you might have a chance at getting someone really excellent. Until you eliminate bad employees, you will never have the opportunity to replace them with better ones.
To learn more about staffing, hiring, employee retention and other leadership principles and strategies crucial to contracting companies, visit EGIA.org/HVACR-Leadership and download a free packet of training resources including videos, templates, industry research and more.
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