2013 AUTOMOTIVE TECHNICIAN SURVEY SUMMARY OF FINDINGS · 90% 100% % Responses #1 Reason for...

2013 AUTOMOTIVE TECHNICIAN SURVEY SUMMARY OF FINDINGS

February 2014

PAGE 2 Copyright 2014 Carlisle & Company, Inc.

BACKGROUND


Almost 9,000 technicians across these 15 OEMs/brands completed this survey.

The survey was conducted by Carlisle & Company on behalf of the industry, and was administered in September/October of 2013.

The purpose of this report is to provide feedback and highlights on some of the most relevant findings to the participating technicians.

Due to confidentiality issues, the charts in this presentation have either the OEM name removed, or in some cases simply show industry average.

Technician support of this survey has been quite strong. Sample comments include:

Great survey. I hope it will make changes happen around here.

Finally a survey just for the techs!

Keep em coming it's good to vent !!

I am glad that there is a way now we as technicians can communicate our concerns so that it goes beyond the dealership level so that these concerns can be addressed.

I think it’s great that we are being given the opportunity to inform xx of our struggles.

If it gets read and actually means something…then it is a perfect and well thought out survey

FIFTEEN U.S. AUTOMOTIVE OEMS/BRANDS PARTICIPATED IN THE SECOND ANNUAL SYNDICATED TECHNICIAN SURVEY IN 2013


TECHNICIAN DEMOGRAPHICS


3234363840424446

Average Age

THE AVERAGE TECH IS ABOUT 41 YEARS OLD, AND HAS BEEN WORKING FOR 19 YEARS AS A TECHNICIAN

Generally speaking, domestic brands tend to have the oldest technicians. On average, most technicians have spent about half their career with their current dealership.

0

5

10

15

20

25

Years of Experience


0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

High School Trade School 2yr College OE Training Military Indep. Training 4yr College

Education by Age Group

17 to 24 25 to 34 35 to 44 45 to 54 55 to 64 over 64

TRADE SCHOOLS AND 2-YEAR COLLEGES ARE BECOMING MORE PREVALENT, WHILE HIGH SCHOOL AND MILITARY ARE BECOMING LESS SO

*Respondents are allowed to select multiple options


CURRENT JOB BACKGROUND


BRAND INTEREST, PAY, AND LOCATION TYPICALLY REPRESENT THE TOP REASONS TECHNICIANS CHOOSE THEIR CURRENT JOB

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

% R

espo

nses

#1 Reason for Selecting Current Job

Brand Interest Tech Pay Dealership Location Work Env Volume of Business

Career Adv. None Personal Rec. Management Working Hours

Benefits Tech Training Other Labor Times Award Programs

Most Im

portant Reasons


TECHNICIANS SELECTING JOBS FOR SUPV/MGMT OR WORKING ENVIRON ARE THE MOST SATISFIED THAT THEY SELECTED THE RIGHT JOB

Chart displays respondents selecting 9 or 10 on a 10-point scale: “Do you feel like you made the right decision when selecting this job?”

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

Mak

e rig

ht d

ecis

ion

whe

n se

lect

ing c

urre

nt jo

b?

Primary Reason for Selecting Current Job

Satisfaction w/ Job Choice vs. Reason for Selecting Job


TECH TRAINING AND WORK QUALITY HAVE THE HIGHEST RELATIVE SATISFACTION; COMPENSATION/WARRANTY LABOR RATES THE LOWEST

Each unique color bar represents one of the participating OEMs; Scores show % of respondents selecting “5” on a 5-point satisfaction scale

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

35%

40%

45%

50%

TechTraining

WorkQuality

WorkEnviron

DealerSupv/Mgmt

OEMConcern

Career Pay WarrantyLbr Rates

% To

p Bo

x

Current Job Satisfaction


DIAGNOSTIC WORK AVERAGES ABOUT A THIRD OF TECHNICIAN TIME, ROUTINE MAINTENANCE ANOTHER 25%; WARRANTY AVERAGES 50%

Technicians spend between 20%-40% of their time on diagnostic work; Routine maintenance only represents about 20%-25% of the technicians’ time.

Customer pay work averages around 40%, while warranty averages around 50% of work time spent.

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%Technician Time by Repair Type

Diagnostic Routine Maintenance Heavy Repair LOF Other

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%Technician Time by Customer Type

Customer Pay Warranty Other


…yet we found high earned ratios are not a strong driver of high annual pay. Instead, high hourly rates – as is typically found at luxury brands – are a bigger driver of annual pay.

EARNING RATIOS VARY FROM 130% DOWN TO JUST OVER 100%...

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

110%

120%

130%

140%

Hou

rs E

arne

d as

a P

erce

nt o

f Hou

rs W

orke

d

Hours Earned vs. Hours Worked


ON AVERAGE, ONLY 27% OF TECHNICIANS STATED THAT THEY ARE “SATISFIED” WITH THEIR CAREER PROGRESSION

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

Satisfaction With Career Progression

Satisfied Somewhat satisfied Somewhat dissatisfied Very dissatisfied Other


NOT SURPRISINGLY, TECHNICIANS WHO ARE RELATIVELY SATISFIED WITH THEIR CAREER PROGRESSION WANT TO STAY AT THEIR SAME JOB/SAME DEALER…

0

200

400

600

800

1000

1200

1400

# Re

spon

ses

5 Year Plans for Techs Most Satisfied With Career Progression

Satisfied - Moving along as expected Moving a little slowly, but acceptable

Chart identifies 5-year career objectives only for the top 2 categories of technicians satisfied with their career progression


0

100

200

300

400

500

600

700

# Re

spon

ses

5 Year Plans for Techs Least Satisfied With Career Progression

I feel stuck in my current position Moving more slowly than I'd like

…WHILE THOSE THAT ARE NOT SATISFIED WANT TO EITHER INCREASE THEIR CERTIFICATION, OR EXIT THE INDUSTRY

Techs that “feel stuck” see this as an “industry”, not

a “dealer” problem Note how few dissatisfied techs simply want to change dealerships

Chart identifies 5-year career objectives only for the bottom 2 categories of technicians satisfied with their career progression


LOF/QUICKLUBE SPOTLIGHT


21% of technicians spend > 20% of their time on LOF, yet very few dealerships have a career progression plan for these techs.

Further, the more time a tech spends on LOF, the lower their satisfaction with their career progression, and the more they question whether they took the right job.

LOF IS SEEN AS AN ENTRY-LEVEL TECHNICIAN POSITION – IT IS INCUMBENT UPON DEALERSHIPS TO DEVELOP PROGRESSION PLANS

0

1000

2000

3000

4000

5000

6000

0% 1-20% 21-40% 41-60% 61-80% 81-100%

# of

Res

pond

ents

Percent of Time Spent on LOF

Time Spent On LOF

22%

57%

21%

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

35%

0% 1-20% 21-40% 41-60% 61-80% 81-100%

Perc

ent

Sati

sfie

d

Percent Time Spent on LOF

Satisfaction With Career Progression

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

Formal, Realistic LOF Progression Plan?

Yes No

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

35%

40%

45%

0% 1-20% 21-40% 41-60% 61-80%% 9

/10

on 1

0 Po

int

"Cho

se R

ight

Job

" Sc

ale

Percent Time Spent on LOF

Chose Right Job vs. % Time on LOF


IMPROVING QUALITY REPAIRS


IMPROVEMENTS TO PARTS AVAILABILITY AND TECH/SERVICE ADVISOR COMMUNICATION WOULD HAVE THE BIGGEST IMPACT ON IMPROVING REPAIRS

Each unique color bar represents one of the participating OEMs; Respondents could select up to top two choices

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

35%

40%

45%

% R

espo

nden

ts S

elec

ting

Choi

ce

Improvements to Enable Efficient, Quality Repairs


PARTS AVAILABILITY: TECHNICIANS WOULD LIKE THEIR OWN PARTS DEPARTMENT TO STOCK MORE INVENTORY

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

Dealershipdoesn'tstock

enoughinventory

Dealershiporders the

wrongparts

OEMdoesn't

supply in atimelyfashion

OEM can'tsupply

recall partsquicklyenough

OEMdoesn'tdeliveryquicklyenough

Other Parts fromOEM arrivedamaged

Dealershiprequires

lowerqualityparts

PDC shipsthe wrong

parts

% R

espo

nden

ts S

elec

ting

Choi

ce

Top Parts Availability Problem That Prevents You From Performing Quality Repairs?

Each unique color bar represents one of the participating OEMs; Respondents could select up to top two choices


TECHNICIAN-SERVICE ADVISOR COMMUNICATION: POOR COMMUNICATION LEADS TO WASTED TIME/MONEY…

Technicians report that on average, 43% of all repair orders require service advisor clarification… …which consumes about 30 minutes per day per technician.

35%

37%

39%

41%

43%

45%

47%

49%% Time Need to Ask SA For RO Clarification

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

# M

inut

es/D

ay

Minutes/Day Spent Clarifying RO's


According to technicians, about one third of customers are provided unrealistic waiting times.

…AS WELL AS MISINFORMATION SUPPLIED TO THE END-CUSTOMER

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

35%

40%

45%

% Time Customers Given Unrealistic Waiting Time


TECHNICAL TRAINING: GENERALLY SPEAKING, TECHNICIANS FEEL THEY GET EQUAL SUPPORT FROM BOTH THEIR DEALERSHIP AND THEIR BRAND

Compared to all the categories assessed on the survey, technicians report the highest satisfaction for Technical Training.

However, there is a wide disparity across OEMs concerning the clarity of their training requirements. For the most part, the more clear an OEM’s training requirements, the higher the overall

satisfaction with their technical training.

0%

10%

20%

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40%

50%

60%

70%

Overall Satisfaction Brand provides theright technical

training

My dealershipsupports me in

obtaining training

% T

op B

ox

Technical Training Satisfaction

0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%

% of Technicians Who Describe Technical Training Requirements as "Very Clear"

Each unique color bar represents one of the participating OEMs


0

20

40

60

80

100

120

Avg. TotalHours

In person,training center

Self-study,internet

Self-study,other

Internet,instructor

In person,other location

Mobile

Avg

Hour

s/Ye

ar

Average Training Hours by Type and Satisfaction

Top Box Average Bottom Box

THE AVERAGE TECH OBTAINS ~100 HOURS OF TECHNICAL TRAINING A YEAR – THE AMOUNT AND TYPE OF TRAINING TAKEN IMPACTS SATISFACTION

The most satisfied technicians: Spend the most hours in training Spend the most training hours at “In-person, training center” Spend relatively fewer hours at “Self-study”

The least satisfied technicians: Spend the fewest hours in training Spend very few hours in “In-person, training center” Spent the most hours at “Self-study”


SPECIAL TOOLS: RELATIVELY SPEAKING, SPECIAL TOOLS ARE APPROPRIATE – THEY’RE JUST NOT BEING STOCKED SUFFICIENTLY

The industry averages about a 4% “top box” satisfaction score for “Dealership stocks sufficient assortment”. This is one of the lowest satisfaction scores across the entire survey

On average, two-thirds of the industry does not have a special tools management system.

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

35%

Tools appropriate for repair Dealership stocks sufficientassortment

Top

Box

%

Special Tools Satisfaction

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%Use Special Tools Mngt System?

Yes, frequently Yes, occasionally Yes, rarelyYes, don't use it No



DIAGNOSTIC TOOLS: SATISFACTION WITH THE SUPPLY OF DIAGNOSTIC TOOLS IS RELATIVELY SIMILAR ACROSS BRANDS; SATISFACTION WITH TOOLS IN WORKING ORDER VARIES WIDELY

Similar to “special tools”, satisfaction for “diagnostic tools” is quite low. Significant variation across OEMs with respect to “tools in working order”.

The industry averages slightly more than 7 technicians per tool.

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

Dealership stockssufficient assortment

Tools in working order

Top

Box

%

Diagnostic Tools for Repair

02468

10121416

Technician to Tool Ratio



SERVICE INFORMATION: HIGHEST SATISFACTION FOR BULLETINS, BUT TECHNICIANS ARE MUCH LESS SATISFIED THAN SERVICE MANAGERS ON THIS SAME TOPIC

Average satisfaction for bulletins is the highest, with wiring diagrams and online information about equal. Service information scores on left based on compilation of multiple questions, such as:

Easy to understand, Easy to find, Accurate and complete, Up-to-date, etc. Service managers consistently have higher satisfaction with service information than do technicians.

Chart on right compares results of 2013 Technician survey vs. 2013 Service Manager Survey


0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

Bulletins Wiring Diagrams Online Info

Top

Box

%

Service Info: Avg Sat by Category

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

Top

Box

%

Technical Bulletin Satisfaction

Technician Service Manager

Carlisle & Company, Inc. 30 Monument Square, Concord MA 01742 978-318-0500 www.Carlisle-co.com

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