Finding, Motivating and Retaining Service Technicians

As the economy gains momentum, finding, motivating and retaining employees for the rental industry could become much more difficult. There will be more competition from other rental companies (as well as other industries) as employees with great potential become even more in demand. Service technicians as well as mechanics and all service and repair positions (regardless of the title your company uses) will be in particular demand.

Here are just a few important points to consider regarding this very important topic:

• Remember that just because equipment service people are “in the back” doesn’t mean they are not as important or valuable as your counter personnel. (Many of these ideas tend to work equally well for all positions in a rental company.)

• Be sure to use the power of the internet to get the word out that you are seeking applicants. There are so many methods to do this from social media, your website, Craigslist, and many more. Don’t just rely on one of these strategies. Sometimes it helps to get your existing employees involved in the search too.

• Try to encourage existing employees, especially service employees, to recommend people they know to apply for a position with your company. Have a nice “bounty” or “head-hunting” incentive (perhaps $250) if you hire someone a current staff member brought in to apply. There needs to be conditions, of course, such as the new hire must work out for a minimum of six months or at least past the probationary period. If you haven’t given this a try, it might be worth doing so. At one of my customer’s businesses, two talented service employees were hired as a result of this strategy (and they are continuing to work out nicely at last check).

• When you have applicants for a position open in your rental company, be sure to maximize your chances for a successful hiring outcome. Don’t squander the opportunity by waiting too long to proceed with the screening and then interview the ones that appear promising. Often, the best candidates get other offers and sometimes are snapped up by another company in a few hours or a day or two. It's not like the old days when putting a “help wanted ad” in the newspaper or on the local radio station (and the resulting snail mail) meant a longer time from ad placement to getting applicants. A few of my customers have gone from ad development, placement (like on Craigslist), responses (along with resumes) and at least one initial interview all within 24 hours.

• Be certain to dispense compliments to your service techs. All of us crave the great feeling of being recognized for a job well done. Today when I was getting off an airplane after a smooth landing in less than ideal weather, I complimented the pilot simply by saying “nice landing." Even though the pilot certainly knew that it was a beautiful, smooth landing, and has landed airplanes successfully hundreds or thousands of times, the compliment was important to him and it was appreciated – he told me so. Like the pilot, employees in a service tech role are working in less than ideal weather conditions much of the time and I'm certain that little words of encouragement or praise would be appreciated periodically. Little things like this do mean a lot and help with motivation and retention – and it is simply the right thing to do for a valued employee.

• Have a number of performance-based incentives for your service technicians. Be certain that these incentives are well-crafted and are specific to your rental company. Some incentives can be constructed around measureable production goals, safety goals, quality goals and much more. In fact, I believe performance incentives are an important part of making work more interesting and rewarding, so consider performance-based rewards for most or all of your staff. Some of these incentives can be designed for individual as well as group performance. Done correctly, these rewards can increase revenue and decrease expenses. Also, incentives can boost morale as well as retention.

• Make a long-term commitment. Don’t give up if a newly hired employee does not work out, or if it seems like too much work to develop an incentive program for improving employee performance.

Start your new hiring, motivating and retention program development efforts soon. Time is of the essence. The rental companies that develop effective employee programs will not be as hard- hit by the severe shortage of qualified employees that seems increasingly inevitable.