September 2019

G etting the best out of your staff can be tricky. How do you do it? What will motivate them? Thoughts eventually turn to money. It doesn't matter if the owner of the garage or the mechanics are the first to bring it up, that is where the conversation will go. Is this the right way though? However you do it, are you opening Pandora's box? With this in mind, Aftermarket had a request from a reader recently on this very issue: "I run a small workshop with three members of staff. I have been asked over the last few months if I could put them on a bonus system so they can earn extra money. I really would not know the best system for this. My understanding is it's paid on how quickly the job is complete within the book time but not really sure what happens after that. Any information from your experts would be much appreciated." Aftermarket asked some experts in the industry, who are either running a bonus system or have tried it – Andrew Ruellan owns Jersey-based Ruellan's Garage, which was a finalist in Top Garage 2019. The business does not run a bonus system, on purpose. Andrew said: "I often think why is the bonus for technicians, not the person in charge of the end result? There are so many more factors before that. People are definitely using it as an incentive for productivity, but sometimes you think they are using it rather than getting to the root cause. Why is that? "Then there are some ethical issues. If you are encouraging people to work faster, is the work going to be of the same quality? Many years ago when I worked in a dealership, people were not doing tappets, and there were drawers full of rocker cover gaskets and axle oils because they weren't getting changed. People were appearing more productive by actually skipping things. "What I say to my staff is that clocking on and off of jobs is not so much to keep track on them, it's so we know how long jobs actually take in the real world, in real-time. Because we specialise, we do a lot of the same jobs. We track how long things take. If a Mini clutch is given six hours, but every time they are given seven and a half hours, then we will change our estimating structure to match that. I am always telling them it is not so much 'Big Brother is watching you', it is a tool to make sure the garage as a whole works correctly. "My viewpoint is biased simply because of what I have seen throughout my career. Also, I think people should concentrate on the team and the culture, and not just the carrot and stick for the technicians." Andrew believes that incentivising the whole team targets could help improve the whole team, but the targets have to be realistic, and culture of co-operation within a business must be created: "Targets are often ratcheted up without any other change. Why would you move the targets without any other change? You are just moving things further out of reach, which then de-incentivises people. "I was recently shown round a dealership that has implemented a board that shows hours sold. I asked the Dealer Principal how that is working, and he said it works well having two teams. He said the teams don't work against each other, they are encouraged by each other, and no individual is singled out. He said it seemed to be working well. They did a cash bonus on a weekly basis and the staff are paid a monthly salary. It was very new, but it seemed like a good idea and made me think maybe a team bonus would be a good idea. "My staff are treated well, and taken out for various functions, 8 AFTERMARKET SEPTEMBER 2019 BIG ISSUE www.aftermarketonline.net PANDORA'S BOX: THE BONUS SITUATION Aftermarket responds to a reader’s question about how to make a bonus system work for technicians...