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Tech Tracking Boards
I’m getting ready to create a new technician tracking board. I’m thinking of posting hours and CSI. For those that do it, do you post it daily or weekly? I don’t want to flood it with information but I want it to be impactful. Does anyone have a picture of their technician tracking board they’d like to share? How has the response from the shop been? What other information on the board would be helpful? Thank you for your input!
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7 Replies
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We have done this off an on over the years – more off than on. I was convinced recently that overall there may be more to lose than gain. Many techs find it irritating and not motivating. I get the idea, the goal, the purpose. But it’s likely best to look for other ways. You might want to write down your goals, then meet with each employee one at a time for their ideas on how to get there. Good luck! 🙂
(BTW, we do post the total numbers for the shop each day and week. Sales, average RO, produced hours, etc.)
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I find that when I tried to do that manually, I would forget or get behind – I use a digital process with Autovitals for tracking available hours, sold hours and completed hours –
We do have a whiteboard that shows the sales countdown for the month as no bonus is paid if sales are short
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Claude,
I’m a huge fan of tracking numbers. If you’re going to share the numbers with the shop, then I would share shop numbers, not the individual performance of each technician. In the beginning, it will create a good-natured rivalry that will quickly turn into one or two performers winning consistently and the rest of your staff will give up trying. Sharing individual numbers to the group can also cause what seems like innocent ribbing that often hurts others and causes them to become disengaged with your company and the team.
If you want to see real improvement, set goals and minimum levels of performance for each position, baseline where they’re at, and then individually sit down and come up with a plan for improvement which will most likely be different for each team member. Then let them loose and provide feedback on a daily basis as a conversation, not handing them a piece of paper, that will allow you to come up with a daily plan for improvement.
I hope this helps,
Rick White
180BIZ
rick@180biz.com
540-833-2014 X 11 -
The FIRST real experience I had with this was as a Tech. in a German car Specialty Shop in e early 80’s. I came out of a Service Station background – everyone else there was VW Dealer trained. Two things stick out in my mind.
#1 – the dealer techs. really resented my work ethic, I was first or second in productivity every week. Seemed to cause some friction.
#2 – I distinctly remember the most experienced guy who did pretty much ALL the B.S. Work had a week where he turned 11 hours and he took crap from most of the other techs (not me – I GREATLY APPRECIATED his help and his TALENT!) and that was pretty HORRIBLE to see. I learned SO MUCH about how to run my own shop one day just by working and watching, working and watching.
I got FIRED from that shop after 6 months. I was Insubordinate and had a BAD ATTITUDE. Imagine… 🙂
At my Shop we worked as a TEAM to achieve Monthly Bonus Sale Goals that were clear and concise and hard for Management to Fudge. I vastly preferred the Environment THAT created!
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Not really sure what you’re trying to accomplish here, sound like you’re trying to track billed hours for the most part? If that’s the case, I use the software Quicktracs and have been using it for years. I know Tom Ham says it irritates some techs but what my experience is it usually irritates the poor performing techs, or the ones with poor attitudes you don’t want working for you anyway. I have substantial bonus levels that directly relate to their production which is taken right off the Quicktracs software. I have 7 techs including a couple more entry level ones. 4 of them Bill between 50 and 70 every week, two of them bill in the 40s and the oil change tech bills about 35. The bonus plan gives each tech up to $600.00 every 4 weeks IF they bill 50 hours 4 weeks in a row. I love using Quicktracs and it has worked wonders for me, not to mention how it helps with managing dispatched work and knowing who can take on more work. I can explain more but would work better via phone call. 616-774-7048 if you want to hear more.
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I agree with other that posting individual hrs for techs may cause some animosity. Posting whole shop prod hrs would be good in my opinion, however, I’m not speaking from experience, just been thinking about it a lot lately and ready to pull the trigger on doing it this wk so this thread was timely for me.
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All of this is great information and advice. I like tracking productivity but I also like showing the tech where he is in billed hours and hours not yet “turned” ie, sold work that hasn’t been completed. I don’t want a tech to come in on Friday and not know where he is in relation to his paycheck for the week and be surprised because of his lack of productivity. I like bonusing the shop on total hours billed, but I also want everyone to know who needs help. Hopefully I’ve created a “rising tide lifts all boats mentality” culture and in doing so there’s no animosity, bullying etc….There’s no real right or wrong answer. To each his own. What do you believe in for your shop culture and what can you use as a leader to motivate your team? Just know that whatever you start you are committed to doing it. Once you train the techs to look for it, they will want to be kept in the loop.
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