By Lucas Deal, Associate Editor
lucasdeal@randallreilly.com
Service Bay
How are you paying
your technicians?
Having a strong compensation plan
will assure you keep quality technicians
N
o matter what the position,
compensation matters. When
you have quality employees, it���s
important to have a payment structure
in place to keep them ��� especially in
the heavy-duty aftermarket where good
technicians are hard to come by.
Today, the two most popular methods
for compensating service technicians are
a ���at-rate system and an hourly system.
Each has advantages that can work in
your business.
The ���at-rate system is gaining
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popularity in the industry. The system
works by charging customers and paying
technicians for an equal amount of hours
when providing service. If a service provider quotes a ���eet two hours to replace
two brake shoes, the technician making
the repair is then paid two hours in wage
to complete the job.
According to Mark Martincic at KEA
Advisors, a heavy-duty consulting group,
the ���at-rate system is a positive in���uence
on technicians because it motivates them
to complete work in the time billed on
repair invoices.
���The [���at-rate] system is a great
way to increase productivity,��� he says,
���because it allows a service provider to
equalize the labor it bills with the labor
its technicians provide.���
Under the system, if a technician is
paid for two hours of work and completes a job in an hour, he is still paid for
two hours. However, if a two-hour job
takes three hours, he is only paid for two
hours.
Katie Hopkins, executive vice
February 2013
1/22/13 1:58 PM
