Staff retention is on my mind again. One of my boys has announced that he is leaving us. Oftentimes, people will look to change jobs for a little more money per year, or for an extra few days holiday. In these situations, if they are worth keeping, some accommodation can be made, and likely as not they will stay on. I’m no ogre, and I have generally gotten on with everyone who has moved on, but many stay. Changing jobs is a headache for everyone, so why not get what you want, and keep your coffee mug on our draining board. There are some things I just can’t match though. In the case of our about-to-exit tech, he’s not heading off for the sweet life with Piers Morgan-Bonnet and his posh mob; He’s going to Perth! No, not Scotland, the other one, where they have year-round sunshine, nearly double the pay, and more sharks than you can shake a stick at. I keep reminding him of this last point, but his mind is made up. To be honest, the signs were all there. He and his little family are very self-contained now with no elderly relatives left, and he has been over there before, to see a friend of his who made the jump and now has his own business. On the more prosaic level, he does have a nasty habit of wearing t-shirts where he has cut the sleeves off. I can’t tell you how often I’ve had to remind him that flip-flops are not safety boots either. It was in the news recently that the state of Western Australia was looking to entice British key workers Down Under. In a way I was not as surprised as others that mechanics were included with police officers, doctors and nurses. Maybe if the skills needed to make a success of this as a career were more appreciated, then we might not have a skills shortage going back decades. We certainly would not see mechanics go off to the other side of the world to work on Toyota Land Cruisers, when they could stay here in the rain and do their back in trying to get under a Yaris. I’ll be sorry to see him go, as we all will. However, they have a nice wine region a few hours south of the city, so maybe me and Mrs P can make our way down there to see him one day. In the meantime, I’ll have to start looking for a new mechanic. Here we go again. Am I going to try and recognise the skills levels in the pay I am looking to offer? Yes, I am. With the way the world is with prices, I think I will have to, but there are limits to how far I can go. In the end, you price yourself next to the other garages in your local area, both on labour rate and on wages. Of course, with the MOT back on the agenda, with the potential for a shift to 4-2-2 on the cards again, we will need to make sure we are set up for many eventualities. Hopefully this will not happen, but it is another source of uncertainty, and I am certain we don’t need that! DOWN UNDER – NO NOT IN THE PIT! 66 AFTERMARKET APRIL 2023 TEABREAK: MEMOIRS OF A MOTOR MECHANIC www.aftermarketonline.net
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