This past June, Denny’s Auto lost an automotive technician of more than 30 years to retirement. Yet thanks to a new apprenticeship program created by the Utah-based business, the position never went unfilled.
In 2022, shop owner Mitch Moncur brought in two recent high school graduates to train with his technicians over a two-year period. He paired them with mentors on eight different skills modules, ranging from basic shop safety to tool operations to complex repairs.
As the apprentices grew more proficient, Moncur gradually increased their hourly pay from $12 to $20 an hour. He ultimately hired one of them to replace his retiring tech, while the other found a job at another shop within a day of finishing his modules.
Those are the type of proactive steps that shop owners should take as a high number of experienced auto technicians begin to reach retirement age, Moncur believes. “We can’t just sit back and wait for it to happen,” he says. “We’ve got to get out in front of what’s coming and get these young kids interested in this industry.”
The Boomers Exodus
According to a TechForce Foundation report, the technician shortage is exacerbated by the retirement of baby boomers, with nearly 50% of the current workforce expected to retire by 2030.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics, meanwhile, projects a 4 percent decline in the overall auto technician field through 2029. At the same time, vehicles are becoming more complex and costs for parts and employee wages are rising.
To meet customer demand and prevent long wait times for repairs, shops need to hit the accelerator on recruiting new talent while tapping into the expertise of older techs still on the job, according to Darrin Barney, president and CEO of Elite Worldwide and co-owner of Barney Brothers Off-Road and Repair in Grand Junction, Colorado.
The first step is to get to know the team members they have, says Barney, who employs five technicians at his business.
“It seems obvious, but some shops unfortunately still do see techs as replaceable,” he notes. “If you look at them as people—as family members, really—and have good, regular conversations, hopefully you’ll know their future plans well in advance and avoid a sudden departure. Nobody wants that two-week bombshell being dropped.”
At Barney Brothers, owners hold a 10-minute team huddle before the shop opens every morning. They also do frequent longer check-ins with technicians about how they’re feeling physically and mentally and what’s happening in their lives outside work.
“We ask, ‘What are your long-term plans and goals?’ What’s your timeframe for considering retirement?’” Barney says. “You’re forming basic human connections, and once you know that information, you can plan for a departure and talk to them about mentoring younger techs.”
Even if a tech is no longer up for full-time repair work, they could still have considerable value to a company, he adds. One of his older techs, for example, recently cut back to four days a week; others might want to move into a less labor-intensive position such as shop foreman or, if they enjoy interacting with customers, service writing.
“Don’t assume they just want to be done altogether,” he says. “In fact, don’t assume anything with team members ever. Talk to them.”
Filling the Pipeline
Like Moncur, Barney is a proponent of establishing formal mentorship and/or apprentice programs. Many experienced technicians are happy to help pass the torch to younger generations, they have found.
One of Barney’s approaches is to incentivize mentorship through performance-based rewards. A shop owner might give an older tech a percentage of a mentee’s work during a training period, for example, especially as the newer tech becomes more efficient.
Meanwhile, if an older technician has a specialized skill set or owns a tool not otherwise available in the shop, owners need to take that into account, rather than only consider overall productivity and billable time and income.
Without a plan to pass that knowledge along, the business will lose the ability to do certain work—and therefore likely lose even formerly loyal customers. A shop that thinks ahead, on the other hand, can partner the retiring tech with younger employees for training and make a financial plan to buy the tools in question from an outside source or from the exiting tech.
The same goes for considering a tech’s intangible personal qualities, Barney continues. If that person is known for attributes such as leadership or morale-boosting with encouragement or jokes, an owner can approach other employees about stepping up to fill those gaps.
“It’s often a fragile ecosystem in our shops, and removing even one person can be trouble,” Barney says. “Having enough time to make those moves is the key. Without time, you’re really going to be scrambling.”
Another crucial step is to maintain an active pool of job candidates. Moncur does that by conducting interviews in an ongoing process throughout the year, regardless of whether or not he has a current opening.
Once Moncur has interviewed a candidate and identified them as a good match, he touches base about once a month to see how a job search or employment situation is going. If the person wants, he will offer updates on potential future openings and even advice on improving their resumes with training and continuing education.
“It benefits all of us to have good techs working in our industry,” he explains. “And if I do find myself down a technician, it’s so much easier to draw from candidates you’ve already talked to and formed a relationship with instead of starting from scratch.”
Turning to Gen Z
Moncur, who has a total of six technicians at his two shops outside Salt Lake City (one tech is about five years away from retirement) also urges shop owners to adopt a positive attitude about the Gen Z generation, defined as those born between 1997 and 2012.
As with the previous millennial generation, Moncur worries that owners tend to dismiss a whole group of people before getting to know them.
“They’re a different breed, yes, but I’ve found they want to work once you show them what’s needed and support them,” he says. “They’re pretty rock solid. You’ve got to meet them where they are and not talk down to them. Ingrain in them that we’re going to sweat together and do great work together. Then just give them time.”
In fact, Gen Z is sometimes called the “Toolbelt Generation” because they’re more willing to embrace trade programs over a more traditional college path. “It’s the perfect time to start pursuing them,” Moncur says.
To recruit students for his inaugural mentorship program, Moncur communicated with local school districts and high school shop instructors. He evaluated six candidates through his usual three-part interview process for new technicians before choosing two.
Moncur’s shop technicians and the apprentices themselves helped him write curriculum for the program. To complete a module and advance to the next, apprentices had to get signatures from both their mentors and Moncur.
“It was a good amount of work for us, but it was a lot of fun, too,” Moncur relates. “The fact that both of these young people got jobs immediately was proof that it worked the way it was supposed to. That was proof to me that we were doing the right thing.”
As he considers starting another apprenticeship program next year with either trade school students or more high school graduates, Moncur encourages other shops to simply dive in on such efforts: “You can always pivot and make changes along the way.”
Another way to attract quality job candidates is to stay active in the community and on social media. “Keep that pipeline full,” Barney says. “Make sure your business’ name is out there and that people know you’re committed to serving and bettering their community.”
And back inside the shop, a final piece of advice from Barney: always plan a celebration for a retiring technician, especially if he or she has been honest and transparent about a timeline for departure.
“It shows the rest of the techs—and everyone else in the shop—that you care about them and their future, and that all of them are valued and important as human beings,” he says. “That message will carry over long after one person is gone.”
