A hugely popular seminar at Autocare 2023 focused on this key subject for the aftermarket industry

Chaired by Australian Automotive Aftermarket Association (AAAA) Director, Government Relations and Advocacy, Lesley Yates, this highly attended seminar at Autocare 2023 featured key insights from Fifth Quadrant Director, Ben Selwyn; Triple Eight Race Engineering Race Car Mechanic and former Capricorn Rising Stars Apprentice of the Year, Gabrielle Clift; Repco Authorised Service National Manager, Peter Rogers; and AutoRecruiter and Konnecting Migration Managing Director and Registered Migration Agent, Fred Molloy.
To open the seminar, Ben Selwyn presented recent findings from research conducted for the AAAA by Fifth Quadrant (formerly ACA Research). This research is discussed further here and here.
With 38 percent of workshops having vacancies for technicians, that equates to an average shortage of each workshop needing around 2.4 qualified technicians. When it comes to apprentices, 21 percent of workshops have vacancies for apprentices, equating to an average shortage of 1.9 apprentices per workshop.
With 50 percent of workshops overall losing a technician in the last 12 months, it is clear, the industry is in the grips of a large skills shortage.
“That is why we call it the race, because in such a crisis, we are now moving the problem around,” Lesley said.
“If you recruited a technician in the last three to six months, you just nicked a technician from one of your peers, so the problem just gets moved from workshop to workshop and we cant fill this hole, not if we keep on this trajectory.
“We need to do something bold – something bold as employers, something bold as an industry, and something bold as a country because we have a crisis here, we have a problem with the pipeline, and it has been at least 10 years in the making.”
The seminar went on to discuss the role of pay and how the industry compares to others in this regard, with the overall consensus being that pay is important and an area where our industry sometimes does not compare favourably to others, but it is also not the complete picture, with non-cash benefits and job satisfaction also playing a key role (such as flexibility, training, trade benefits and perks) in attracting and retaining staff.
Lesley presented some key statistics thanks to research conducted with MTAQ and the Australian Automotive Dealer Association (AADA), which found that when it comes to how new technicians become aware of our industry, family and friends lead the way with 54 percent, while school (20 percent) and the internet (19 percent) were also core drivers.
When deciding when to join the industry, 42 percent decided while still at school, 26 percent decided after leaving school, and 32 percent make the call after making another career choice.
The ‘why’ of the decision is also an interesting element – despite what we have been hearing over the years, many in our industry have been drawn to automotive by a love of cars and getting their hands dirty. It is important to note, that the ‘why’ changes considerably between the demographics, and the timing of entry to the industry.
Satisfaction rates and drivers were discussed, and importantly, it was noted that what drives satisfaction changes based on where respondents were in their careers, even within apprenticeship terms.
Overseas recruitment is also another tool workshops can consider employing as a long-term staff pipeline strategy which was discussed in the seminar. For more on this topic, click here.
With all of this in mind, the seminar attendees were presented with the following action items to consider:

• Develop a local pipeline – engage with your local school community, hold open days of your workshop for kids who love cars, hold mini courses. It won’t fill your vacancies next week, but it will help develop a pipeline.
• Find the why – check in with your staff regularly to make sure you are meeting their why, to keep them engaged and working in your business, rather than looking elsewhere. Have the conversation about what they love and what they don’t love about their job, regularly (monthly) to find and keep up with their drivers.
• Embrace diversity – don’t limit yourself to employing who you have always employed. Widen your net to increase your possibilities of finding great staff locally, and consider overseas recruitment as a long-term strategy.
• Don’t assume training is done when your apprentices reach the fourth year – training is a lifetime pursuit, and the research tells us fourth year apprentices are crying out for continued learning opportunities and it is a key satisfaction driver. And consider involving your fourth years in the business – they want to know more.

For more information on the skills shortage campaign contact advocacy@aaaa.com.au