By CRM Staff
Toronto, Ontario — May 2, 2018 — Recently, a number of readers shared their answers to a survey on management practices with Collision Repair magazine. With an immense amount of variation in the managerial philosophies, one thing became very clear in the results: there is more than one way to skin a cat. In fact, results vary widely on many subjects, that it is clear the industry does not agree on a single style for just about anything.
Take, for example, pay practices. As far as pay rates for staff go, 31.2 percent of respondents—the vast majority of whom were owners—feel they pay above the local market rate. They give two reasons for this—the first, being staff retention, and the second that it makes hiring quality applicants easier. None admitted to soft-heartedness.
Another 43.7 percent of employers pay their staff the local market rate, and 18.7 say that it depends on the employee. 6.2 percent select “other” for their response, though do not comment on what they paid—or why.
On hiring practices, too, respondents were divided. Asked for thoughts on whether they would hire a convicted felon, 21.6 pecent said yes—though for two different reasons. 12.5 percent indicated that they believed in the importance of second chances and the other 9.1 percent said that they would only hire non-violent offenders.
For exactly half of respondents, the question was hard to answer, with the group insisting that they would have to consider each individual situation.
The remaining 29.4 percent of respondent, a criminal record was enough to discard a resume entirely, though two of the respondents did leave the door open for reconsidering in a special situation.
For hiring on staff, the number of new hires facilities brought in the last twelve months varies widely. 9.3 percent of respondents hired none, 31.2 percent hired one, with another 31.2 percent hiring two to three. 18.7 percent hired four to five new employees, and 6.2 percent hired six or more.
We also looked at length of employment. 68.7 of readers say the average length of employment at their business is over four years. 15.6 say 2 to 4 years, and 9.3 say less than 2 years.
As for the longest employed non-executive staff members, 43.7 percent of our readers say the longest serving team member has been around for 10 to 20 years. 25 percent say the longest serving employee has been employed for 20 to 30 years, and 15.6 percent say longer than 30 years.
On the lower end of the spectrum, 3.1 percent of employers’ longest serving employee has been with the business for 5 to 10 years, and 9.3 percent of employers’ longest serving staff has been around less than five years.
