WrenchWay today announced they are partnering with post-secondary schools across the U.S. to research why technicians are leaving the automotive, diesel, and collision industries at alarming rates and what can be done to make improvements.
Forty-one percent of technicians leave the industry within the first two years, according to a study by ASE Education Foundation. With the average age of technicians being 40+, shops cannot afford to lose their younger employees.
“The first two years in the shop are the most critical time period in a technician’s career,” says Jay Goninen, Co-Founder & President, WrenchWay. “This time period has the greatest impact on if a technician will choose to stay in or leave the industry. Our goal is to find out what we, meaning schools and industry, can do to keep these techs in the shops.”
Tracking Technician Sentiment and Satisfaction Over Time
Working with schools, WrenchWay is launching an initiative as a part of their WrenchWay Insiders program within the free WrenchWay mobile app that will measure the satisfaction levels and sentiment of technicians throughout their early career.
Rather than relying on long, annual surveys, WrenchWay posts short, weekly questions for students to answer within the app. These types of “pulse” surveys have been shown to be much more effective at capturing true sentiment and providing actionable data.
The data will then be tracked over time to see how it changes. A simple example is asking students how prepared they feel as they enter the workforce. Then, track that same sentiment a month in, six months in, a year in, and so on.
Users can win prizes such as gift cards and tools for participating in the program. Students at the schools will also benefit from other parts of the WrenchWay app including Reverse Job Posts and Top Shops to help them find jobs both while in school as well as when they graduate.
“We understand this is a huge undertaking to track and analyze the data from students throughout the first few years of their career,” explains Goninen. “But you have to start somewhere, and WrenchWay is excited to get the ball rolling with some great school partners.”
WyoTech & Austin Community College Become the First Participating Schools
WyoTech and Austin Community College have become the first participating schools to get their students involved. Working with WrenchWay, they have invited their student technicians to the WrenchWay mobile app to participate. Students will answer quick feedback questions within the app for chances to win weekly prizes.
“WyoTech is very excited to partner with WrenchWay on this initiative,” states Cindy Barlow, Director of Industry Relations, WyoTech. “We do everything we can to prepare our students to become great technicians, and we jumped at the chance to gain more data and insights on how they progress throughout their career. Plus, using WrenchWay gives our students access to all of the other cool things WrenchWay is doing, especially their Top Shops program.”
Mike Shoebroek, Department Chair of Automotive, Austin Community College adds, “At ACC, we’re dedicated to helping our students succeed both in and outside of the classroom. WrenchWay is a great way for our students to find internships and jobs so they can gain experience in the shop and have greater success in the industry after graduation.”
