Page 20 - Australasian Paint & Panel March-April 2022

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Staff Retention
PAINT&PANEL MARCH / APRIL 2022
WWW.PAINTANDPANEL.COM.AU
as well as offering rewards and paying above apprentice award wages.
“It’s about treating them as family and basically being interested in them outside of the work environment, where that’s applicable,” he says.
“We try and be a wise and wholesome company. And if you walk into a beauti- ful, clean workplace, and you’ve got good facilities, and good training opportuni- ties, where there’s always a chance to climb higher, that’s a great way to retain that core staff and keep them happy.”
COLLISION CONNECT, NZ
Across the pond in New Zealand, the sit- uation is the same, with a desperate lack of qualified technicians, and a number of people who regularly change jobs.
We provide full private
health care for our guys, and they also
have access to personal trainers who create nutrition plans for them.”
“You want the guys who aren’t jump- ing around from shop to shop, that aren’t jumping on Seek every three months to get another dollar. The tech- nicians who appreciate a good working environment, they’re the ones you want,” says Mark le Grove from Colli- sion Connect in Waikato.
Le Grove says he’s put a considerable amount of effort into creating a positive workplace culture at both of Collision Connect’s sites, cultivating an environ- ment where every staff member has a voice and feels valued.
“We do a lot of stuff outside of your normal realms of remuneration, and a lot of stuff outside of the ‘working for 40 hours and then you go home’ type of sit- uation,” he says.
“We provide full private health care for our guys, and they also have access to personal trainers who create nutrition plans for them. We have a competition each year to see who can get the best re- sults out of a 12-week nutrition and training regime, and we offer prize mon- ey and gifts for the top guys.
“Another big thing we’ve done is seek
out younger staff, because our industry is an ageing one. The average age of our staff is 31, so we have a lot of younger guys.
“We also provide a career pathway, so if you come out of your apprenticeship and you want to specialise in a particular area, we provide that opportunity. We want to actually show them that there is a career beyond welding on panels.”
The result of le Grove’s efforts, which also includes an annual awards ceremo- ny and staff surveys to see if there are areas that can be improved, is a pleas- ingly low staff turnover.
“We opened up a new site last year and had a waiting list of people who wanted to come work for us, which is
unheard of,” he says. “We never have trouble recruiting. People tell their pre- vious colleagues how good it is to work for us, and that results in them getting a finder’s fee if that person joins us.
“Every time people hear about what we do, they’re like, ‘Oh, we used to get a barbecue once a month!’ Which is still awesome, but I’ll add that it actually doesn’t contribute to their lives.
“We do barbecues too, but you’ve got to enrich people’s lives outside of the hours they’re in the shop. If you have a positive effect on them and their family, the loyalty for the company becomes a lot stronger, and people are more prepared to really give it their all.”
ABOVE: Nutrition talk at Collision Collect.
RIGHT: Cake and birthday recognition never go amiss at Smart Repair Austratia.