Facts & Figures
Easy Come … Hiring, firing and training budgets across Canada. By Mike Davey
R
ecruiting and retaining highquality staff is a concern for every collision repair facility. As we approached the end of 2013, we asked our readers to let us know about their HR practices . The first question in this survey asked respondents to indicate how many employees had departed in the last year, including retirees, those who left employment of their own volition and those who were dismissed. As can be seen in the accompanying graph, nearly a quarter of survey respondents did not lose any employees in 2013. However, a healthy percentage (nearly 10 percent) lost eight or more members of their workforce in the past year. We suspect that of those, the majority are large facilities employing many people. There are many facilities across Canada where eight employees would constitute the entirety or majority of their workforce. Turning to the hiring numbers for 2013, we see that over 80 percent of survey respondents hired at least one person in the last year. The most popular answer was two employees hired in 2013, at about 29 percent. However, we again see approximately 10 percent of collision repair centres hiring eight or more new employees in 2013. This is remarkably similar to the number of facilities who lost eight or more employees in 2013. An examination of the individual answers reveals what you probably suspected: the facilities who lost the most employees are also, by and large, the ones who hired the most new employees. Also, an employee hired in, for example, January of 2013 and fired in November of the same year would be counted on both lists. The number of facilities who hired two employees in 2013 is remarkably similar to the number that lost four to five employees in the same time period. Again, an examination of the individual answers shows that very often
How many staff left your business in 2013?
How many staff did your business hire in 2013?
10%
10%
3% 3%
6%
23%
10%
19%
10%
19%
6%
23%
11%
19%
11%
19%
19%
19%
9%
16% 16%
16%16%
29% 29%
10% 10% None. We had no turnover in 2013.
None. We had no 1. turnover in 2013. 1. 2.
2.
None. We have not hired anyone this year.
3. 4 to 3. 5. 6 to 7. 4 to 5. 8 or more.
None. We have not 1. hired anyone this year. 1. 2.
6 to 7. 8 or more.
these are the same facilities. This would indicate that, at least for some collision centres, they were forced to let people go but have been unable to replace them since. We also recently asked our readers to let us know what percentage of their Human Resources budget is spent on training and development. Over 35 percent of respondents indicated that the facility had undertaken no training this year. The majority of respondents (nearly 65 percent) indicated that they had arranged for training or staff development in 2013. Of those the most popular answer was “6 to 10 percent,” indicating that the facility had spent approximately that much of its total HR budget on staff development. In general, our survey respondents indicated that 2013 was an improvement over 2012, with just 36 percent indicating that their business had either declined or stayed steady. CRM
18 collision Repair collisionrepairmag.com
9%
2.
3. 4 to 5. 3. 6 to 7. 4 to 5. 8 or more.
6 to 7. 8 or more.
What new positions do you 24% 24% expect to hire for in 2014?
24%
4%
4%
24%
4%
4%
29%
11% 14% 14%
4%
11% 11%
14% 14%
14%
Apprentices.
14%
Apprentices.
29%
4% 11%
4%4%
29%
Apprentices.
Journeyperson technicians. 14% Journeyperson technicians. Other production staff Other production staff (preppers, detailers, etc). (preppers, detailers, etc). Managers. Managers. Estimators.
Apprentices. Journeyperson technicians. Estimators. Other production staff Journeyperson technicians. Office staff. (preppers, detailers, etc). Other productionOffice staff staff. We do not plan to hire in 2014. Managers. We do not plan to hire in 2014. (preppers, detailers, etc). Estimators. Managers. Office staff. We do not plan to hire in 2014. Estimators. Office staff. We do not plan to hire in 2014.