Developing the best possible employees is among the most important duties of all supervisors and managers. Yet so often, fleet and service provider management ignores the cultivation of technicians within their own organizations. This leads to reduced productivity, technician turnover and, most importantly, decreased asset utilization.
The primary goal of technician career development is to cultivate and retain valued technicians by demonstrating organizational commitment to their long-term career growth. This benefits the organization by providing an environment that supports a more stable workforce and increases employee morale.
This environment provides employees with new opportunities and a clear direction on how to increase their skills and advance their careers. With an expanded skill set, they have more tools to help meet your organization’s overall business objectives.
That is why TMC’s S.16 Service Provider Study Group has developed Recommended Practice (RP) 1607, Technician Career Development. It provides maintenance and human resource managers a model for designing, developing and implementing a technician career development program in both fleet and service provider operations. The focus is on developing technician candidates and the responsibilities of key participants in the development process.
Key Terms
There are four important terms that are used in the RP.
- Career Path – Career path is a sequence of experiences and/or training modules that management has identified for an employee. It includes both permanent and temporary assignments that contribute to an individual’s knowledge and skills.
- Career Path Development – This is a process that directs employment, training and educational decisions toward the accomplishment of a long-term professional goal. While moving along the career path, and as competencies are attained and talents emerge, the long-term goal should be examined and adjusted as needed.
- Laddering – This refers to a development plan for acquiring an increasing number and level of skills, knowledge and experiences in order to gain competency in a prescribed range of technical and professional abilities.
- Lateral Positions – This refers to a position of similar grade level in a different discipline that allows a person to acquire a broader range of experience.
For example, a technician might perform a temporary assignment in a dispatching environment to gain more knowledge about how a fleet operates in the field. This experience provides an employee with stronger knowledge of the business as a whole and increases his or her value to the organization.
Overview
Successful development and retention of a valuable employee is an organizational effort that includes the commitment and participation of senior management, direct managers, supervisors and the employee. Once the career development process is established within an organization, responsibilities and expectations need to be communicated to all participants.
Each party has a role and responsibilities in the process. RP 1607’s recommendations and materials can be adjusted to meet the needs of a variety of organizational structures and business environments.
Employer’s Role and Responsibilities
An employer should have formal policies with regard to employment and career development for their employee’s. Here are some subjects that may be addressed by your company’s policies.
- Job Descriptions – Job descriptions are essential for career development because employees need to understand the progression of positions as they become available, candidate selection criteria and job requirements.
A job description is an outline that provides a list of job functions that management has deemed necessary for general tasks, functions and responsibilities of an available position. It often may include to whom the position reports, and specifications, such as the qualifications or skills needed by the person to perform the job.
- Job Posting – Provide a website and/or bulletin board where current and potential employees can find open positions along with job descriptions. Open positions should be communicated to all employees.
A prospective employee can locate and submit required information to show his or her interest in an opportunity. For external candidates, consider online recruiting sites, local papers and industry periodicals.
- Interview and Selection Process – This provides standardized guidelines for those interviewing and selecting applicants for open positions. Providing objective selection guidelines to the interview team promotes equal treatment of all applicants. Interview questions that will be used in the scoring of the candidate should be determined prior to interview.
This process is usually facilitated by two or more interviewers, and the candidate is determined by a weighted scoring process.
- Development Plan – A document plan provides employees with opportunities and a clear direction on how to increase their skills and advance their careers. With a more expanded skill set, they have more tools to help your organization meet its overall business objectives.
- Business Operations Plan – This outlines the goals and objectives your company expects to accomplish throughout the year.
- Continuing Education – Organizations should provide a company policy outlining continuing education availability and/or financial reimbursement for employees.
- Goal Setting – Organizations may practice goal setting in two areas: business operations planning and employee development. Goal setting for both of these areas can be greatly enhanced by utilizing SMART (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic and Time-bound) goals.
- Employee Performance Evaluation – A critical part of the career path is providing feedback on each individual’s performance and encouraging a discussion of career goals. During the evaluation process, discuss each employee’s goals.
One resource for the performance evaluation process can be found in TMC RP 519, Recommendations for an Employee Performance Evaluation Program.
- Employee Feedback Survey – A key component of any successful process is identifying opportunities for improvement. There are two distinct points for collecting this information:
- Periodic Employee Evaluations. At the time of an evaluation, the employee should be asked to provide feedback on elements such as the development process.
- Exit Interviews. The exit interview, or survey, represents an important critical point for learning from that employee’s perspective – what worked and what did not.
- Compensation Process – The technician career development process may provide opportunities for increased compensation based on job duties. Increased compensation is usually adjusted based on job position expectations and is tied to an annual performance evaluation process.
In locations that operate under a union technician environment, the compensation will normally be managed by the ratified union agreement.
Part 2, the next column, will cover both the manager’s and the employee’s responsibilities related to designing, developing and implementing a technician career development program.
Kenneth Calhoun is the immediate past chairman of TMC’s S.16 Service Provider Study Group and vice president of customer relations for Truck Centers of Arkansas (www.truckcentersar.com), a full-service dealership with headquarters in North Little Rock, Ark. TMC is North America’s premier technical society for truck equipment technology and maintenance professionals (www.trucking.org/Technology_Council.aspx). It is a part of the American Trucking Associations (www.truckline.com), the largest national trade association for the trucking industry.
