Technician Appreciation Week 2024: Ways to let your technicians know that they are appreciated

RALEIGH, North Carolina—On the heels of TMCSuperTech, September 22nd-28th is National Technician Appreciation Week, a week designated by the American Trucking Associations' Technology and Maintenance Council as a celebration of the hard work and dedication put forth by technicians across the country.

While the best way for a shop manager to show their techs that their time and effort don't go unnoticed is by paying them well, an additional gesture here and there can never hurt.

To get a better sense of what really makes a technician feel valued, we asked a few at the TMCSuperTech competition what their shop does in specific.

Luckily for shop managers, most seemed pretty low effort and can easily be incorporated into normal day-to-day operations without sacrificing efficiency.

Above most else, technicians want to feel like they're being heard.

Supervisors and shop managers can simply have “a meeting with the technicians, asking—What can we do better? What have we done great?" said Allyson Zamayoa, diesel technician at Rush Truck Centers. "I think that's a good way to unite everybody.”

Allyson Zamayoa, diesel technician at Rush Travel Centers, at TMCFutureTech, during which she took 1st place in the Electronic Engine Diagnostics station.

This is a quick way to check in, and listening to ensure that technician needs are being met will go a long way towards making them feel like they have a say.

While this usually means taking into consideration technician thoughts on basic shop policies and procedures, it can also include investing in tools and equipment based on their suggestions.

Aven Blozan, diesel technician at Iron Buffalo Truck and Trailer, said that he feels heard when he's "interested in certain things, for instance, new diagnostic tools," and the company is able to get those into the shop.

“We just got the new Ford IDS software and the FDRS, per my request," he noted, "because we were working on a lot of Fords and didn’t have the software.”

Techs are the ones getting their hands dirty day in and day out, so it would make sense that they have the best idea of what tools would help them accomplish their jobs most efficiently.

The Denver-based shop also holds weekly contests based on billable hours, offering extra cash and trips as prizes.

Aven Blozan, diesel technician at Iron Buffalo in Denver, CO, on stage with his award for taking 1st place in the Aftertreament Mechanical station in the 2024 TMCSuperTech competition

Food was also a common response, because who doesn't love a free lunch?

Zamayoa has only been working at Rush for a few months, she said, "but I know they're great about feeding us and giving us goodies.”

Thomas Pianalto, lead service technician at Rush, had a similar answer, mentioning dinners that the company puts on for their techs.

“They’re having one this week actually, while I’m here,” he lamented.

Whether it has to do with the food or the gesture itself, they must be doing something right, as the senior-level mechanic has been with Rush Truck Centers since 1988.

And if all else fails, maybe a field trip is the answer.

“Coming out [to TMCSuperTech], we spent a day and a half on the lake before the competition," Iron Buffalo's Blozan concluded, "and you know that wasn’t too bad.”