Dave Repass of Meineke Car Care Center

Daniel Blaser (00:06):

Hello, and welcome to On the Clock, presented by Workstream. If you care about hiring and retaining hourly employees, you're in the right place. I'm Daniel Blaser, and today I'm clocking in with Dave Repass, owner of Meineke Car Care Center in Lewis, Delaware. We discussed the unique hiring challenges faced by the auto repair industry. What makes personalized scheduling a key tactic for retention? Why always on hiring is always a good idea and more enjoy. Can you kind of summarize like what are, have you faced some specific challenges for staffing and what's that kind of been like over the last 12 to 18 months?

Dave Repass (00:46):

The staffing for our industry as a whole, it's been been hard to say the least. Even, even back, you know, 12 years ago you know, the, the trades as a whole are not being sought after by young people anymore. You know, whether it's automotive technician, plumbers, HVAC, all of that people aren't really going into the trades as much as they used to. So the staffing staffing's been hard since day one for us. We've been very lucky and we've been able to put together a, a pretty good team here. And but you know, we're, we are constantly looking for new and better employees more, we've certainly had tremendous growth under the, the Meineke brand year after year. So we, we are constantly looking for new technicians whether they're entry level kind of oil change technician a tire technician all the way up to master technicians in the industry.

Daniel Blaser (01:54):

How were your hiring efforts? How were they falling short?

Dave Repass (01:58):

Yeah, so, so, you know, over the years we've, we've tried all their traditional hire methods from, you know, going down to the parts store and asking the, the parts store guys, Hey, what other techs out there working at other, other locations? Do you know of the, the tool trucks, the, you know, the local radio ads or the local newspaper. And, you know, we've had a little bit of success, not much over the years. Typically, honestly, you know, the friend of a friend is how we got a good bit of our technicians and, and building up our reputation. One of the other problems that a key specifically I think that we fall into is, you know, for the higher technicians, the certified technicians, and they, they kind of want to go work at the dealership. They wanna work for Chevrolet or they wanna work for Cadillac and BMW and Mercedes.

(02:58):

And, you know, think the average little Meineke is this dirty little automotive repair shop that does mufflers and they don't really understand the scope of everything that Meineke does and the strength of Meineke that, that we have. So that, that's been a challenge. And then, you know, of course we, we went all the other routes, you know, we went in deeds in the monsters, in all those, and, and man, they're expensive. So I, I have to give you a little background, I'm sorry. We're in a smaller coastal town kind of very small town, so there isn't a lot of people here. There isn't a big pool of technicians to even pull from. And you know, so we would put an ad out in, you know, let's, let's say indeed and you know, we would get applicants hitting us up and, and they're in Philadelphia or they're in Washington DC or New York and New Jersey, things like that.

(03:53):

And it's all a couple hours away. So they're not even relevant to coming to work here unless they wish to relocate. And, and honestly, we did get one at one point and we did get a relocation out of them. But for the most part, we just weren't getting anything locally. I even, I even went at one point and hired a headhunter and, you know, this headhunter's gonna go out and, you know, specializes in the industry and all these things. And I worked with him for almost a year and zero. I mean, the guy finally came back to me and he was just like, Dave, IIII got nothing for you in your area. I, I've got nothing. So, and you know, they're very expensive. You know, it's, it's at minimum 10 to 15% of the first year hire of the person, you know, to, to, to work with them. So I, I was real lucky and, and found you guys.

Daniel Blaser (04:53):

Why do you personally take pride in the work that you do?

Dave Repass (04:56):

Oh, 'cause this is my life. You know, it's, it's everything. You know, my family everything, it's my name my business. So everything is involved in, in in, in what we do here with, with my life. And it's, it's the, you know, it's important. And it's my name and it's, it's the legacy that I have and will, you know, give to my children. So that is why we do what we do here.

Daniel Blaser (05:25):

I love that. What advice would you give to someone else, maybe similar shoes as you also struggling to hire hourly employees? What advice would you give them?

Dave Repass (05:36):

Don't be afraid to pay more. You know, the business will come, it'll work out. You can make everything else work. So get the right people no matter what it takes to get 'em, treat 'em better than anybody else's gonna treat 'em.

Daniel Blaser (05:52):

Wise words, have you found, you know, like you said, don't be afraid, you know, pay a little bit more to get the best talent. I've had a few different conversations with our customers about, you know, beyond pay, obviously that's probably the most important piece of the puzzle, but have you found that there are any other, like perks or benefits or anything else that you can offer that make a really big difference in attracting employees?

Dave Repass (06:16):

You know, the, you know, especially in today's climate of employees, right? It, it, you know, of course money is, is the most important. It, it is, but quality of life is certainly more important to the, this newer generation, today's society than, than it used to be. You know, they, they want their weekends off. They want to, you know, they want to go fishing on, you know, the, you know, in the afternoon or in the morning so they can come in a little, so can, can they come in a little bit later? Things like that. Looking to, you know, work a, you know, four day week instead of a five or a six day week, things like that. And, and working the schedule around what quality of life they want. And not everybody's the same. So you've gotta be willing to be adaptable.

(07:09):

And, you know, maybe offer one guy, he never works a Saturday. Another guy, he doesn't care if he works Saturday, 'cause his wife or girlfriend's working Saturday, he, but she's off on Mondays, so he wants a Sunday and a Monday off and, you know, thing, things like that. So working with the employees to, to get 'em and, and to have a quality of life work balance is seeming to be very important right now which I agree with. But it, it's definitely different than the way things used to be in the business world and how, you know, a lot of us grew up. It, it's, it's very different now. I, I don't like all of it. I understand some of it but it is the world that we live in today.

Daniel Blaser (07:59):

I feel like it's a, it's a pendulum like anything else, right? Like the pendulum is swinging back one way, it's probably gonna swing, you know, there's always gonna be a little bit of give and take on, on either side, but I think that's great advice. And I had one more question about retaining employees, but I feel like you kind of hit hit on that already with kind of the adaptability and

Dave Repass (08:18):

Yeah. You know, I mean, retaining, so one, I I'm very happy to say that in 12 years of owning my own business I've, I've lost two, only two employees that I wanted to keep here, right? So only two people ever left me that I wanted to keep here. And both of them left the industry completely. One was a physical issue, another one was something completely different. But if you take care of your employees, right, they're not leaving you, you know, they're, they're not gonna want to leave you. So you know, it, it's the whole culture of you and, and your business that's the most important for re retention. And you know, so yeah, so, you know, we've certainly lost employees, but you know, those ones, I don't care if they left you know so we've got employees that have been here for 12 years with us since the day we opened the doors. And I, I don't think you know, I I, I'd want it any other way, I'd, I'd like everybody to stay, you know, that's here now, you know? So it's, it's good. We just need some more always looking,

Daniel Blaser (09:29):

Yeah, yeah. That, well, that's one thing that we've talked a lot about with other customers too, is just like al like always be hiring, right?

Dave Repass (09:37):

Yeah. Don't, yeah, that, that is a good point. Don't just wait till you need somebody. You're just always looking. We're, we're actually with this new hire that we got after having you know, started working with you guys I'm a little heavy at the front of our shop right now but I couldn't pass on this guy because, I mean, he was just too good. I didn't want to pass on him. I don't necessarily need him right now, but, you know, there we've got some things in the works and I wasn't letting this guy pass and, you know, to get 'em now, get 'em now and, and, you know, just get 'em entrenched in what we're doing. And honestly, it's helping, it's helping everybody just to have a extra person up at the front counter as well. So things are, things are running even a little smoother.

Daniel Blaser (10:27):

I really enjoyed kind of your perspective about, you know, this being your business and your name and kind of your legacy. I think a lot of people they kind of have in the back of their mind, like, I want to start, start my own business and, and own, you know, own the thing that is bringing money to my family. What advice would you give to those people who are like, I, I will do this too one day, but maybe not right now.

Dave Repass (10:51):

It's a little harder, you know, they say it's, you know, it, it's hard being a business owner, and it, it really is. I mean, it really is, but the benefits for me or, or have been fantastic, right? So I'm glad I did it. The I was, I was a, you know, just a guy doing a job for, you know, 25 years before I, you know, owned my own business. I was really never the boss of anybody. You know, it's just a guy working and now, yeah, I've got 21 employees and responsible for, you know, even their livelihoods in, in some ways or in some ways, a lot of ways. And, you know, certainly taking care of my customers. Yeah, it's it's very fulfilling doing, especially doing it right and I, I I'm glad. I just wish it would've started a little sooner.

Daniel Blaser (11:54):

Thank you for listening to On the Clock. For more info, visit workstream.us/podcast. Until next time, we're clocking out.