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Automotive Industry

Trade Secrets

Motor, Apr 2005 by Cerullo, Bob

Clearly defining (and regularly updating) your shop's policies and procedures in black & white will prevent misunderstandings and disagreements in the future.

Several years ago, there were always the annual questions in my shop: Should we close for Presidents' Day? Didn't we close last year? On the one hand, it was potentially a good day to he open hecause lots of our customers were off and were likely to come in to have their vehicles worked on. On the other hand, would staying open be fair to our employees whose friends and spouses were home and whose kids were off from school?

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Deciding on which holidays to close the shop and which to remain open can be difficult for many shop owners. Whatever the decision, you'd want to be consistent from year to year so your customers and employees can make plans. For technicians, as for anyone, the money and working conditions are important, but the quality of life is also a high priority.

For many years we managed by the seat of our pants with regard to holidays, vacation and sick days, medical coverage and other issues. There was a kind of one-on-one "understanding" on such matters, which became more difficult to remember as the number of technicians grew. That led to disagreements and an occasional disgruntled employee. So we decided to create an Employee Manual, which would be the "bible" of the rules in our shop.

Here's how we did it. I bought a box of loose-leaf books-one for each employee and two for the office. I then set up subject pages for Vacations, Sick Days, Uniforms, Medical Coverage, Jury Duty, Hours of Operation, Resignation, Substance Abuse, General Shop Policy and other areas of concern.

Setting up the Vacations page was pretty simple because we close down for two weeks at the end of July and the beginning of August and everyone goes at the same time. However, there are lots of shops that don't close for week-long stretches, and the problem becomes determining who gets the choice days off-usually in the summer. Some shops do it on a seniority basis, others use a rotation system. However your shop determines who takes his vacation when, you need to write it out and put it in your Employee Manual. And here is where you state the policy with regard to how many vacation days are allowed. You may, for example, decide that a technician is allowed one week after one year and two weeks after two years. Some shops allow three weeks of vacation after five years. You need to clarify all the terms so that no employee can come to you and claim you said something different about vacation time.

Sick Days is another thorny area that's less painful when both you and the employee have the rules written down. The policy that has worked for me is to allow each employee seven to 12 paid sick days after they have worked for one full year. In my shop, I require no explanation, just a phone call to alert us to the fact the he or she can't come in that day. As an incentive for employees to use only the sick days they really need, at the end of the year employees are paid for the sick days they did not take. If a technician leaves and hasn't used up all his sick days, he forfeits the bonus.

Uniforms are generally not much of a problem if the shop provides them, but there can be some sticky problems if a tech decides he's going to make a fashion statement and wear something silly. I recall trying to convince one of my guys that the orange Robin Hood hat he wanted to wear-complete with feather!-was not suitable headgear for my shop. He was convinced that it was his right to wear what he pleased. Things got pretty heavy and I made it a point to put a few lines in the Uniforms section about suitable head gear. You might also require your techs to wear steel-toe shoes. It's a good idea, but that should be included under Uniforms, as well. State the policy of how the shop is compensated for uniforms should a technician leave without returning the complete set.

Medical Coverage is an important issue because the cost of coverage has risen sharply in recent years. State your policy about what percentage of the medical coverage the shop will cover. Also establish how long you'll hold a job for an employee should he become temporarily disabled. Make sure your policy complies with the appropriate rules and regulations for your state and follows the guidelines of your disability insurance carrier.

Jury Duty is something no one ever seems to worry about until the notice arrives. However, you need to create a policy of how you'll handle compensation during the time an employee is out on jury duty. It's usually not a big deal if the jury service ends in a few days, but if the employee gets impaneled on a case that lasts for several weeks, how he's going to feed his family becomes an issue. The same is true of military service. If one of your people is called by the National Guard, there are legal guidelines regarding your obligations to that employee.

Hours of Operation should be clearly stated in the Manual. If your shop is open from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., that needs to stated, along with your policy about tardiness and leaving early. Set limits and penalties for serious abuses in this area. Also, when does overtime begin, and how much do you pay?

Automotive Industry

Trade Secrets

Motor, Apr 2005 by Cerullo, Bob

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