According to Adam Moffatt, Executive Director of the Ontario Tire Dealers Association (OTDA) the majority of the OTDA’s members are understaffed by at least 10-15%. “This is a big problem particularly on the [tire] technician side,” he says. “They just can’t seem to get techs interested in the job. That’s what we’re hearing from our members.”

Outside of the fact that younger individuals are not interested in careers that involves manual labour, Moffatt explains, the challenge with tire techs is twofold. “First, you have to start looking at the pay rate,” he says, “because you’re not simply competing with the tire shop or automotive shop down the road. You’re competing with other businesses, including fast-food chains that are willing to pay $20 an hour plus benefits because they’re trying to attract those same employees.”

It’s hard to convince someone to sling tires all day for $17/hr when they can go down the road to the fast-food place for $20/hr plus benefits, Moffatt points out.

The second challenge, Moffatt explains, is the way tire technicians are viewed. “While we in the industry see it as a skilled trade, it truly isn’t,” he adds. “There’s no licensing, no education requirement, and it’s still viewed as a low-level job. And that’s something that we in the industry need to address.”

Training and certification

Moffatt argues that we need to start viewing tire technicians as skilled labourers, and that tire retailers need to be willing to invest the time and the money to train these individuals accordingly.

“One of the things we’ve done at the association level over the past couple of years is roll out TIA’s automotive tire service training program,” he says. “We’ve been offering the training to both OTDA members and non-members alike.”

The OTDA’s Automotive Tire Service (ATS) Training and Certification courses were developed by the Tire Industry Association (TIA) and are delivered in an in-class setting with hands-on training and evaluation.

“During the first two years of this training program, we trained and certified over 200 technicians,” Moffatt adds, “and the feedback we’re getting from the industry is that it’s empowering technicians. They’re learning valuable skills and we’re hearing from our members that these techs are coming back to the shop and they’re excited to share what they have learned with others, because they find the information to be so valuable.”

The message Moffatt has for tire shop owners is simple. “Invest in your people, make them feel like they’re part of the team, and don’t look at them as the guy who simply changes tires,” he says.

Seasonal staff

One of the challenges faced by shop owners, is the fact that tire techs are in high demand during the busy seasons, every spring and fall, but then when business slows down, they’re no longer needed.

“I had a conversation with one of our members recently, and he says that he overcame this challenge by looking for ways to vertically integrate some of his staff,” Moffatt explains.

In other words, this particular shop owner is willing to train his tire techs to take on other jobs, like counter staff, to keep them employed all year. That way, when business picks up in the spring and fall, he always has enough trained tire techs on staff to handle the rush.

Commercial tire techs

Shad Smereka, Fountain Tire’s Vice President, People and Customer Experience says that although finding tire techs for the busy season is always a bit of an issue, the bigger challenge is finding tire techs that can work on commercial vehicles, including those who work on their own as service truck drivers.

Beyond the technical skills they need in order to service trucks on the side of a busy highway, these individuals need extensive safety training, and they need excellent customer service skills.

“In a lot of cases,” Smereka says, “when they’re working in that type of role, they’re actually the face of the business and they’re connecting with customers. So, not only is it important for them to be able to do the work, and do it safely, but they also need the customer service skills that will allow them to handle the truck drivers who are stressed out because they’re sitting at the side of the road, unable to move their truck, and they know that time is money.”

Smereka says that Fountain Tire has an in-house program where they take entry-level tire techs from the passenger vehicle / light truck side of the business and train them to take on these more demanding roles.

“We start them on the commercial side, on site, which means they’re at the store,” he explains, “and then they will move up to an outdoor pad, where they get a bit more experience, and then eventually, we groom them to the point where they can work remotely on their own, and work on more complex tires.”

Smereka admits that this process takes time, “but you don’t want to put people in harm’s way. You want to set them up for success so that they can work efficiently, as well as safely, which is the most important part.”

Turnover rate

While investing all that time in a tire tech is costly, Smereka says it’s well worth it. “We find that the turnover rate, once people get to that level in our company, is low,” he explains. “Our highest turnover is with entry-level positions.”

Part of the reason for the low turnover, Smereka says, is because of the culture that is cultivated in each store. “Local owners set up cultures within their stores that suit their communities and their staff,” he adds, “so if someone stays with us long enough to be trained to that point, they don’t tend to leave, because the culture suits them. If it doesn’t, they usually leave in the first year or so.”

While salaries and benefits are important, Smereka says that people are generally looking for a great place to work and a great person to work for. “We conduct annual engagement surveys, and we find that people are looking for a leader that cares about them as a person,” he concludes. “That tends to drive retention and a culture where people want to stay.”