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Female technicians: Helping your business and the industry draw on this untapped pool of talent |
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Monday, 02 July 2007 |
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Page 1 of 2 Valerie Decatur is a relative newcomer to the collision industry. A
graduate of Stanford University, Decatur spent a number of years
working in human resources within the hotel industry, but about a year
ago she became director of human resources for Cooks Collision, a
16-shop chain in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Decatur attended the recent Women’s Industry Network conference, a 2-day event for women in the collision industry to talk about – and hopefully learn more about – attracting women to careers as collision technicians.
After all, Decatur said during a panel discussion at the event in which she participated, Cooks has three female parts administrators, six female estimators and a shop manager who is a woman. But of Cooks’ 125 painters, body techs and helpers, not one is a woman.
“That’s an area we’re really hoping to change,” Decatur said.
Other panelists and speakers outlined why they see it as good business sense for the industry to do more to attract woman as employees, and shared their ideas for doing so.
The business case
The shortage of technicians and the aging of the collision repair workforce – of which currently less than 1 percent is female – has been widely documented and discussed. (If you need the numbers, check the I-CAR Education Foundation’s ‘Snapshot of the Industry,’ www.ed-foundation.org.) Given that situation, Marcy Tieger said, ignoring half the population as potential entrants into the industry makes little business sense.
Tieger is a principal in the consulting firm Symphony Advisors, which is led by former Caliber Collision CEO Matthew Ohrnstein. She believes that just as World War II led to “Rosie the Riveter” and an acceptance of women in non-traditional trades because of necessity, a similar need will drive this industry to be more welcoming to women.
Tieger argues the business case for attracting more women to the trade in a bit of a back-door fashion. Certain factors tend to serve as barriers or impediments to women entering this trade, she said. But the changes needed to reduce those barriers also happen to be steps that will improve your business, she believes.
For example, making your shop’s work environment more clean and safe will make it more appealing to women, Tieger said. But that’s also the first step in making any business more “lean” – boosting productivity by giving technicians a well-organized, well-lit work area where they have quick access to the tools, materials and equipment they need.
“A clean shop will appeal to everyone: employees male and female, customers and insurers,” Tieger said.
Attracting more women into the industry will also require instituting credible, sexual harassment policies, and educating and training male employees and managers about what that means, Tieger said.
Again, she sees this as a smart business move whether or not your shop hires any women. She cites the example of a shop manager who makes inappropriate comments to a female insurance company representative at the shop, and the rep eventually complains to her company.
“That insurer can call you up and tell you what (your manager) is doing, but that’s really uncomfortable,” Tieger said. “So they may not say anything, but suddenly there’s less work coming your way. So there’s a potential loss of business if you don’t have a credible zero-tolerance sexual harassment policy and employees who understand it.”
Among the other business benefits of attracting more women into the industry, Tieger argues, is that most women in non-traditional roles are eager to prove themselves and will often be among a company’s hardest workers. And for an industry as focused on CSI as this one is, Tieger said, not enough shops have recognized that, “CSI is synonymous with TLC,” the empathy, patience and kindness at which women often excel.
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