Your Shop Might Be Scaring Off Techs. A Diesel Stories Recap

Summary:

• Jay Goninen says techs notice the basics first: safe equipment, good lighting, current tools, and a shop that feels cared for.
• Peter Cooper and Jay show why silent frustration can cost shops good techs, backed-up bays, delayed PMs, and lost labor hours.
• The episode pushes owners to build a real labor funnel instead of hiring from panic when the next tech walks out.

What if your shop is pushing away talent before the interview even starts? Dim lighting, clutter, and worn tools speak loudly to a good technician. 

In this episode of Diesel Stories, host Peter Cooper sits down with Jay Goninen from WrenchWay. Jay works on technician recruiting, school support, workforce data, and the WrenchWay Voice of Technician report.

The conversation is not just about hiring. It gets into the stuff technicians feel every day: broken lights, old scan tools, questionable lift equipment, paid vacation, flat rate stress, weak communication, and shop culture.

Peter brings the owner’s side too. He talks about dirty bays, cold water in the break room, tire and lube techs becoming master-level techs, and why a shop needs a labor funnel just as much as it needs a customer funnel.

Because this is the real question: why would a good diesel tech choose your shop over the one down the road?

Fleet customers want trucks back. Service managers need clean answers. Parts delays already make the day hard enough. If techs also fight bad equipment, unclear expectations, and a neglected shop, retention gets tough fast.

Your Techs Notice the Broken Lights Before They Hear “We’re Family”

A lot of shops say they treat people like family. Then a tech walks into a dark bay, grabs an outdated scan tool, works under questionable lift equipment, and finds warm water in the break room. That gap says everything.

Jay said proper equipment keeps showing up near the top of what technicians want. That means giving techs a bay where they can repair trucks without fighting the tools and the building.

Peter had a sharp way to frame it. Some owners say they run a family shop, then ignore basics their own family would expect at home. “You say that it’s a family, but is it really?”

Techs read that stuff fast. If the shop is dingy and neglected, that says something before the owner says anything.

A shop does not need a tech-company lounge. Heavy-duty techs are not asking for a nap pod between PMs. They need safe equipment, decent tools, clear lighting, and small signs that management cares about the people turning the wrenches.

Cold water helps. Snacks help. Donuts help. Peter even talked about his guys going to his mom’s house across the street for lunch. Not every shop can do that. But every shop can stop acting like basic care is some luxury item hiding behind the parts invoice.

This also ties straight to margins. When techs fight broken equipment, jobs slow down. Estimates take longer. Approvals wait. Repair bays clog up. Customers call because the truck still has not moved.

That is not just a culture issue. That is an operations issue.

One Toolbox Chat Won’t Tell You Why a Tech Is Leaving

Here’s the trap. A shop owner walks to the floor, asks a tech how things are going, hears “all good,” and thinks the shop is fine. Then the tech quits.

Jay told a story about a technician who praised the shop and said it was the best place he had ever worked. A month later, that same tech resigned. Once Jay dug into it, the tech had a list of problems that had built up quickly.

That’s the thing. Technicians don’t always unload their complaints at the toolbox. Many guard what they really think, especially when they do not believe the conversation will change anything.

Peter called it “pretend normal.” His line nailed the shop-floor version of silence: “Everything’s fine, everything’s fine. Building’s on fire, everything’s fine.”

Funny? Yes. Also a little painful.

Because when a lead tech leaves, the schedule feels it right away. Work orders start backing up, and PMs that should already be done get pushed again. DOT inspections fall behind, while parts that were meant for active jobs sit untouched on the shelf. Before long, the service manager is playing calendar Tetris with trucks that should have been invoiced days ago.

Peter’s fix was simple, but not easy. If a tech reports directly to you, take that person offsite for lunch or a beer after work. Setting aside an hour for this twice a year beats hiring, onboarding, training, and hoping the new person shows up Monday.

The point is not to turn the bay into group therapy. The point is to ask better questions and ensure your techs feel heard before frustration becomes a two-week notice.

Ask them about tools, pay, the service desk, and whether approvals stall too often or if parts delays make them look slow. Then do something with the answer.

Stop Hiring from Panic and Start Building Your Own Bench

Most shops have a customer funnel. They chase fleet accounts, answer phones, quote jobs, push estimates, and follow up before the truck owner calls again.

But a labor funnel? A lot of shops just hope.

Peter asked owners to think about their five-year employee plan. Who are you finding now that could become your master tech five years from now?

The idea sounds clean until the workload turns messy. A customer needs three trucks by Friday. A road call eats half the morning. A tech calls out. Suddenly, the shop hires the available experienced tech, even if the culture fit feels shaky.

Now the owner manages from fear because replacing that person feels impossible.

Peter’s approach was different. He talked about hiring tire and lube techs, training them for years, and turning some into strong, loyal technicians. Not all of them made it. He said for every 10 apprentices, two became good techs. But he expected that.

Then came one of the strongest lines in the episode: “We don’t fix trucks. We fix people.”

Look, that does not mean the trucks stop mattering. But as owners and managers, you have to look after the people who write the estimates, order the parts, diagnose the fault codes, make the call on rusted hardware, finish the PMs, handle road calls, and get invoices ready.

Peter also started the Iowa Training Academy, a 10-week night program run through his shop. He said he did not make money training entry-level kids. But it built relationships with fleets like Penske, United Rentals, and Brown National Lease.

Jay backed that up from the school side. If shops want schools to send them good people, they need to support those schools before they need a hire.

That means showing up, helping programs, and building trust before the shop has an empty bay and a growing stack of work orders.

There’s a Lot We Haven’t Touched Yet

Peter and Jay covered a lot more than broken lights and hiring headaches. The full episode gets into numbers, pay plans, school support, and technician feedback that should make owners sit up a little straighter.

• Jay explained ASE Connects and its five-step plan: identify schools, gather data, support programs, track technicians, and repeat the work every year.
• Diesel techs looked more satisfied than automotive techs, but Jay said 45% of diesel respondents would not recommend the industry.
• Pay structures got real attention, including hourly with production bonus, flat rate with a guarantee, and the stress of traditional flat rate.
• Peter and Jay also talked about cheap employees, comebacks, stubborn pay decisions, and why one bad hire can cost more than owners admit.

Watch or listen to the full Diesel Stories episode for the full back-and-forth, the shop stories, and the technician report details.