Sun Auto Tire’s Approach to Employee DevelopmentSun Auto Tire’s Approach to Employee Development Despite its size and success, Sun Auto Tire & Service Inc. faces challenges in recruiting and retaining qualified technicians. To address these concerns, the company has implemented various employee development initiatives. Challenges in Technician Recruitment * Industry-wide shortage of skilled labor * Increasing complexity of vehicles and advanced technology Employee Retention Strategies * My Sun University: An online and classroom training program tailored to specific roles within the company. * SunPro: A standardized system for executing service tasks, ensuring quality control and consistent performance across the network. Investment in Training and Development * Sun Auto Tire provides training templates that are integrated into My Sun University. * The company invests in the development of its employees by promoting career growth and skill enhancement. Benefits of Employee Development Programs * Increased employee satisfaction and retention * Enhanced employee skills and knowledge * Improved service quality and customer satisfaction * Improved efficiency and productivity * A competitive edge in the industry
With more than 470 locations, Mesa, Arizona-based Sun Auto Tire & Service Inc. is one of the top five dealers in the 2024 MTD 100.
But despite the company’s size, Sun Auto Tire says finding qualified technicians can be a challenge.
“It’s not a new dynamic,” said Chris Ripani, the company’s chief operating officer. “But it’s going to be a more exponential dynamic as we grow and the talent pool continues to shrink.”
The increasing complexity of vehicles only exacerbates the problem, he notes.
“What it means to be an engineer today is different than it was 40 years ago. There is much more variety in vehicles.
“More diagnostics are needed, and much more specialization and advanced tools are required.
“Finding someone who has the mechanical skills and is willing to invest in themselves is not an easy task,” Ripani said.
“Companies with great engineers keep a close eye on them and that’s one of the biggest challenges in the industry when it comes to recruiting.”
Employee retention is also key, he explains. “One of the things we do is invest in training programs and processes. We created my Sun University,” an online and classroom program that launched last year.
“It’s designed around building learning tasks by role for each key role within the company. It outlines the learning path we want them to follow and the content we’ve assigned to each role.
“We designed it so that our people can continue to develop their skills while investing in their career development.
“We also launched a system called SunPro. It’s our way of doing things in the back of the shop. It’s all about quality control of our service standards and how we build an operating model to do preventative maintenance, repairs and tire replacements consistently across our network.
“In addition, our training templates are described which we then build into Sun University,” he adds.
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