Turnover in the HVACR industry is brutal. When a good tech or installer leaves, you’re not just losing a set of hands; you’re losing billable hours, piling up callbacks, and risking your customer’s trust with delays. That’s why focusing on retention is essential to your long-term growth. With the right approach, you can build loyalty and reduce turnover, so your team stays for years, not seasons.
We’ve put together 3 proven employee retention strategies HVACR contractors can use right now to hold on to their best technicians and installers.
- Offer Competitive Benefits
- Manage Your Employees Successfully
- Perform Stay Interviews
Offering competitive company benefits
What keeps your employees from jumping ship to another employer? Often, it’s your company benefits. When a company offers full medical coverage, multiple weeks of PTO, and other high value benefits they’re what we consider an employer of choice, the top employer in their market. These employers get the cream of the crop for their employees because they offer benefits head and shoulders above the competition.
Medical benefits
Your employees need medical benefits, not just individual plans, but family coverage. If you are an employer that offers 100% medical coverage for your employee with partial coverage plans for spouses and children you are an Employer of Choice in your market.
Struggling to offer full medical coverage for your employees? Work with an insurance broker who specializes in small business group health plans. You might also consider a small employer health reimbursement arrangement (HRA) or health savings account (HSA) for your employees.
Paid time off
In the 1970s – early 2000s, it was common to offer 1 week vacation that increases as your employee moves through seniority, especially for smaller shops. But given the state of the economy, rising living costs, and increased desire for work-life balance, offering just 1 week of vacation is not sufficient. Companies today need to offer 2 weeks PTO starting at a minimum, and it should increase from there. And remember to encourage your employees to use their vacation time. Taking a break prevents burnout and leads to your employees staying with you longer.
Worried about offering that much vacation at once? Use blackout dates during your busiest months so you maintain coverage when you need it most.
Employee assistance programs (EAPs)
Being a great employer means being there to support your employees. Life happens. There will be times when your employees’ personal lives affect their work. Maybe one of your employees is going through a divorce. Maybe one lost a loved one recently. This is where an employee assistance program comes into play. Employee assistance programs offer therapy services, guidance, financial or legal services, and many other resources for employees. The best part? EAPs are a great benefit to add to your roster at a very small cost (typically only $1/month per employee) or they may be bundled into your life insurance and medical plans. Be there to support your s of need.
Employee management
Managing your employees correctly is crucial to retaining the best team. That doesn’t just mean avoiding micromanagement. It means being proactive in building their future at your company. Every top employer should have built out career paths for their employees that are tied to boosts in compensation. For example, a level 1 service tech might get a boost in pay after they’ve sold 25 accessories, or a level 3 installer might need to to advance their pay. There should be multiple achievements broken down by level to show your team members how to advance in their careers
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You also need to have regular check-ins with your employees. Managers should be meeting one-on-one with employees to discuss where they are at in their career progression at least once a month. Keeping steady lanes of communication open shows you’re investing time in your employees and value the contributions they make to your company. It also gives you the opportunity to support your employees in areas where they might be struggling .
Stay interviews
In addition to having regular check-ins with your employees, you should conduct stay interviews to get honest feedback on how your employees feel about their job and your company. But a stay interview is only as effective as you make it. It’s up to you as a leader to be open to feedback.
That’s why we recommend using a 3rd party to conduct stay interviews. Unhappy employees don’t often feel comfortable bringing complaints to their direct supervisors. A 3rd party keeps the conversation neutral and allows for honest feedback that you as the employer can use to improve your business.
“You have to be able to set your ego aside. You have to listen with an open mind and open heart to what your employees are trying to tell you to get to the root cause of the problems they’re facing. Employees tell you what you need to know to keep them happy and content working for you. You just have to be receptive to that information and ACT on it.”
– Aaron Schuh, Founder & President of Recruit4Business
Put employee retention into action
Employee retention doesn’t have to be complicated. Focus on the areas that matter most to your employees: fair benefits, supportive management, and regular feedback. By using these 3 employee retention strategies, you’ll spend less time hiring replacements and more time growing a strong, committed team.
Looking for an extra hand? Our HR consulting services give you the tools and support you need to strengthen retention and keep your best employees.
Recruit4Business is an ACCA Strategic Partner. To learn more about ACCA’s Strategic Partner Program, contact partners@acca.org or visit acca.org/partners.
The post How to retain your best employees: 3 proven employee retention strategies that keep your team intact appeared first on ACCA HVAC Blog.