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It is becoming tougher and tougher for fleet shops across the country to find good technicians these days, and it is a problem with some teeth. A lack of skilled workers can cause a shop’s productivity to bog down and create a potentially unsafe environment, damaging morale and eating away at profits.

Yet this challenge is turning into opportunities for skilled non-English speaking technicians—some of whom are coming from south of the border to fill the void. Now, it is up to managers to take advantage of this growing labor force by simply employing some patience, which can end up paying some serious dividends for their fleets.

The largest and fastest growing minority group in the country, Hispanics comprise about 13 percent of the population, according to the 2000 U.S. Census. According to last year’s BLS Household Data Annual Averages, Hispanics make up 16.8 percent of all automotive service technicians, 14.1 percent of bus/truck mechanics and diesel engine specialists and 13.5 percent of heavy vehicle/mobile equipment service technicians; numbers that are growing by the day.

However, census numbers indicated that nearly a third of Hispanics between ages 18-64, including new immigrants, reported speaking English “not well” or “not at all.” Apply those figures to the number of Hispanics employed as technicians and you have tens of thousands of workers who are linguistically isolated. And a tech who cannot communicate with co-workers or managers is likely going to be more of a liability for a shop than an asset.

PRACTICE PATIENCE

Technology & Maintenance Council vice-president Darry Stuart, president of DWS Fleet Management, has dealt with bilingual issues in fleet shops since the early 1980s, when many new hires in the industry were immigrants from Southeast Asia. These days, as he travels around the country he hears Spanish spoken in shops across the southern part of the nation, as well as larger northern cities. Many of these workers are immigrants from “south of the border” trying to get a start in the country, and have impressed him with their diligence and determination to succeed.

“We’re not attracting many people in this business, so consequently we’re trying to import them, to some degree,” he says. “The Mexican people are incredible with their work ethic, and they are highly mechanically skilled.”

Language and cultural barriers are also part of the new mix in these shops, however. Stuart attended two TMC sessions in Mexico City and came away with a much greater understanding of Latino culture.