Fleet Technician Recruitment and Retention Webinar Series: Part 1-Fleet Technician Recruitment and Retention Webinar Series: Part 1

Video Transcription

Video Summary

The webinar opened a three-part series on technician retention and recruitment, hosted by Andy Campbell of Sourcewell with Craig Kroner from the City of Glendale, Arizona. Craig shared his background in fleet management and described joining Glendale in 2021 during COVID, a severe technician shortage, and the loss of his predecessor to COVID. He explained how he first focused on listening to technicians, assessing staffing gaps, and identifying immediate “low-hanging fruit” to improve morale and operations.<br /><br />Key early actions included outsourcing tire work to free technicians for preventive maintenance, advocating for tool allowances, and creating incentives for ASE and EVT/EBT certifications. Craig emphasized using data, risk assessments, and peer-city pay comparisons to build the case for pay changes and reclassification. He also stressed building strong partnerships with HR, executives, and customers, and being transparent and respectful with staff.<br /><br />During Q&A, he discussed using internal data to justify pay studies, managing tool allowances, working with HR on job classifications, creating tiered technician levels, recruiting from trade schools, and balancing priorities in upfitting work. His main message: retention improves when leaders invest in people, communicate honestly, and use collaborative, data-driven solutions.

Keywords

technician retention

recruitment

fleet management

City of Glendale Arizona

staffing shortages

tool allowances

ASE certification

EVT EBT certification

data-driven pay studies