What do you consider your most important asset? If you answer, ”your technicians,” then you would be correct. I already know you are having trouble getting qualified technicians to install, test and maintain today’s more complicated fire alarm systems.

There are myriad ideas about how to attract and hire qualified technicians. Some work, but the problem remains that the pool of qualified technicians looking for work is small. So, you can’t wait until the perfect applicant shows up. 

I visited a friend whose company continues to grow and who, on the surface, seems to have little trouble hiring technicians. What I found out amazed me. It is true he has the same issues in trying to hire talent as the rest of us. But his employees that started with him 20 years ago are still with him, even though the type of work he does has changed dramatically. 

His primary workload was originally commercial residential work, but today he does nothing but high-end fire alarm system installs and inspection, testing and maintenance projects. When I asked how he managed to change his type of work to fire alarm systems, his response proved insightful. 

First, I should tell you that his company is one of the largest specialty firms in the area and his reputation is one of leadership and quality work. His secret is relatively simple. He put all his eggs in one basket and watched that basket very closely. The “eggs,” in this case, are his employees, and he takes care of them very well. 

Knowledge is power

He started his business on the premise of being a student for life. That meant that if he was going to work in the commercial residential electrical contracting business, he needed to know everything about it from a technical and code perspective. His peers would call him for National Electrical Code advice because he was knowledgeable and realized early on the importance of the code in running his business. 

He also realized it was important for his technicians to know the code well so they could perform their work competently. He made sure they attended quality electrical training programs with hands-on training. His techs looked forward to the training and liked that they knew more about their trade than many of their peers, which created a passion for the business and his company that he did not expect. 

He was also very careful with his hiring practices so the knowledge and passion he passed on to his first employee became ingrained in new hires. Ultimately, as time went on, he was required to install fire alarm systems in his commercial residential buildings, and he discovered that there were no companies in his area with the same ideals and passion about the business of fire alarms that his people had about electrical work. 

So, he developed a strategy and met with his employees to find out who was willing to learn about fire alarm work. He wanted to ensure these technicians would have the same passion for fire alarm systems as they previously had for their electrical work. He found trainers who would teach the application of the National Fire Alarm and Signaling Code. He talked to the fire marshals in the area to determine if there were technicians who worked for competitors that might be enticed to work for his business. 

He went to local high schools and found individuals who did not want to go to college and liked to work with their hands and developed graduated pay scales as the technicians became more proficient. He paid well to keep them at his company and created the same loyalty that he did when beginning his company. 

Knowing the codes and how to apply them is important. Understanding how smoke gets to a detector is important. Knowing how the environment affects detection is important. His technicians all know these things, and he has a tremendous competitive advantage even though his labor cost is higher than his competitors’. 

Maybe it’s time to examine your existing labor pool to see if you can redeploy some of your better talent to the fire alarm system side. A well-trained and motivated technician is your most important asset. 

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