2023-10-19 12:44:55
An average dealership currently needs to add around four employees to its workforce, which means that, in all dealership networks, the lack of jobs reaches 8,000 workers.
This has been indicated by the dealers’ employers’ association. Faconauto during its VI Official Aftersales Observatory, which brought together 180 professionals from the sector.
As they have stated, automotive dealers in our country are encountering the difficulty of completing their staff to cover their operational needs. Specifically, it is estimated that the vehicle distribution and repair sector currently needs to hire around 8,000 people.
By areas of activity, the most affected by this situation is after-sales, since the workshops would need to fill around 6,000 vacancies: 3,000 in mechanics, 2,000 in bodywork and 1,000 in the painting area. This problem is affecting the used vehicle, new vehicle and administration areas to a lesser extent, although the vacancies in them would be around 2,000.
Among the factors that make selection and hiring the most difficult is the shortage of professionals or the great competition that exists among the dealers themselves when it comes to attracting talent. Particularly, the after-sales area faces several challenges, among which the decline in the sector’s attractiveness for young people who are beginning their professional career stands out, which is especially visible in the case of industrial vehicles and agricultural machinery.
The dealer network faces the added difficulty of a distorted image of the workshop, in such a way that the new generations are not taking into account how it has evolved both in innovation – especially in electrification – and in the way in which the dealers operate. concessionaires, as well as in measures aimed at ensuring motivation and quality at work.
Marta Blázquez, executive president of Faconauto FP
Faconauto has indicated that another of the difficulties lies in the need for workers with a high level of specialization and skills in product marketing. However, and despite the effort in education and training that the sector is making, there is no doubt that it is difficult to attract and retain talent, which translates into a significant level of turnover, with professionals seeking opportunities in other brands, products or , even sectors.
Permanent and quality job opportunities
Among the possible measures that have been proposed are the establishment of policies to attract young and female talent to an increasingly technological, digitalized and efficient sector. Furthermore, “the promotion of training programs is essential to publicize that there are real, permanent, quality job opportunities in the dealerships.”
On the other hand, Faconauto has drawn attention to the need to update the contents of vocational training with official qualifications, especially in the area of after-sales and used vehicles, as well as making a commitment to dual training and training contracts that allow the unemployed to be incorporated immediately into working life. To encourage the hiring of professionals in dual training, the employers’ association proposes establishing a system of incentives for companies in terms of social security and salary.
«We must continue to apply ourselves thoroughly in after-sales, since it represents life insurance for our dealers. In this context, to fill the 8,000 vacancies, vocational and dual training needs to update its contents to attract young people to a sector at the forefront. Furthermore, beneficial conditions must be provided from the first moment for the employee, who should be remunerated from the beginning, and for the company. After-sales service is the area that most strengthens the relationship with our customers, the true gold of the 21st century,” underlined Marta Blázquez, president of Faconauto.
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