By Sarah Nicastro, Founder and Editor in Chief, Future of Field Service

What if you could cut technician turnover in half while building a more engaged field service team? In last week’s episode of UNSCRIPTED, Dave Sarazen, VP of Customer Service at Multivac, shared how his organization has transformed their approach to recruiting and retention in ways that have massively paid off.

Multivac is a global leader in packaging and processing equipment for the food and pharmaceutical industries. With a background in mechanical engineering and extensive experience in technical service leadership, Dave has successfully led initiatives to reduce technician turnover by more than 50% and achieve the highest employee satisfaction scores across the business.

Tackling today’s complex talent landscape remains the biggest challenge for service leaders and there are many valuable lessons to take from what Dave shared. One important point to keep in mind is that if you’re focused only on recruiting, your strategy is short-sighted – it’s imperative to put effort into the employee experience to retain strong talent for a long-term solution. As Dave says, “It's one thing to be able to hire, the other thing is to be able to retain and keep those, keep that as a as a stable workforce for us in the field.”

If you missed the podcast or want a refresh on the key aspects of how Multivac has achieved its success, here are the core elements of their approach.

#1: Aligning Company Focus & Core Leadership

To gain the support needed for the change and investment necessary to modernize the talent approach, the business must first be clear on the value of doing so. Dave shares that, for Multivac, this starts by having clarity and alignment on the crucial role service plays in the business. “About 45% of our overall revenue this year will come from our aftermarket, our customer service teams [spare parts and field service]. That is such a big contributor to the bottom line for an organization, and, beyond that, we anticipate within the next two to three years it will equal our new equipment sales and then ultimately surpass the new equipment sales,” he says. “So, having that long term vision of investing today for where you're going to be tomorrow is critical. I can only emphasize to folks that you have to make that investment to get there.”

With the understanding of investment in this area being necessary, building a like-minded team dedicated to doing what it will take was the next step. “Building a team of strong service management leaders that were willing to drive change and collectively focused on what we need to do to bring technicians in and improve retention is critical,” says Dave.

#2: Reimagining the Ideal Talent Profile & Sources

Some organizations get very hung up on pivoting from the approach that has “always worked,” but no longer is. Not Multivac. The company knew that the dynamics had changed, and it must too. Born of this was an increased focus on soft skills and far less focus on trying to find seasoned technicians.

“A key piece of the technician’s role is beyond the technical part; it’s really the soft skills and the respect of our customers. The empathy for our customer situations and how to navigate issues professionally and successfully when there’s emotion involved around,” Dave explains. “One of the big culture shifts is that we're not looking for seasoned technicians anymore. We’ve learned that there's potentially a lot of bad behavior that'll come along with a seasoned technician who's been out there for twenty or thirty years in a particular industry. We would much rather get someone fresh from the military, trade school, universities who have the learning capability to learn the machines and the motivation to do that. This gives us the opportunity to train that individual from the beginning on the proper way to service and maintain the equipment.”

While recruiting veterans wasn’t brand new for Mutlivac, it has grown in focus for the company and today about 31% of its workforce is made up of military veterans. “Veterans have been a key part of our strategy,” says Dave. “We engage with a number of military outfits across the country for job fairs and have also had success having existing veteran employees make referrals.”

#3: Building Strong Partnership with HR

Another common stumbling block is knowing within the service function what needs to change, but not communicating that clearly or gaining the full support of HR. Multivac worked to ensure that not only was there clear alignment on the objective and supported by management teams, but that a close cross-functional partnership was formed with HR.

“I've been very well supported throughout this endeavor by not only our management teams in Europe and in the US but also from our HR department, which has been critical. We have a dedicated recruiter within our HR team that focuses on the service department, and we involve them in everything,” says Dave. “They have to truly understand what the role is and what our criteria is and how that’s evolved. They're very good at picking out individuals that have more skills than just what's on a resume or an interest that might dovetail into the role.”

#4: Understanding the Value of Transparency

From the point of initial communication, Multivac is very transparent with candidates about what the role entails and what is expected. While painting a rosy picture may yield more new hires, it would hurt retention if reality doesn’t match expectations.

“We're very transparent as to what the role is and the environments that these individuals will be in. Some of these facilities and plants can be very challenging and we really try to set expectations. If an individual hasn't been on the road, we will sit down with them very clearly and go through a typical schedule from another technician,” explains Dave. “Our interview process involves our regional supervisor teams where we invest to bring the candidate into one of our facilities around the country and do a number of tests with those individuals, both written and practical tests. Transparency is valuable with any role, but I think particularly here, you have to paint the picture for what it is. As a candidate transitions to an employee, there should be no surprises when that now employee begins with a company.”

#5: Offering Growth Potential with Career Path Development

Multivac wants candidates that are seeking a career versus a job. To attract those individuals, the company had to reimagine its options for progression and growth. “We are all about promotion and opportunities today, but when I started eight years ago, if you were a technician in the field and you didn’t want to do that anymore, you had two options – move to headquarters in Kansas City or find another job,” says Dave.

This has completely changed because the company knew that, in order to retain strong talent, it needed to provide far more options. “If they want to remain in the field, there’s a very structured progression from a level one to a level two to a level three. If they want to move more towards management, there are supervisor teams in reach region and from those supervisor teams is where we pull for the next step as manager and then director and so on. We also have options to move into the help desk, giving former technicians the option to work from home. We have specialist roles for certain complex equipment, and they can focus there, which is a progression. We also have options like CSRs, aftermarket sales, and a few others. But the overall goal is that candidates know up front they can build a future here.”

Of course, it would be easier if technicians were happy to stay in that role for the long term, but that isn’t always the reality today. “Retention through the company is the focus, rather than just within the service department,” explains Dave. “Our regional directors have regular one-on-ones to talk with individuals about their desires, next steps, any additional training or exposure to different areas. We want them to be excited about the next step in their career.”

#6: Taking Responsibility for Creating a Talent Pipeline with An Apprenticeship Program

Even for companies who would like to hire experienced talent, there’s a dwindling pool to choose from. Companies must accept that in today’s talent landscape, there’s a real need to farm and nurture a talent pipeline. Multivac has created a two-year apprenticeship program to do just that. “A little over two years ago, we endeavored down the path of creating our apprenticeship program. In our European headquarters in Germany, it’s very typical to have apprenticeship programs so we decided to try that on a smaller scale here,” says Dave.

Multivac brought in six individuals from local trade schools or high schools that were interested in learning about field service for a very thorough two-year program. “The first year they spend entirely within the Kansas City training facility. We have one trainer who was hired specifically to focus on these individuals. They spend this first year splitting time between the training center and our manufacturing shop,” explains Dave. “Year two, we begin to put them into the field and rotate them through about one month per region, circulating twice throughout the different areas of the country. They are paired up with a senior technician who we've identified truly want to mentor and support these younger individuals. At the end of two years, they are able to test to go into the field as a full-fledged technician.”

With tis first class, Multivac wasn’t sure how the program would fare, but all six apprentices tested into full-time technician roles and are now working in different regions around the country. The second class of the program is underway, and a new class begins each year to always keep two in process.

#7: Building Engagement Through Strong Internal Communication

Multivac leadership has identified a crucial aspect of retention: strong employee engagement. The company puts ample focus on creating and maintaining employee engagement, which is done to a large degree through a dedication to effective communication.

“We communicate, communicate, communicate. You can never have too much of it. We do the one-on-ones. We also have a biweekly Teams call with each of the regions and all of the technicians and their leadership join. We go through their situations, their challenges, we review any company updates, and we discuss everything in a very open forum,” explains Dave. “We make every effort to ensure our technicians feel part of the company.”

To evaluate how well its efforts are landing, Multivac includes an employee engagement survey as one of four annual employee surveys. What’s surprising is that the company’s highest level of engagement for the past four years has come from field service – an area that often struggles in these surveys because teams can feel disconnected from the organization. “Overall, our company has high engagement, but we’re especially proud that our highest scores four years and running are from the field service teams,” says Dave. “It’s almost counterintuitive – they’re not in the building; they don’t see each other daily. Oftentimes, our technicians spend most of their time by themselves. So, seeing them feel that engaged and connected to the company is something we’re really proud of.”

Dave is quick to point out that leadership has built trust by making sure that feedback is acknowledged and acted upon. “Any areas that we do see that need some focus, we take that on,” he says. “They see that the information is important to us and that we’ll act on it to address challenges.”

#8: Making Teams Feel Valued with Recognition & Rewards

Another important aspect of Multivac’s success is making it a priority to recognize and reward the efforts of its field service teams. “I personally will recognize any technician as often as I can – I’ll give them a call, send them a note, make sure they know we appreciate what they’re doing,” Dave says. “Sometimes individuals don’t want to be in the spotlight, but they do appreciate knowing that what they’ve done has impacted a customer in a positive way.”

All leaders make an effort to recognize teams’ contributions on a regular basis, but the company also has a reward program called the “spot awards.” This is a company-wide initiative for individuals who are going above and beyond their daily job. “The spot award can be given by a manager from a different department, from anywhere in the business, to call out someone’s effort and success by giving them anywhere from $100 to $600 depending on the impact they’ve had. We want to make sure they know their effort is seen and feel appreciated. Leaders must be appreciative. I tell them all during the interview process, it’s the most important job in the company, hands down. Without their success, the company as a whole can’t be successful.”

#9: Investment in Face-to-Face Time

While this could fall into the point about strong communication, I’m calling it out separately because I think it is uniquely important and likely has had a significant impact on what Multivac has achieved.  Many leaders I speak to underscore the importance of investing in face-to-face time and are firm that there is simply no substitute. Multivac, too, has found that spending time with technicians in-person is vital.

“We have our monthly senior management meetings where we get together as a team one day a month. Six of those, one for each region, we will travel out to the region where we have let's say Monday and Tuesday for technician meetings. We bring all the technicians in for their regional meeting for two days and then on the second day the remainder of the management team fly out to have a dinner with all of the technicians in that region,” explains Dave. “We spend time with them and just have a very casual dinner. We encourage them to float around a little bit and get to know leaders from other functions. It’s quite an investment, but they see in that their importance, and they feel connected with the company. That also contributes to the engagement levels we’ve seen.”

#10: Promoting Work-Life Balance Through Schedule Innovation

Multivac takes responsibility for respecting its technicians’ schedules to avoid burnout and protect their work-life balance. The company offers two schedules for technicians to choose from. “We have two options for schedules, work ten days then off four or work three five-day weeks per month and one weekend per month,” says Dave. “But I don’t think there’s anything worse for a technician than to be coming to the end of your schedule, looking forward to your downtime, and then a manager says – sorry, we need you to stay out there. We try to encourage work-life balance, and they have to have a break from their job. They need that time, they need to be able to plan for it and we have to be able to respect that.”

#11: Showing You’ll Stick to Standards by Not Tolerating Poor Behavior

Part of creating a strong culture is knowing what to do when someone is tarnishing it and recognizing the detriment that can be to the team. “When there is an issue with the technician not performing, perhaps, or poor behavior, that region is well aware that they have an individual on their team that doesn't stand up to the rest of them,” explains Dave. “And I've seen companies and I've been with companies in the past that allow that to happen because they don’t have confidence in the HR department to move that individual on quite frankly. You can destroy the morale of a company or a team when you have a poor performer that someone else is going out after every job and cleaning up something unfinished on that job or something that was done incorrectly”

During our discussion, Dave pointed out that many of these success factors don’t have a lot of cost associated with them. But it takes understanding, intention, and commitment. “It has to be intentional, and it’s got to be on a cadence. You have to continuously do what you say you’ll do,” says Dave. “It’s critical and it’s appreciated. We’re constantly learning and constantly supporting each other.”