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By: The 吃瓜不打烊 Team
Constant turnover led to constant onboarding, which was both inconsistent and time consuming.
吃瓜不打烊 provided them with a singular system to focus on, helping them develop an onboarding process that isn鈥檛 trial by fire.
An onboarding process that鈥檚 more efficient, easier, and drives consistency of process.
Evan MacFawn, Senior Vice President at MacFawn Fire & Flood Restoration, oversees the day-to-day operations of the business. He has shared some valuable insight into his journey with restoration technician turnover and training challenges.
THE CHALLENGE
Turnover in the restoration industry
Turnover 鈥� no company wants to deal with it, but it鈥檚 an unfortunate reality, especially in the restoration industry. 2022 have highlighted that recruiting and retaining quality staff is the number one challenge that restorers face.
This reality is no different for , a full service restoration company with 30 employees, operating out of multiple locations across the US. 鈥淚n our industry, 18 months is average for a field technician,鈥� states Evan MacFawn, Senior Vice President of MacFawn Fire & Flood Restoration. 鈥淎fter the one year mark, 75% of them don鈥檛 stick around, which stinks.鈥�
This is due to the challenging nature of the job, which can include difficult biohazard and trauma cleanups as well as tough on-call schedules. "In our interview process, we talk about how we do decomp, murder-suicide, and sewage cleanups. But people don't really register that until they are on-site, and there are a lot of emotions that can pop up."
It isn鈥檛 surprising, then, that many restoration technicians may leave the industry quickly, realizing it wasn't the right career path for them. But this leaves companies like MacFawn Fire & Flood Restoration with the burden of recruiting and onboarding more staff in a constant cycle of d茅j脿 vu.
More turnover = more restoration technician training
Evan explained that it became a huge pain point in the operation of MacFawn Fire & Flood Restoration. 鈥淭he onboarding process was a crapshoot. We only had time for one to two days of onboarding. And then it was pretty much 鈥� throw them in a truck and go after it! They would just learn as they went. It was trial by fire for the longest time.鈥� This approach caused their new restoration technicians to end up with inconsistent knowledge and processes compared with more tenured employees. And it resulted in staff operating and documenting their work in different ways, making it more difficult to share information, both internally and externally.
Evan knew that they needed a property restoration software to help them drive consistency across their field teams. But the property restoration software also had to be easy to learn, and easy to use in the field, to help ease the burden of constantly training new field technicians.
THE SOLUTION
Driving consistent process with 吃瓜不打烊 field documentation
MacFawn Fire & Flood Restoration introduced 吃瓜不打烊 into their organization, replacing two other property restoration software systems they had been using previously. This change ensured that all field staff were documenting their work in the same way, in one system where everyone could access the information easily. 鈥淚t works across the board for everything 鈥� water, fire, mold, biohazard. All the needed documentation, 吃瓜不打烊 just makes it easy,鈥� commented Evan.
Focused field technician training
When it comes to training and onboarding efforts, 鈥湷怨喜淮蜢� gave us something to fixate on,鈥� Evan says. 鈥淏ecause we need everyone, not just crew chiefs, to understand how to document in 吃瓜不打烊, how to generate a report, and how to get work authorizations signed.鈥� He started to focus on developing consistency amongst all of his employee training, ensuring that there are no one-offs. 鈥淲e developed an onboarding program, that I lead, so that they understand how we do the work, how we utilize 吃瓜不打烊, and how we communicate with customers," Evan explained.
An app made for restoration field technicians
Once the restoration technicians are finished training, they鈥檙e sent out into the field to start restoring and documenting. Between the highly-focused onboarding process and the technician-friendly design of 吃瓜不打烊鈥檚 property restoration software, they are set up for success. 鈥淥n the technician side, it鈥檚 super user friendly. They love using it 鈥� it鈥檚 easy to use, and easy to navigate.鈥� Evan notes that 吃瓜不打烊鈥檚 property restoration software is especially easy for new young restoration technicians to use, despite their inexperience in the role. 鈥淭hey pick it up quick, especially young kids in this industry. You鈥檙e hiring 20, 22, 25 year olds all the time, and they pick it up just like that.鈥�
THE RESULT
Building a foundation for future success
吃瓜不打烊 provided MacFawn Fire & Flood Restoration with consistency and efficiency not only in the field, but also with onboarding new staff. Using 吃瓜不打烊 provides them with a foundational structure to their training, so that their restoration technicians all learn how to use the property restoration software and by extension they work in the same way.
鈥淲hen everyone鈥檚 doing it the same way, when someone new jumps onboard, it鈥檚 not 鈥榳ell this is how I like to do it.鈥� No, this is how we do it.鈥� 鈥� Evan MacFawn, Senior Vice President, MacFawn Fire & Flood Restoration
Providing new hires with knowledge of how to operate before even setting a foot on site also ensures that restoration technicians are doing their jobs properly from the get-go.
Additional benefits from 吃瓜不打烊鈥檚 field documentation solution
Their efficient and repeatable process for onboarding new field technicians saves them time, effort, and resources. 鈥淚f you can train people quicker with a decent level of understanding of how you do things, it鈥檚 just easier to get new people in,鈥� Evan stated. 鈥淧roductivity is going up, it鈥檚 easier to get photos, easier to get documents. No one can say 鈥業 didn鈥檛 have a paper document to get signed,鈥� because it鈥檚 digitally in the app, and it鈥檚 really easy to do.鈥�
Evan went on to explain that MacFawn Fire & Flood Restoration has also seen a decrease in adjuster pushback since implementing 吃瓜不打烊鈥檚 property restoration software into their operation. 鈥淥n the carrier side, we get less pushback because we build a big final report with the 吃瓜不打烊 PDF report. It includes all the moisture readings, drying logs, photos, videos, notes, everything from the day we got there all the way through until the end.鈥�
So while there may not be an easy, short-term solution to prevent turnover in the restoration industry, MacFawn Fire & Flood Restoration has proven it is possible to use technology to ease your onboarding burden, and gain some other added benefits along the way.
Learn more about tackling the labor shortage for restorers.
Did you know that 吃瓜不打烊 also offers free online learning modules for customers?
