Volvo Cars tailors a solution to tech shortage

According to CCC Intelligent Solutions, the auto technician work force will decline by 4 percent from 2020 through the decade’s end.

Last year, demand for entrant technicians exceeded 35,000, but there were just 4,500 graduates from postsecondary collision programs, CCC’s 2023 Crash Course report noted.

The technician shortage threatens the dealership profit center and can lower customer satisfaction if cars aren’t repaired promptly.

Volvo Cars is expanding the technician staffing pie by looking beyond the male-dominated industry. Women account for less than 5 percent of the automotive technician work force, according to the U.S Bureau of Labor Statistics.

“We’re committed to hiring and inspiring women — from behind the wheel to designing and building the car of the future — and that involves achieving a 30 percent female work force by 2030,” Moynihan said of Volvo’s U.S. and Canada technician ranks.

And part of making service technician jobs female-friendly is making women more comfortable as they do the work, through the uniform reinvention.

“Volvo is leaning in from a recruiting and training perspective,” Moynihan said, “and sometimes it’s the little things that count — like a uniform that is designed for the job and the person wearing it.”