What working second shift is like at truck repair shops

Most diesel technicians turn wrenches and diagnose faults from dawn ‘til dusk. But the transportation industry doesn't stop just because the sun goes down, and keeping trucks on the road often means that shops need a second shift to handle all the things not done during the daylight hours.

The unsung heroes who take their lunch (or might even start their workday) as everyone else is rushing home for supper help keep fleets and shops productive and profitable, but there's more to them than that. We caught up with a few to figure out what makes them tick and why shops ought to sing their praises a bit more.

First off, these second shifters take pride in being the clean-up crew.

“When I was working the night shift in Kaukauna, [Wisconsin], we called ourselves the team that cleaned up after the day shift,” said Eric Gustavus, currently the fixed operations dealer trainer for Truck Country, a Freightliner and Western Star dealer in the Midwest. “So anything that couldn't quite get done, it gives us that little extra time that we can get the truck back on the road and ready for the customer first thing in the morning.”

Additionally, Gustavus observed that second shifts allow for better technician distribution, especially for smaller locations, such as the Truck Country based in Marinette, Wisconsin. The Marinette dealership has eight service bays to work with. When Gustavus ran the location, he said the second shift, which ended at 8 p.m., helped “make the deadlines a little easier, because we had a couple extra hours to be able to finish a drop instead of ‘Well, now it’s gotta wait till tomorrow.’”

But being able to take advantage of these productivity boosts does mean needing to find the shift hours and structure that work best for your shop, as well as the techs to do the work.

Hours, duties, and pay

According to Gustavus, Truck Country’s second shifts vary based on the location. For instance, the Hampshire, Illinois dealership runs first shift from 6 a.m. to around 4 p.m., while the second shift can start around 2:30 p.m., 3 p.m., or 4 p.m., and can run to midnight or 1 a.m.

E.L.M. Repair and Refrigeration, a Wisconsin-based diesel repair shop for light, mid-range, and heavy-duty trucks, also tends to run their night shifts until midnight, with the second shift starting work around 2 p.m. This generally 50-hour work week then allows E.L.M. Repair to close over the weekend, except on a call-out basis.

The second shift crews also tend to be smaller. While a Truck Country day shift at a larger location can have 20 to 25 technicians on the floor at a time, the night shift might only have 10. These 10 techs also tend to handle breakdown issues like check engine lights and PM services, leaving diagnostics work for the day shift.

As for what E.L.M. Repair’s technicians do while burning the midnight oil, “The types of jobs do differ some on the second shift, as we do not do heavy engine work or very deep electrical diagnostics (overhauls and multiplexing scope work, etc.),” said Evan Lang, owner of E.L.M. Repair.

But the simpler work often found on the night shift for both Truck Country and E.L.M. Repair is ideal, as both locations tended to start their younger technicians on the night shift and then let them work their way up.

“Experience definitely does come into it where we would put a lot of the newer techs on the night shift, and that's typically after about six months working with their coaches during the day shift,” Gustavus noted. “Then they get moved to nights and then off seniority, we can get them pushed back over to days permanently.”

Even if there tend to be more new hires on the second shift, both E.L.M. Repair and Truck Country offer them incentives for taking the later hours. Lang said they offer second shifts a pay premium of about $1 per hour, while Gustavus’ Hampshire location offers an additional $2 per hour for second-shift technicians. Busier Truck Country locations, such as those in Milwaukee and Chicago, offer as much as $5 per hour more.

Second-shift hiring and supervision

This does mean that Lang and Gustavus both have to be very clear during the interview process, so that there’s no confusion as to what position they’re hiring for.

“We are not a fan of the bait-and-switch with people thinking they are going to be on first shift and then letting them know it’s a second shift position,” Lang affirmed.

But, that said, Gustavus also noted that the younger techs, who might be 19-21 years old, don’t usually have a problem working nights. And for Lang, even some of the older technicians like working the night shift because it gives them more freedom to handle errands during the day.

When the second shift starts at Freightliner and Western Star dealer Truck Country varies by location. At one it might be 1 p.m. and another 4 p.m.

“We do get some techs that are wired for the second shift,” Lang explained. “We have had techs where the second shift worked better for their family situation, with one parent working first shift and the second-shift employee doing child care while the first shift parent was at work and vice-versa.”

Additionally, Gustavus said that many technicians appreciated the laid-back atmosphere of the second shift. While the day shift might see 10-20 trucks pull in without an appointment, he said night shifts were a lot easier to schedule. And with no office personnel or managers walking the floor, “we just get the job done and we’re good,” he commented.

Of course, just because there are no office personnel doesn’t mean second-shift technicians are fully left to their own devices.

“We do have the rule that you’ve gotta have more than one person in shop at all times,” Gustavus said. “So regardless of the fact, we're never working alone.”

A Truck Country dealership, depending on the size, may keep a communicator and a foreman in the shop, or only a foreman if the shop is smaller. This leaves the foreman to handle write-ups and dispatching jobs for the second-shift technicians.

Meanwhile, E.L.M. Repair keeps an experienced service writer working second shift to help the younger technicians. This gives them more opportunities for one-on-one training time with their direct supervisor, too, Lang said.