As the automotive industry wrestles with the challenge of finding the skilled workers required to fill the thousands of vacancies in workshops across the country, the need to take on apprentices from beyond the traditional cohort of young, white men from which the trades have so often been filled has never been more critical.
‘Diversity’ is the name of the game, and while it is, of course, socially responsible to engage with all groups within our society, on a purely business level a shop that can see the advantages of the range of skills and perspectives brought to a workplace that stem from an employee’s gender, ethnicity, disability, age, sexual orientation, gender identity or other differences can be all the more successful for engaging with them.
There are examples of businesses which, without taking an ideological stand on diversity or inclusion, have embraced such a move, and had great results.
McCarthy Panel Works in Mackay is one such business. With the mining industry a powerful draw for skilled workers in the region, McCarthy Panel Works owners Andrea and Craig McCarthy have, for quite some time, taken on staff who fall outside of the ‘traditional’ workshop cohort, and these team members now include First Nations people, women, and those with developmental and learning disorders – in particular, staff with Asperger’s Syndrome and Dyslexia.
“It’s not like we intentionally went out and said, ‘We’re going to find an employee who has Asperger’s, or dyslexia, or I’m going to find an aboriginal male or aboriginal female.’ That is not at all how this started. Essentially it was organic growth,” said Andrea.
Taking on staff with certain difficulties did require some adjustment on the business’s leadership team, including taking some time to observe their new employees to discern their characteristics and abilities.
“Alex identifies as having Asperger’s and started the same time as Lachlan, who has dyslexia,” said Andrea. “They both came to me through a program that Busy at Work was running and to add to the challenges they faced, they were also very shy and nervous. One of the key areas for having them fit into our organisation was to look at what attributes they could bring with the disabilities they had presented with.
“In Alex’s case, one of the traits of Asperger’s is he likes the consistency of things, which suggested that the paint area was perfect for him.
“Lachlan had slightly different challenges with his dyslexia . . . but his attributes mean he is extremely dedicated, extremely conscientious, and very hard working.
He felt that he had to work harder to be able to prove himself, and he became a very valuable part of the team and did so pretty quickly.”
Both Alex and Lachlan had been with McCarthy’s for a year when Andrea offered them an apprenticeship. It was a move that highlighted how vital open communication is, as the day after being offered that apprenticeship Lachlan resigned from the business.
“We obviously didn’t expect that,” said Andrea. “But what Lachlan had heard in our conversation was that I was only prepared to keep him here if he became an apprentice. That was absolutely not the case. His job was never in jeopardy. All I wanted was to be able to offer him the chance to progress the same as everyone else, and with the challenges he faced, and knowing it was going to be difficult, if he was prepared to give it a go, so were we.”
Explaining the situation to Lachlan in the days that followed would see him rejoin the business and take on the apprenticeship, and do so successfully, utilising apps for assistance with his dyslexia and using them to scan words or to help with part numbers.
For the record, both Alex and Lachlan have now completed their apprenticeships.
Putting in the extra work to support and encourage Alex and Lachlan has paid off for McCarthy Panel Works, who now have those two tradespeople using their hard-won skills to the benefit of the business.
It’s a journey she is pleased to have taken.
“Looking back, if I had different options presented to me, we could have taken a different path… but we need to understand it’s important to change the way that we see the world,” said Andrea. “It’s just a simple fact that people are expecting different things now, and we don’t have to be scared about that.”
Diversity at McCarthy Panel Works runs into other areas. Given Andrea’s well-documented support for women in the automotive industry – she is a committee member and mentor in MTA Queensland’s Auto Women initiative – it is no surprise to find women make up part of the McCarthy workshop team.
Danie Hankin is a first-year spray painting apprentice (AUR32420 – Certificate III in Automotive Refinishing Technology) who joined the business at the beginning of 2022. From Mackay, and a First Nations woman, the 25-year-old had worked mostly in the hospitality industry before joining the business but found an affinity for automotive very quickly.
Starting out in the wash bay, Danie worked at McCarthy’s for a few months before the opportunity for an apprenticeship came along.
“I had been working in hospitality after I graduated year 12,” said Danie. “I went out to Ayers Rock and worked on reception at one of the hotels, and I was a porter also. I came back in 2020 and then went to work in the Whitsundays, on Hamilton Island, for about a year and a half. It’s a bit of a contrast to what I am doing now!”
Danie’s brother Alfie had been working at McCarthy Panel Works in the detailing section for some time and had asked Andrea whether there might be some work for his sister. The ultimate result of that request is that both are now doing spray painting apprenticeships.
“There was an opportunity for a paint technician apprentice, and I was thinking that Alfie would go for it,” said Danie. “But Andrea said it was a position available for both of us. And that’s pretty cool – doing an apprenticeship with your brother.”
As for the work, Danie thoroughly enjoys every aspect of the job and is picking up the skills of the trade so quickly that she is trusted with work usually done by more experienced apprentices.
“The apprenticeship is competency-based, so the faster you pick up things and retain them, you can move on quicker,” she said. “So, currently I am doing work that maybe a second or third year would do. I can successfully prep cars – do all the marking and sand them down by myself, unsupervised – and get them ready for
the booth.
“And I have painted a few jobs and done them from start to finish. I’ve prepped the jobs myself, put them in the booth, masked them up and painted them.
“And I really enjoy it. Actually, I feel like a lot of people would say they enjoy the finished product, but I think my favourite part would be the prepping!” she added. “I have really bad OCD, so I have to make sure the tape and everything is covered and cut perfectly. Sometimes the tradies touch my panels after I wipe them down, so I have to smack them on the hand! They know they’re not allowed to do that!”
Now a year into her apprenticeship, Danie is clearly exceling in the job and has proven to be an enthusiastic and quick-to-learn student. So much so, that she has become something of a mentor to younger staff who have recently joined the team.
“It’s a match made in heaven I think,” said Andrea. “Danie is quite an astute young woman and understands what she needs to do to get ahead. She knows it’s a competency-based apprenticeship and she’s very hard working. She wants to forge ahead to make her own path, and we need to be able to put aside some space to let her do that.
“And now she is stepping up to mentor one of the other young ladies, Katie, who has been here for a couple of months. It’s incredible and I am really excited. And Danie is excited because I’ve promised her at some point that we’re going to have an all-girls team in the paint department.”
For Danie, working at McCarthy Panel Works means that she’s part of a business that works to embrace diversity. She does recognise, however, that the industry as a whole is dominated by men. The environment she is in, and her natural confidence, means that has not fazed her too much, and she would like to see more young women look to the industry as a career choice.
“It was kind of a challenge at first, but then you realise there’s not much you can do about the situation – only prove that your work is going to turn out better. Which it usually does!” she said with a laugh.
“It’s definitely a good industry to be in, especially if you can land yourself an employer that’s supportive,” she added.
“It just depends on what you’re really into. You might not really know unless you do it – I didn’t see myself doing something like this – so I guess it’s just a matter of getting your foot in the door.
“And be confident and be yourself. I know that’s a bit cliche and a lot of people do say that, but it’s true.”
It is essential for employers of all industries to engage with all sectors of society, and this is, said Andrea, an essential part of how the automotive industry and businesses within it can grow and be successful.
“I think the biggest thing is that we have to understand that the pool of people we have to select from is smaller,” she said. “If we pigeonhole what we think that position type should be, it’s obviously even smaller again. And the concern is that you’re going to miss out on the best, most loyal people by overlooking them.
“I do wonder sometimes how many people have missed out on a great career opportunity because the person interviewing hasn’t been able to understand what those differences in their personality type and their makeup means, and actually how effective that can be in a workplace environment.”
MTA Queensland can help you find staff for your business and has an Industry Workforce Advisor who can work with you to address your staffing challenges.
Source: Motor Trader e-Magazine (December 2023 / January 2024)
16 January 2024