Cooling work peaks with the weather and depends on a few skilled technicians. Here is how to plan the season, share the call-outs and keep your best people.
An HVAC and refrigeration contractor installs, services and repairs air conditioning, ventilation, cold rooms and chillers for offices, hospitals, hotels, malls, factories and homes. Demand peaks with the heat, when installations, breakdowns and annual maintenance all arrive together. Technicians work at height, on live electrics and with refrigerants, often in cramped plant rooms. A few skilled people can diagnose faults others cannot, so they carry the firm's reputation, and competitors want them. The firm splits between project teams that install and service teams that maintain, and the two draw on the same pool of people. See also HR for construction. What makes HR different here is the calendar. The same people are needed in the same weeks by installation, repair and maintenance, and a business that has not planned for the peak spends it arguing about who goes where. A written plan, a fair rota and a record of who can do what turn most of those arguments into decisions made in advance.
Who does the work
The season swamps the team
Summer brings installations, breakdowns and maintenance together, and a team sized for the average year cannot cope.
A few diagnosticians carry the firm
The two or three people who can find the hard faults are overloaded and tempting to competitors.
Refrigerant and safety training is uneven
Handling of gases and work at height depend on who trained whom, and records are thin.
Breakdown calls are shared unfairly
Out-of-hours calls fall on the willing, and burnout follows.
Installation and service compete for people
Projects raid the service team, and customers on maintenance contracts see missed visits.
Helpers are not developed
Trainees watch and carry, and many leave before they become technicians.
Subcontract and casual labour is unrecorded
Peak help is brought in by the day with no list.
Plan the season from last year's calls
Demand by month from your own records, with a core team, a pool of trained casuals and agreed overtime rules for the peak. The workforce plan holds it.
Spread diagnostic knowledge
Pair juniors with the experts on hard faults, write up the common ones and recognise the people who teach. The learning and development process holds the plan.
Record training and certificates
Gas handling, height and electrical safety, with dates and refreshers, on one record per technician. The employee information management holds it.
Write the call-out rota
A fair rotation, rest after a night call and an agreed allowance, in advance of the season.
Protect the maintenance schedule
Fix the AMC visits first and staff projects around them.
Register every casual
Name, identity, contact, dates and pay, so good peak helpers can be called back.
Confirm with a qualified professional. What applies to you depends on your business, your state and your arrangements, and it changes. This page describes practice. It does not state a legal position.
A seasonal plan from your own call data, with a core, a casual pool and rules for overtime.
A way to spread diagnostic skill and keep a record of training and certification.
A look at what keeps your scarce technicians and what pulls them away.
A fair call-out rota and clear rules for rest and overtime in the peak.
Every engagement starts by recording where you stand, and every later report compares against that. We do not promise outcomes. Start with the free HR Health Check, or see the paid HR Diagnostic.
From the GullyHR blog: one on HR in construction and real estate, and one on each of the topics this page points to.
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Read the articleHiring decisions made one request at a time, in the month the pain is worst. What a workforce plan contains and why a twelve-month view changes what you hire.
Read the articleA calendar of courses, a budget spent by March and no record of what any of it changed. What a learning and development process contains when it starts from need rather than from the catalogue.
Read the articleOne headline figure conceals which people are leaving, from where, and when. How to cut the number so it becomes a decision instead of a slide.
Read the articleMore on the GullyHR blog.
Use last year's calls by month to size a core team, a pool of registered casuals and agreed overtime rules, and start hiring and training before the season. Planning in April for May is too late.
Pay fairly, recognise the role and spread his knowledge so the firm is not helpless without him, which also reduces his burden. Confirm any restrictive terms with a qualified professional.
Gas handling, height and electrical safety, product training and refreshers, by person with dates. Which are required depends on your work, so confirm them with a qualified professional.
By a written rota with rest after a night call and an agreed allowance. Informal sharing overloads the keenest.
Fix the maintenance schedule first and plan projects around it, with a bench for peaks.
Yes, if they are registered, briefed and supervised. Confirm the rules that apply to your arrangements with a qualified professional.
With a free HR Health Check, which scores six areas and ranks the fixes.
Look at last year's calls by month, agree the core team and casual pool, fix the maintenance schedule, publish the call-out rota and confirm certificates. A few weeks of preparation saves months of firefighting.
See all HR topics for construction and real estate, or another industry.
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