What is the Golden Wrench Award?

Posted on March 8, 2018 in Auto Repair

The Golden Wrench is our version of the employee of the month. However! In our version, the winner is chosen by everyone who works at Precision Auto, not just Bud and I.

How does someone win?

We have a Golden Wrench jar where anyone and everyone can put a slip of paper. This paper indicates that the person chosen has gone above and beyond the call of duty. This could be a technician who stayed late to finish needed work, or someone in the office who provided excellent customer service. Andy reads all of the nominations aloud to everyone in our weekly meetings so we don't miss any "Golden Wrench moments".

Some of my personal favorites are:
- A technician had to leave work early to pick up his son from school, so another technician stayed late to finish a job.
- Tim (one of our shuttle drivers) brought a client with small children home in the client's vehicle instead of the shuttle so they didn't have to worry about moving car seats.
- When Maria was out sick in the front office (having even one person out can be especially challenging for a small business) everyone else pitched in to get her work done on time.

The Golden Wrench award is made from a beautiful piece of black walnut. One of our technicians (Richard) has a woodworking shop in his basement and surprised us by making the award. Richard put his heart and soul into sanding and staining this beautiful board for us. The wrench itself was given to us by one of our tool suppliers, and is oxidized gold. The nameplate slides in and out and is changed every month. Richard was nominated for the first Golden Wrench award for all of the hard work he put into creating the award itself. How cool is that!?