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The differences between shop foremen and service managers can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. While it typically takes 1-2 years to become a shop foreman, becoming a service manager takes usually requires 4-6 years. Additionally, a service manager has an average salary of $74,009, which is higher than the $68,171 average annual salary of a shop foreman.
The top three skills for a shop foreman include customer service, preventative maintenance and CDL. The most important skills for a service manager are POS, performance reviews, and cash handling.
| Shop Foreman | Service Manager | |
| Yearly salary | $68,171 | $74,009 |
| Hourly rate | $32.77 | $35.58 |
| Growth rate | 5% | 6% |
| Number of jobs | 16,599 | 341,785 |
| Job satisfaction | - | 4 |
| Most common degree | High School Diploma, 37% | Bachelor's Degree, 52% |
| Average age | 46 | 44 |
| Years of experience | 2 | 6 |
A shop foreman is responsible for monitoring the daily operations of a shop, ensuring that the staff members perform their duties to address customers' needs. A shop foreman manages staffing schedules, trains new employees, and distributes tasks. They often work in manufacturing, automotive, and warehouse industries, which require knowledge of operating equipment. A shop foreman must have excellent leadership and communication skills, especially on addressing customers' inquiries and complaints and performing clerical tasks as needed.
Service managers are employees who oversee the departments related to providing services to customers. They ensure that service delivery agreements are met by employees in the department. Service managers meet with stakeholders to set service delivery metrics and department goals. They then create strategies to reach these metrics and goals. They are responsible for cascading such goals and metrics to their employees and ensuring that the employees understand what they need to do. Service managers should have a deep understanding and appreciation of the company and its business so that they can create strategies that are in line with the company's identity. They should also be familiar with the customer profiles of the company. Service managers are also responsible for creating department reports and sharing these with stakeholders.
Shop foremen and service managers have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Shop Foreman | Service Manager | |
| Average salary | $68,171 | $74,009 |
| Salary range | Between $47,000 And $97,000 | Between $47,000 And $116,000 |
| Highest paying City | Gillette, WY | San Francisco, CA |
| Highest paying state | Wyoming | New York |
| Best paying company | Freightliner Trucks | Latham & Watkins |
| Best paying industry | Energy | Technology |
There are a few differences between a shop foreman and a service manager in terms of educational background:
| Shop Foreman | Service Manager | |
| Most common degree | High School Diploma, 37% | Bachelor's Degree, 52% |
| Most common major | Automotive Technology | Business |
| Most common college | SUNY Farmingdale | University of Pennsylvania |
Here are the differences between shop foremen' and service managers' demographics:
| Shop Foreman | Service Manager | |
| Average age | 46 | 44 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 97.0% Female, 3.0% | Male, 71.1% Female, 28.9% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 12.5% Unknown, 4.2% Hispanic or Latino, 16.7% Asian, 5.3% White, 60.6% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.7% | Black or African American, 6.1% Unknown, 4.3% Hispanic or Latino, 15.0% Asian, 6.3% White, 67.7% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.5% |
| LGBT Percentage | 6% | 10% |