AS THIS ISSUE IS GOING to press we are preparing to travel to Halifax for this year’s CADEX event. The half day conference, put on by the Nova Scotia Automobile Dealers Association with the exclusive support of TD Auto Finance, has become a popular one with dealers in the Maritimes.
Among the presentations at CADEX is a panel session exploring the simple question: do talented individuals want to work for you? This session is unique in that the panelists are not industry experts, nor are they current dealership personnel. In fact, they don’t work in the industry at all. But they plan to, or at least that is the hope.
The panelists are all students at the Automotive Business School of Canada (ABSC) in Barrie, Ont. They were chosen because the panel will explore what appeals to them about a career in the automotive industry and to see how they view the different possible career paths the automotive industry can offer, from working in a dealership to joining an OEM or industry supplier.
Dealers need to understand how the next generation of potential employees view car dealerships as a possible employer. Automotive retail is undergoing a tremendous change, driven not just by technology but also by dramatically changing customer expectations in terms of transparency, information sharing and community participation.
We’ve written in this space before about how different Millennials are as a customer from previous generations. Maria Soklis, Vice President & COO at Kia Canada Inc, presented on that topic at last year’s CADEX conference. But we need to think about Millennials not just in terms of their potential as customers, but also as employees.
How effective is your dealership going to be at attracting the best and brightest staff? How will the management and communications style in place in your business affect your ability to retain that talent?
There’s lots of good information available that helps you better understand what it means to be a great place to work.
Consistent characteristics include building a corporate culture based on credibility, fairness, trust, transparency. For Millennials, understanding how their employer is serving a greater good beyond financial results seems key. Here’s some good news: companies that become great places to work in the eyes of their staff also outperform financially.
So how do you move forward in making your dealership (or group of dealerships) a great place to work? One source I found interesting to explore was Fortune magazine’s 100 Best Companies to Work For list. While there was only one automotive retailer on the list (Carmax, which operates more than 140 used car dealerships in the U.S., has been on the list for ten years running) there were a number of retailers.
Operational strengths shared by retailers on the Forbes list include:
- A strong sense of camaraderie with leaders and staff;
- A belief that leaders are approachable, accessible and value employees; and
- Ample opportunities for rewards and recognition.
A report by the Great Places to Work Institute Inc. provided some of the characteristics of great places to work that are specific to retail.
For example, the report highlights making sure store-level managers have the leadership skills to communicate the company’s vision to all staff.
As the automotive industry moves to a group dealership model this becomes very important, as store-level staff will be more decentralized from a dealership group’s executive team.
Canada’s dealerships will be challenged to recruit and retain the best possible candidates, as all businesses are. Take advantage of the resources out there that can help you shape your strategies to accomplish this, and you’ll be well positioned to make your dealership a great place to work.
