Employees at dealerships in Canada earned an average of almost 50 per cent more money per week in 2021 than the national average for all Canadian workers based on a Canadian Automobile Dealers Association Industry Report that is a follow-up to its first-ever National Workforce Study revealed to its members earlier this year.
Approximately 420 of CADA’s 3,200-plus members participated in the Workforce Study, which CADA President Tim Reuss told Canadian auto dealer is a “good sample size” for a first-time initiative. The report includes key findings and statistics based on a full analysis of 40,000 payroll records submitted by the dealers. ESi-Q prepared the report and managed the National Workforce Study. NCM Associates sponsored the project.
According to StatsCan, the average weekly earnings (including overtime) for all Canadian employees in 2021 was $1,131, a year-over-year increase of three per cent. The Workforce Study average weekly earnings (including overtime) across all dealership positions was 49 per cent higher at $1,688. Moreover, 62 per cent of all employees in the Workforce Study earned more than the 2021 Canadian average weekly earnings.
“It provides all the provincial associations and us valuable data that we can use in our advocacy work with politicians representing the importance of our sector, but also the public in general and how attractive it is to actually work in our sector,” said Reuss. “There’s some data on demographics and things that very nicely counters some of the stereotypes sometimes about auto dealerships.
“This report will be invaluable for that as well, be it showcasing our industry versus other industries, there’s various uses of this also on the provincial level.”
The retail automotive findings dealerships were classified into four levels of information and comparisons: all dealerships nationally; luxury and non-luxury dealerships; higher volume and lower volume dealerships based on units sold, and urban and rural dealerships.
The salaries of General Manager/Operator, Sales Manager, F&I Manager, Service Manager, Parts Manager, Sales Consultant, Service Advisor/Writer, Service Technician and Parts Consultant were all indicated in a chart. It ranged from a national average of $280,348 for GMs to $54,503 for the Parts Consultant. The national median salary for all the groups in the study is $70,290 per year.
“Those dealers that did not participate in the survey, at least now they have national comparison data,” said Reuss. “Hopefully, next time around when we do the survey there’s going to be a higher number of participants.”
In a letter to dealers, Reuss said the report gives dealers an additional set of tools to help them recover out of the pandemic and move towards a more profitable future.
ESi-Q prepared the report and managed the National Workforce Study. NCM Associates sponsored the project.
One key aspect of the report is employee turnover and retention. Turnover is defined as the percentage of employees who leave a position over a period of time. Retention is defined as the percentage of employees retained or kept over a period of time. Total annualized employee turnover, which includes voluntary and involuntary separations and retirements, was 35 per cent. It ranged from a low of eight per cent for GMs to a high of over 60 per cent for lube technicians, lot attendants/porters, cashiers and receptionists.
The one-year retention rate for all employees was 76 per cent, but for active employees who completed three full years of employment at the dealership it was 54 per cent. The report indicated the three-year retention rate has a high impact on dealership gross profit. It also indicated Esi-Q research shows that sales consultants, service advisors and service technicians reach their peak productivity after three years in the dealership. The three-year retention rates for service technicians was 70 per cent, but the three-year retention rates for sales consultants was 45 per cent and for service advisors 48 per cent, indicating more than 50 per cent of the people employed in these positions leave the dealership before reaching their peak productivity.
The report revealed retail automotive is a male-dominated industry, and at the end of 2021 women represented only 23 per cent of active employees in Canadian new car dealerships. The report indicated that according to StatsCan employment data for automotive dealers, the number of women employed has increased less than two per cent since 2016.
Among the nine key positions, F&I have the highest ratio of women at 43 per cent, followed by service advisors at 31 per cent. The report also said that since 2016, the number of women working as F&I managers and service advisors has increased significantly compared to other positions. Only six per cent are GMs.
Female turnover across all positions was 42 per cent, nine per cent higher than the male turnover rate. Female turnover in the sales consultants category was 52 per cent, ten per cent higher than the male turnover rate.
The report said that based on the higher ratio of females and the lower difference in turnover between men and women, the F&I manager appears to be the most “female friendly” production position, followed by the service advisor position.
The median age for all employees was 38.8, which was divided between males at 39.3 and females at 36.7.
The report showed the generational mix continues to shift as the number of Gen Z (age 25 and younger as of December 31, 2001) and the Gen X (age 42-57) and Baby Boomers (58-76) decrease. Gen Y (26-41) and Gen Z represent 55 percent of the dealership workforce. Gen Z hirings increased by 32 per cent, while Gen X hirings decreased by 18 per cent.
