Telecommuting, variable hours two keys to retention, recruiting at dealerships

EDITOR’S NOTE: This is the second of six stories that take a look at what makes a dealership one of Automotive News Canada’s 25 Best Dealerships to Work For. You can read previous stories here.

Automotive News Canada’s 2021 Best Dealerships To Work For were more likely than others to offer variable hours and telecommuting options for employees, survey data shows.

And at least one even began offering unlimited sick days.

According to data gathered by the Best Companies Group, 44 per cent of the Best Dealerships said they offer telecommuting for employees, compared with nine per cent for all other dealerships.

• Click here to see profiles of all 25 Best Dealerships To Work For.

Given the nature of many dealership jobs, including in sales and the service department, few employees actually work remotely. On average, about four per cent of permanent full- and part-time workers at the Best Dealerships were still telecommuting, down from seven per cent when COVID-19 began spreading, and one per cent before the pandemic.

Still, having the ability to work from home if possible, as well as being able to work more flexible hours, has proved to be an important benefit for dealership employees during the pandemic, said Daniel Bloom, vice-president of market research at the Best Companies Group, which managed the Best Dealerships To Work For survey.

“The standard of allowing telecommuting and having flexible hours were big differentiators,” Bloom said. “The fact that you offer flexible hours and the fact that you offer telecommuting even though not a lot of people take advantage of it is another aspect of caring and having concern for your employees.”

WORK-LIFE BALANCE

Jean-Nicolas Desjeunes, a spokesman for the Quebec-based HGrégoire dealership group, said employees who are able to work remotely are given the opportunity to do so. And the company, which runs 32 newand used vehicle dealerships in Canada and the United States, also offers the flexibility when possible. The group’s marketing, media, data science and engineering departments work from home, Desjeunes said. “Ensuring a good worklife balance is paramount,” he said.

Four of the group’s dealerships — HGrégoire Nissan St-Eustache, HGrégoire Nissan Chomedey, HGrégoire Nissan Vimont and HGrégoire Rive-Nord Chrysler — were named to the Best Dealerships 2021 list.

Trent Hargrave, a partner at Riverside DodgeChrysler-Jeep in Prince Albert, Sask., s his dealership was discussing ways for some administrative jobs to be done remotely, although most positions would remain on-site.

“The ability to work remotely is something that’s here to stay,” Hargrave said.

UNLIMITED SICK DAYS?

Earlier in the year, Riverside also began offering unlimited sick days to employees, a move Hargrave said would remain permanent even after the pandemic ends. During the winter, the dealership had a policy that employees who weren’t feeling well could stay home and still get paid, he said.

During winter, the absence rate at the dealership plummeted because fewer people were spreading their illness at work since those who were sick stayed home, Hargrave said.

“You see it all the time,” Hargrave said. “A person comes in with the sniffles, and then they try for a day or two, and then they’re sick. So, we lose a day or two from them anyway.

“And then three other people the next week start to exhibit those symptoms. So, either they’re going to try to tough it out and be less productive, or they’re going to spread it around.

“So we said, “What if there was just an incentive to not do that?’”

The policy has paid off for the dealership, Hargrave said, because fewer people are getting sick and missing work.

“We went back and forth because we were worried about abuse,” he said. “Well, if somebody’s abusing that system, that’s a management issue. Absenteeism is always a management issue anyway. So, what if we just managed it?”