Employee turnover

[kcatdeejay]

Maybe it's not the hiring process that needs to be addressed but rather those doing the hiring. We were talking about excessive employee turnover, were we not? "The beatings WILL continue until morale improves". What are the odds that so many bad hires could have taken place?

[chrabo]

Bob:

What does your "gut" tell you. Is this a concern of yours or the owners? Is it one department or all departments? Is the place set up to be one cohesive force or a place where each department fends for themselves? If it's in other departments it can be somewhat manageable but if it's coming from the top, get out fast!

[Tim Hardie]

I suggest that dealers do a better job in screening the candidate before they hire. Are you doing any testing on your candidates before you hire. I.E. personality profiling to see if this person fits your dealerships culture, are they on the page as the rest of your team or are they going to become disruptive to your existing staff and don't just test the sales people test all employees as together they are all on the same team. How well do you screen your candidates? Are you conducting proper back ground checks? Are you conducting criminal checks, education checks, proper references and employment checks? Doing this can save you from making mistakes before it is too late and or costly to fix. It also put the rest of your staff at ease knowing that they are working in a safer environment. Check out dealerships who boast a low turnover you may be surprised to find out they are using a professional services that will do this for them thus helping them hire right the first time and saving them lots of money with costly hiring mistakes before they happen.

[Bob_Murray]

David:

The concern I am seeing is coming from the owners. Turnover is a significant cost to dealerships that, some estimates show, to be between $8K - 12K per bad hire. I think that some dealers are under the impression that the 30% - 40% turnover in their organization is simply a function of their industry.

I don't agree, I think there are some cultural changes that can help (as Frank Burrows pointed out in his post), but my gut tells me that process has alot to do with it.

To Tim Hardie's point, how many dealers are taking the time check out their employee's background. Dealers will screen their vehicle's background and even do a check on the people who are purchasing from them. But Their greatest risk may come from their employee's who may put their organization at risk from negligent hiring practice liability, bad PR, or lawsuits from customers.

I think that just throwing up your hands and accepting the turnover rate as "the nature of our industry" is the wrong approach.

[kcatdeejay]

It appears employee turnover has been swept under the 'bad hire rug'. I am quite sure such situations occur, however, I was referring more explicitly to long-term employees exiting the premises in large numbers. The points made on bad hires are very well taken such as the dealer who hired an indicted and convicted thief and stated that this person was all that was available at the time and the individual would be closely watched-WOW!