Loyalty, Retention and Key Insights in Forward Thinking Auto Retailing

It is inevitable that you will lose employees. It’s part of life. With the proper management, structure and hiring process, we do know that you can (and should) greatly reduce that loss.

That being said, now and then a good employee will search for greener pastures. When this happens, be sure to keep your wits about you. Don’t make empty promises, offer unfair raises/promotions or beg them to stay.

You have to set a good example for the remaining employees and make sure to keep them in mind when you’re negotiating to keep another employee from leaving. If you’re tempted to offer them a better position or better pay, evaluate the position and pay they’re currently at. How long have they been with the company? Are they being paid fairly? Do they have the ability to take on more responsibility, or do they really need more training?

Be fair to yourself, your other employees and the employee on the way out. Take time to think about your response and decide what that employee is worth to you in the context of your business and your other hardworking employees before you make an offer.

According to research from Vanderbilt University and Cornell University, low “behavioral integrity” erodes employee moral and intention to stay in a particular job. And just what is behavioral integrity? It’s just a fancy way of saying the match (or lack of) between your words and your actions. If your behavior does not match what you say, your employees, at all levels, notice it and it has a strong negative impact.

We’ve touched on this before, and it’s something that you need to be mindful of at all times. Their research of nearly 2,000 employees at over 100 work locations found, “a correlation between supervisors receiving low scores on behavioral integrity and line employees measuring low on trust, job satisfaction, contributions to the workplace, and intent to remain on the job. What’s more, low behavioral integrity tended to shape the culture of the entire workforce.” Wow, that’s pretty strong stuff!

Have you ever worked somewhere where your manager was always talking about the importance of courtesy and fast responses to email and phone inquiries, but when it came to your questions, s/he didn’t ever seem to have time? Have you ever had a general manager who would go on and on about the importance of marketing on the Internet, but when budget time came around, all those line items were cut?

I once had a new manager come into the dealership talking about how much he valued employee feedback, but when people starting sharing their thoughts with him, he summarily dismissed their feelings as invalid or unreasonable. Worse yet, he actually became angry with an employee and said that his request was stupid. Well, you can imagine how much feedback we offered after that, and we all found out very quickly that our boss was a real jerk.

And ultimately, the vast majority of your employees are going to mirror your behavior. So if your actions aren’t consistent with your words, theirs won’t be either. You simply can’t have trust and loyalty in this type of environment.

To sum it up, the research concluded the following:
• Actions must be consistent with words, mottos, and policies or employers will lose the support of their employees.

• Bad behavior being carried out by those at the top of the company does not stay within the boardroom, but spreads throughout the organization.

Walking the talk (high behavioral integrity) is one of the best ways to help ensure that you keep your good employees and a positive work environment. Always make sure your actions match your words. People notice it if you’re guilty of this and your dealership will suffer greatly.

Do you have funny (painful at the time) stories about bosses with “low behavioral integrity?” Share them with us!

Understanding employee needs and concerns while they’re in your employment is considerably more important that understanding why they leave. Exit surveys may have their place, but the best way to solve the problem of employee attrition is to keep current employees happy.

Focus groups, monthly surveys, and regular refreshers on company policy/goals/mission are all good ways to engage employees now. And they are much better than waiting till they’re walking out the door.

Services like SurveyMonkey.com are easily adaptable to your purposes. Write your employees a note about their importance and solicit their anonymous feedback with a customized survey.

It’s important to engage your employees. Consistently communicating your business’ position and your gratitude or concerns will help them to see you as an interested individual and not a cold and distant leader. Remember, communication is a two way street. Soliciting employee thoughts and feelings will not only help to curb attrition, but may also bring some great ideas to light and ultimately increase your ROI.

Employees leave jobs for all sorts of reasons. If a company experiences serious turnover, there’s a good chance that many employees are leaving for the same reason. Employers often try to employ exit surveys in hopes of locating the problem area; however, it’s rare that exit surveys really get to the bottom of a company’s problem. Employees and ex-employees alike fear retribution or “burned bridges” and are not likely to really express how they feel. Additionally, employees tend to be reluctant to speak with management about their concerns and discontent.

One way to encourage employee interaction in company-wide problem solving is to create a venue that allows employees to voice concerns to several representatives, with no names attached to issues raised. This allows employees to maintain some level of anonymity. Representatives are also able to voice concerns without claiming them necessarily as their own. You’re far more likely to get an accurate depiction of company life by removing the fear of retribution or being “singled out.”