The Great Resignation: How your car dealership can avoid losing staff

Whether you get your news online or on the five o’clock news, you’ve likely heard of “The Great Resignation.” Last year, nearly 47 million people quit their jobs, which almost amounts to an average of four million people resigning each month.

Have you seen this phenomenon at your dealership? You aren’t alone, as employers across various industries have to manage the large numbers of workers leaving their companies. What is leading these people to resign, and what can you do to keep these individuals on your dealership team?

Check out this breakdown of The Great Resignation and tips for avoiding it at your dealership.

Why are People Leaving Their Jobs?

So, let’s get to it, why are people walking away from positions. Here are a few of the widely cited reasons people are resigning.

• People are going into business for themselves – According to government numbers, half a million more people identify as self-employed than before the pandemic. So, many people are looking to go out on their own and fulfill their entrepreneurial motivations.
• Many are fleeing toxic work cultures – An MIT study revealed that record turnover might be driven by people leaving toxic work cultures — which can encompass failures to promote diversity and inclusion, disrespectful behavior towards workers, and a cutthroat environment.
• The search for job security and better pay – A CNBC article pointed to job security and a search for better pay driving people to leave their positions and seek other opportunities.

In short, there are various reasons people are choosing to look elsewhere for work. But, what can you do to keep The Great Resignation from hindering your efforts to keep your workers around?

How to Minimize the Impact of the Great Resignation

While offering higher pay and better benefits is always helpful, there are other things you can do to motivate your employees to stay. Here are some strategies you can use to prevent The Great Resignation from becoming an issue at your dealership.

Offer flexible work arrangements

We live in a world where everything has changed due to the pandemic. Even though numbers are down, we’ve seen that an uptick in cases can lead to school closures and, much worse, mass illness. Additionally, employees have come to embrace working remotely and having the flexibility to manage childrearing and caregiving. Allowing your employees to take advantage of perks like flexible start times and remote work can inspire them to stick around.

Recognize their work

These are unprecedented times where things are constantly changing. The fact that your employees are still showing up and performing well deserves some recognition. In the MIT study, lack of recognition was one of the reasons individuals chose to leave companies. So, make sure that you are acknowledging exemplary work from your teams. This act could be in the form of profit-sharing or having a clear and organized path for your staff to gain upward mobility in their position.

Increase employee engagement

Engaged employees are much more likely to stick around than those who aren’t. In fact, they are five times less likely to leave an organization than disengaged employees. There are a variety of ways to engage employees at your dealership. You can increase employee engagement by establishing a mentorship program to have more seasoned employees guide newcomers, implement training and development programs, or allow people to bring creativity to their roles by letting them work on that new idea.

Ask them what they want

What’s better than to go right to the source? Start to speak with your employees about what they want to see at your dealership. They may have thoughts and ideas about processes or policies that you can implement that would allow them to better enjoy the work they do.

The Great Resignation Doesn’t Have to Derail Your Retention Strategies

This is a great time to see how you can improve the experience of those working at your dealership. While many factors contribute to why people leave, some strategic thinking can prevent it from negatively impacting your teams.

Start to look at your turnover numbers, implement policies like exit interviews — if you haven’t already — to gain some insight into why people are leaving, and start putting together retention strategies tailored to your teams. If you make retention a priority, you can motivate your employees to stay and avoid the impact of The Great Resignation.

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