I'm not referring to the alarming crime rate in the economically distressed city in my title. I want to write about the domestic auto industry's crime against its employees working at dealerships.
I spent much time working in auto dealership service departments. This encompasses mechanical repair, collision repair and parts stocking departments. I sensed that some people were not happy when their vehicle was broken. I am convinced that people think that having their vehicle broken is the next worst thing to having their own body broken. There is certainly customer pressure exerted on service department employees to perform quickly and competently. (This is to be expected.) Mechanical and body shop managers can count on dealing with irate, irrational customers. No problem. That's what we do.
Auto body men and mechanics are like surgeons and artists at a little lower pay scale. They are immobilized without parts with which to fix vehicles.
Now here's the aspect of the industry that you don't know about (if you are not working in the "back end" of an auto dealership): Almost all of the employees are commissioned. They do not get paid if there is no work. So what? Why should the employee get paid if the owner isn't making money? Because good people need to be paid for their knowledge, experience, and expertise. I'm not against a small commission as incentive, but primary income should be based on a living wage regardless of market influences. I mean that salary is the way to go. Right now most "back end" dealership employees are 100% or nearly 100% commissioned. I had a job at which I was "guaranteed" $50 a week. I had 20 years of experience at the time! That's not right. I made good money but that's not the point. There was never any security for me, no matter how well I did.
One of the guys threatened to kill people who tried to steal "his" customers. That was a nice working environment.
The (pressure related) rates of alcoholism, drug abuse, and marital problems are extremely high in mechanics, body men, and parts men. It doesn't have to be that way. The dealerships are so afraid that if people aren't commissioned they won't work as hard. Not true. People work better when they are more relaxed, when there is no rush to get to the next job. What ever happened to simply firing people if they don't do the job? Oh no, let's starve them instead.
Look, it's not the ace mechanics (by the way, they constantly go to school, just like doctors) fault that the economy may dictate that people buy new cars instead of fixing old ones. It's not the ace body man's fault that people drive carefully for a period of time.
Here's an example scenario of the internal dealership problem: A mechanic needs a $10 part which the dealership doesn't stock.(A ten million dollar inventory couldn't provide all of the parts all of the time.) The part is on backorder. A $5000 job can't get finished. No one can get paid! The dealership's policy says that no one gets paid until the dealer principal gets paid. In addition, the illusion is that the parts department is taking food from the family of the mechanic. The internal and external pressures combined are just too much for everyone involved. It is none of the employees' fault that Detroit has backordered a $10 part for 6 months.
The employee pay system is absolute bull and needs to be changed. At least the internal pressures could be lessened. The many years that I worked in the business almost killed me, my liver, my marriage, my wife. I was good at it. It was bad to me. Thank goodness that I was in a good financial position. I could get out. But many people that I care about are still in the business, going insane.
I knew a great dealership employee that made the same good money every year on commission. The dealership could have salaried this person at his average yearly income. But no, he had to take early retirement due to too much pressure, too many ulcers, too many sleepless nights. (By the way, there is no pension plan available at most dealerships-that's just at manufacturing.) If the dealership would have had a more relaxed (due to less internal pressures) employee, they might have kept this valuable guy much longer. He might have lived longer.
I made very close to the same amount of money for the five years that I worked at a certain dealership. I begged them to salary me at my average (or less!) annual income. They fired me. I had made waves by trying to change an inequitable system which was all in favor of ownership. I felt, in retrospect, that I had been fortunate to be terminated. I was able to wind down for a while.
Auto dealerships are full of good people. I never worked for a bad manager. I never worked with a bad co-worker. I never worked for a bad owner (just misguided). Dealer principals, please salary (fairly) your good people and get rid of your bad people. There is an easy system that works! A dog eat dog system, with everyone being constantly on edge and competing, makes good people into bad. And don't disregard the possible detrimental effect of the commission system on the trusting customer. The customer pays extra money for competent, specialized, authorized dealership craftsmanship. Will the bill be "padded" by commissioned personnel who must feed families? Will a commissioned employee carelessly rush a job to get to a better paying job (before someone else can)? Salaried employees are more honest.
I would say that internal pressure is the equal (at least) to external pressure in the dealership "back end". Let's eliminate half of the problem. Let's try trusting our employees with salary, dealer principals. You hired them because you trusted them. A person picked the profession because he enjoyed it. He shouldn't have to get out of his chosen profession to feel well.
I survived a counterproductive killer system. Some don't.
VISIT MY WEBSITE here.
No comments:
Post a Comment