Embracing work flexibility, making employee health and wellness priorities

When the coronavirus pandemic began in the spring of 2020, Audi Gainesville threw its normal work requirements out the window.

Thomas Brinkmann, the Florida dealership's general manager, let concerned employees stay home with no questions asked, allowing other employees to pick up extra hours to fill in the gaps. When day cares and schools closed, he let two employees — who sat in individual, second-floor offices away from the showroom — bring their children into work with them.

"If we would have been the normal, stringent employer, they're screwed and ultimately we are, too, because we'd probably lose those people because they're going to have to take care of their children first," Brinkmann told Automotive News. "Some of the decisions you have to make a little bit from the hip and hope they're smart decisions. We just made it work. We still had a business to run, and we never closed down."

Embracing flexibility amid the pandemic was a common theme among dealers operating the 100 stores on the 2021 list of Automotive News' Best Dealerships To Work For. Many said they learned how to better communicate with their employees and realized the importance of prioritizing the physical and mental health of their work force during an uncertain time.

In some instances, that flexibility involved cutting back normal store hours. In other cases, it meant reaching out to workers more frequently through phone calls, videoconferences and in-person meetings to keep them informed, address concerns and answer questions.

"A great culture and strong morale can really get you through anything," said Eddie Smith, general manager of Friendship Hyundai of Johnson City in Tennessee. "Having team members who truly care for each other and feel more like family than colleagues made navigating the highs and lows of the pandemic much easier."

Doug Jones, general manager of Faulkner Subaru Harrisburg in southeastern Pennsylvania, always thought his store's four dozen employees were pretty close.

Before the pandemic, managers and employees would interact outside the dealership through community service projects or other local events, allowing Jones to meet most of his workers' families.

But the pandemic made them an even more cohesive group, he said.

That's because Jones decided early on to prioritize communication. So when the store shut down and furloughed most of its employees for more than two months, he used the Slack messaging app to stay in touch with workers on a daily basis.

He used group messages to relay the latest updates from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, as well as news about employees' pay plans and how long they might be away from the store. He quickly found out employees were worried about whether the dealership would ever reopen and whether they'd have jobs once the crisis abated.

"I called it my 'state of the union,' " Jones said. "It calmed everybody down and made them feel like everything was going to be OK."

Like the rest of corporate America, Jones and his staff also embraced Zoom, arranging virtual "happy hours" about every other week. The meetings included some shop talk but were largely meant to bring workers together on a personal basis and replicate the hangouts that happened before the pandemic. Employees liked it so much that they started asking for weekly video calls.

While some have grown weary of such virtual gatherings over the past 18 months, the happy hour tradition has continued into 2021. "They love it," Jones said. "There's been no Zoom fatigue here."

Some dealership officials who were able to keep their doors open through the worst of the pandemic found that they could help workers and boost morale without much downside by simply adjusting business hours.

"We learned that we can be more profitable by staying open for fewer hours," said Vadim Makhlis, dealer principal at Monadnock Ford in Swanzey, N.H. "During the pandemic, we began to close sales at 6 p.m. on weekdays and closed parts and service on Saturdays. Post-pandemic, we kept those same hours because we learned that not only can we be more profitable but also afford our employees a higher quality of life."

At Audi Gainesville, Brinkmann made sure employees were empowered to take whatever time off they needed to deal with family matters or health concerns. At certain times, he said, the store would be open with about 10 fewer employees than normal.

"I think we were extremely lenient," he said. "If anybody had something going on, we told them to go handle it. Maybe somebody worked 50 hours and somebody else worked 37 hours one week. It didn't matter. We didn't drop the ball with any customers."

Some salespeople were able to continue talking with potential customers remotely, and Brinkmann said the pandemic also prompted the team to get e-signing capability in place to make the buying process easier for customers who didn't want to be in the dealership for long periods.

In addition, he said the in-person work force was diligent about cleaning and disinfecting the showroom and prioritized even mundane things such as locking the cars on display so multiple people couldn't get in and touch the surfaces.

"We needed to tighten up some of our procedures, and we needed to evolve to better serve our customers," he said. "We understood that our customers had their own set of challenges and fears, and our biggest challenge was meeting our customers where they felt comfortable."

Many of the 100 winning dealerships say the pandemic brought their staffs closer together.

Store managers say it has changed their mind about what a healthy work-life balance can look like.

"I have learned that just because we did a particular thing a certain way, it doesn't mean it can't change for the better," said Stephen Aylward, general manager of Lexus of Warwick in Rhode Island.

"We have found viable solutions to better schedules through permanent reduced hours of operation and more flexible schedules. Overall, we have become more efficient in all areas while maintaining tremendous one-on-one communication with each associate."

Others say it has altered their view about how important their employees' mental and physical health can be to success.

"Anytime there is a major shift or crisis like this pandemic, employers have to adjust, adapt and change paradigms," said Lloyd Steeves, general manager at Rockwall Chrysler-Dodge-Jeep-Ram near Dallas.

"Protecting and developing our teammates has always been a top priority, however, this really put a focus on how important this really is."

Steeves said he found it ironic that, although the team has been physically apart for much of the past two years with social distancing, they're more close-knit than ever.

"The people have always made the difference; through the pandemic this has proven to be more true than ever," he said. "Putting the well-being of our team first set the stage for the growth and overall health of the dealership."