Repeat employees and repeat customers a testament to dealership's culture

In an automotive retailing industry filled with employees for whom the grass always looks greener elsewhere, DCH Millburn Audi operates by the adage that it's more productive and efficient to simply fertilize one's own yard.

The dealership, in Maplewood, N.J., a suburb of Newark, ranks No. 1 overall on Automotive News' Best Dealerships To Work For list for 2020. DCH Millburn Audi also finished atop the medium-size dealership category, for stores with 50 to 99 employees. The luxury dealership, owned by Lithia Motors, has been on the list each year since the Best Dealerships program began in 2012 but has never before ranked No. 1. Its previous highest ranking was No. 10 last year.

In a side-by-side comparison with most dealerships, it's easy to spot why employees at DCH Millburn Audi might think it's a great place to work: It offers a generous benefits package; there are quarterly social gatherings to elicit team-building; and it offers lots of individual recognitions, trainings and assistance. Turnover is very low, with the dealership reporting a 19 percent voluntary turnover rate for its last fiscal year. It's also a top-performing Audi store nationally. In 2019, the dealership sold 1,223 new and 1,025 used vehicles.

But maybe the best testimonial to how DCH Millburn Audi treats its employees and how they feel about the place rests with the actions of those "grass is always greener" folks.

"Since 2012, I think we've had eight rehires," said Al Khouri, the store's general manager. "We're going to train you, we're going to give you a good working environment, but sometimes, people just have to try somewhere else to know what they're missing. But if you left on good terms, there's no grudges, and if you want to come back and we have a position open, we're going to rehire you."

DCH Millburn Audi counts on repeat customers, and that means it's important to have a familiar staff when customers return, Khouri said. That starts with new hires, who spend months working alongside their more experienced co-workers learning keys to building long-term customer relationships. Those include being available and friendly and saying hello when encountering a customer outside the dealership, Khouri said.

It also means learning that, no matter how busy the dealership might be, no client should feel rushed or have less than an excellent experience with their purchase. In staff meetings and trainings, the dealership runs a program it calls Make Others Great as a way for its 51 employees to recognize co-workers who go the extra mile.

"The more we invest, the more we train, the more we help our people achieve, this is how we succeed as a dealership, as a place of business," Khouri said.

But mostly, it's about making sure employees know they have friends at work standing by to help one another when help is needed, said Dawn McAdam, the store's client relations manager.

"It's a family, and we help everyone in good times and in bad, no matter what," McAdam said.

Sometimes, that philosophy gets put to the test.

"When my husband was diagnosed with cancer for the second time, it was heavy; it was a lot of information just to absorb," New-Vehicle Sales Manager Shonta Belfield recalled. "I had the luxury of being able to go to my boss and just have a conversation about, not how my absence was going to negatively affect the dealership, but just how the dealership could help me."

The entire interaction was conducted transparently, Belfield said, giving her confidence that her employment was secure even as her family struggled. The dealership simply adapted to her need to be with her family, she said, and in the process reaffirmed in her a dedication to give back whatever she could to contribute to its continued success.

"What is more important? The value of how this job makes you feel, or is it the money? I would argue that it's both," Belfield said. "As humans, especially with what we experienced this year, it's more than just compensation; you're humanized as well — you're more than just a number. You don't have to lose your job just because you have to take care of your family."

The dealership's deeply ingrained philosophy of valuing its employees, caring for their needs and rewarding them for their efforts paid off this year when the coronavirus pandemic struck.

Since it was an event that hadn't happened in any of their lifetimes, Khouri said he and his management team opted to stick with a policy that had always worked for the dealership: absolute transparency.

Even as the dealership was shut down for weeks on end because of government orders and most employees were out on furlough, Khouri and his managers stayed in constant communication with them. Khouri and four others worked through that period, answering questions from customers about their expiring leases and from employees about their benefits and pay as best they could. They kept the dealership operating on a minimal basis. Social media channels for the store's sales staff and its service and parts employees were set up to keep information flowing.

"We kept in communication with everybody," Khouri said, adding that the dealership would pass along in real time any information it had gathered from state and local officials, parent company Lithia Motors, groups such as the National Automobile Dealers Association and the media.

The store did that, he said, "because the worst thing that can happen is not knowing what tomorrow's going to bring. Am I coming back to work, or am I not coming back to work? Am I going to get a paycheck? Are my benefits still active? Am I losing my job?"

Through the early part of the crisis this spring, DCH Millburn Audi had two employees leave, McAdam said. One left the state, and another wanted to reduce potential exposure to other people because of existing medical issues. Everyone else returned from furlough, she said.

Good communication made reopening the store easier, Khouri said, because everyone was on the same page, even as employees came back from their furloughs in stages.

Said Khouri: "Once you're an open book with your team members, and you build that trust with your team members, everything else just falls into place."