8 ways dealerships can recruit and keep porters

An often overlooked but integral part of a dealership's fixed operations are the porters. They typically open the dealership in the morning and close it at night. They receive new vehicles, send others to auction, maintain inventory, move cars and deliver repaired vehicles back to customers on the service drive or at their homes or offices.

Francisco Mora, service manager at Esserman International Volkswagen in Miami, knows the important role a porter plays in a dealership service department. His 15 porters have been with him from four to 20 years.

"We treat our employees well," he said. "Since they have been with me a long time, they're earning more."

Mora's experience, however, is not the norm. The entry-level position has been a difficult one for dealerships to fill. And even if they are fortunate enough to hire porters, the other struggle is keeping them. Online employment agency Zippia.com estimates that 38 percent of porters stay at their jobs less than a year.

Joel Furno, founder and CEO of Citrin, an automotive hospitality management company based in Columbus, Ohio, offered eight tips to recruit and retain porters in today's tough job market.

1. Ensure wages keep up with nearby dealerships and other companies competing for the same entry-level workers (i.e., Amazon, Chick-fil-A, Target, Sam's Club, etc.). Wages in this segment have escalated faster and must be monitored to remain competitive. The same applies to retaining employees.

2. Applicants are like sales leads and must be responded to immediately. Dealerships must remember they are competing with companies that have sophisticated talent acquisition funnels that convert an applicant in a week or less. Dealerships that have applicant-to-hire cycles of two to three weeks have very little chance of converting hires in this climate.

3. Hiring is just part of the challenge. With high turnover in this segment, making sure the new hires have a positive experience their first week is critical. This includes a formal orientation to discuss job responsibilities, the history of the dealership or auto group and specific training that discusses career progression and growth opportunities.

4. Establish a written list of duties and expectations. Furno said of the more than 400 dealerships he has visited over the years, less than 3 percent had a written operations plan for what they expect porters to do.

5. Designate a leader to oversee the porter team. One of the most significant issues Furno said he sees is a lack of supervision of this staff. Service managers simply can't closely monitor, coach and develop this team. They must ensure porters stay engaged and are protected from poor treatment by others.

6. Cross-training of multiple duties (i.e., greeting customers, parking vehicles, driving the shuttle, washing cars, etc.) helps drive labor efficiency and provides diversification of responsibilities that can help prevent burnout.

7. Porters must be treated with respect and as a critical part of the team by everyone — advisers, technicians, salespeople and management, Furno said. While this employee group is not viewed as revenue-producing, they often represent the first and last impression a customer has of the dealership. A porter can negatively impact customer satisfaction index numbers, revenue and shop flow.

8. Finally, the auto industry and dealerships must evolve how people — especially those in entry-level positions — are treated if they want to retain a productive work force. Regular check-ins and surveys of this team are essential.