Overheard: Auto industry needs to change with the times

"Walmart treats their employees different today than they did 30 years ago because they noticed the world of retail was changing. They changed their staffing model, they changed their benefits, they changed their employment packages to match that. With automotive, for the most part, the same way when cars were carbureted, [how] we treated our teams is the same way we treat them now. As our industry evolved, we didn't change how we treat our team members — how we incentivize our team members to work, how we incentivize our team members to stay. Those things never changed. We have a 401K. We're off Saturdays; everybody's off Saturdays — that's why they all want to come to you on Saturday. The things that are important to people aren't important to the people running the automotive industry. And I think part of that comes from the average age of a shop owner [being] so high, where those people remember the 'good old days' in the '70s." — Fred Gestwicki Jr. of Fix-it with Fred LLC on Wrenchway's "Beyond the Wrench" podcast hosted by Jay Goninen.