Increasing female employment in dealerships is a tall order in an industry where women currently make up 20% of the workforce. The problem is big, but many of the solutions are small.
The Women Driving Auto Retail initiative strives to amplify the voices of automotive retail leaders who have found ways to chip away at the gender disparity in dealerships. These are the men and women who are putting in the work every day to bring more women into the industry.
At the 2024 WDAR event, we collected their experiences, stories, tips, concerns, and suggestions, detailed throughout our content series:
- The Secret Sauce to Work-Life Balance in the Dealership
- Proactively Prevent Female Turnover
- Industry Leaders Share Ways to Recruit More Women in Dealerships
- Employee Retention: Are Your Managers the Problem or the Solution?
Want the toplines? Keep reading.
Be intentional. Take a little extra time when choosing the photos for your website, writing job descriptions and developing employee handbook to ensure that your workplace is welcoming to women.
Outline a career path. Recruiting women into the dealership is only the first step. Formalize development through mentorship programs, career path transparency, goal setting, department cross-training, and leadership training. This intentional programming is a best practice for employee retention at large, gender aside.
No size fits all. There is no universal cure-all for creating the perfect work-life balance in automotive retail. What works for a large auto group may not work for a single point. Finding the right balance for the business and employees requires research and communication. That means asking employees what they need and taking a fresh and creative look at existing schedules and processes.
Culture starts at the top. For better or worse, management determines the workplace environment. A supportive manager who motivates and advocates for their reports can be a huge asset, but a manager that fails to communicate clearly or respect employees can lead to costly attrition. Give managers the tools to be successful through training and resources.
Stay tuned for more content from Women Driving Auto Retail and click here to join our Facebook group.
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