Automotive News Canada - January 2023 - 19

* JANUARY 2023
19
2023 RETAIL SALARY SURVEY
Committed
to commission
Performance-based
compensation is
deeply woven into
many dealership job
titles, even technician
By KELLY TAYLOR
WINNIPEG CORRESPONDENT
ALTHOUGH MORE AUTO
retailers are adopting salary-based
compensation strategies to attract
and retain employees seeking stable
incomes, sales commissions are
still key to dealerships, and that
could be particularly true in an
uncertain economy.
The 2023 Automotive News
Canada Retail Salary Survey,
which polled 655 dealership staff in
various roles, found commissions
comprise more than half of some
employees' compensation. New-car
managers reported the highest percentage
at 54.7 per cent of earnings.
Sales advisers, with average
annual salaries of $91,300, reported
that nearly half - 48.2 per cent -
of their earnings came from commissions.
Commissions
appear throughout
the job titles of those surveyed.
Technicians, for example,
reported an average
of 4.7 per cent of
their salaries earned
from commission.
Employer reliance
on commissions
appears to be here to
stay. Indeed, uncertainty
surrounding interest
rates, vehicle inventory
issues and employment,
might mean that
commissions increase
in importance, said
Travis O'Rourke, president
of the Torontobased
recruitment firm
Hays Canada.
" It's probably going
to become more prevalent.
As you go through
economic times, it's far
less risk to an employer.
If I can say a $30,000
base salary with a higher
commission ... if you
We're fi nding
those established
salespeople really
just want that
commission; they
already know
their capability. "
Helena Byrne
Director of human resources,
McManes Automotive Group
54.7%
4.7%
48.2%
The portion of service
advisers' earnings that
are from commissions
make the sales, great. If you don't,
worse case, I'm out $30,000.
" When you move to a $70,000
base salary with low commission,
my risk [as a an employer] is obviously
significantly greater, and
your upside as an employee is significantly
lower. "
'DRIVEN BY THE NUMBERS'
O'Rourke said his data suggests
that sales staff are willing to take
cuts in base pay if they can then
make more money with commission.
He expects that over the next
12 months, more pay plans with
lower base salaries and higher commissions
will become common.
Jordan Rees, CEO of Auto
Careers Group, said that the only
way he sees commissions disappearing
from the market is a shift
to a direct-to-consumer sales model.
The portion of new-vehicle
manager's earnings that
are from commissions
The portion of technicians'
earnings that are from
commissions
" I think that the performers really
like [commission], absolutely,
because then it's that eat-what-youkill
mentality, " Rees said. " They're
driven by the numbers. "
That optimism for
the future of commissions
isn't shared by
everyone, however.
Helena Byrne, director
of human resources at
Calgary-based McManes
Automotive Group, said
many new hires, particularly
employees in
their first jobs, seek stability
in their compensation
packages.
" The industry is
struggling right now,
and people want that
guarantee more than
ever, " said Byrne,
who oversees HR at
the group's 14 stores
in Alberta and British
Columbia.
" We're finding those
established salespeople
really just want
that commission; they
already know their capability. "
Some McManes dealerships are
experimenting with pay plans that
reward employees based on the
overall success of the dealership
rather than their individual results,
Byrne said.
" That bonus plan extends all the
way down to lot attendants, everyone
who's part of that team atmosphere, "
she said.
Dealers are struggling to recruit
new employees, Byrne said, so making
a pay plan clear to potential
candidates is critical.
" What with our whole world
right now - with inventory issues,
really - candidates have the upper
hand right now, " she said. " And
they're being very picky - as they
should be. " - ANC
- With files from David Kennedy
Bubar: High
demand
for battery
materials
offers a
chance
to create
refining jobs
in Canada.
PHOTO:
LINKEDIN
Amid EV battery boom, a push
to process minerals in Canada
It has been a 'totally foreign
concept' in mining; deals
are already being made
to export lithium to other
countries for processing
By DAVID KENNEDY
T ORONTO BUREAU CHIEF
CANADA'S RESOURCES ARE ON THE
radar of international automakers and battery
cell manufacturers that are lining up materials
to power the transition to electric vehicles.
But as global investors descend on mining
developments in Ontario, Quebec and beyond,
governments and local miners are taking
early strides to ensure that minerals are processed
in Canada.
But this " has always been a totally foreign
concept to the traditional mining industry, "
said Donald Bubar, president of Avalon
Advanced Materials Inc. " It was only ever
about: produce it, ship it offshore. "
Strong
demand for EV battery
materials creates the
opportunity to rethink this
model and bring refining jobs
to communities that have
typically been cut out of the
value chain, Bubar said.
George Pirie, Ontario's
minister of mines, acknowledged
that the province's
mining sector has a history
of favouring raw-material
exports over processing.
" That's certainly the legacy, "
he told Automotive News
Canada, but the government
is moving " aggressively " to
change this.
Pirie pointed to progress
securing lithium refining operations
for Ontario, and to the provincial backing
for Electra Battery Materials Corp., which
is scheduled to open a cobalt refinery in
Temiskaming Shores, Ont., in spring.
" We expect the pace to increase exponentially
[for] that type of activity in northern
Ontario, " he said.
MINE HERE, REFINE HERE
Avalon is among the miners pursuing
such a project. The company is developing a
mine north of Kenora, at the western edge of
Ontario. It plans to carry out an initial processing
step at the mine site to create lithium
concentrates from deposits called pegmatites.
Under the province's legacy mining model,
they would then have been exported for further
processing overseas before reaching
industry. Avalon, however, is developing a
refinery 550 kilometres east in Thunder Bay,
Ont., to bring the concentrates up to battery-grade.
The company is currently working
to acquire an industrial property in the city
to build the refinery, which would also serve
other local mining companies developing
other deposits nearby, Bubar said.
" Not only is [Thunder Bay] the transportation
hub for northwestern Ontario, but
because of its central location relevant to dozens
and dozens and dozens of lithium pegmatites,
we can become a regional facility to
accept concentrates from other new producers. "
The
battery-grade lithium would then move
downstream to precursor and cathode active
materials plants, where it would be blended
with other metals before being integrated into
battery cells. Three such plants in Ontario
and Quebec are under way.
Existing Ontario legislation could be used
to spur more early-stage processing projects
such as Avalon's. Section 91 of the province's
Memorandums of understanding regarding
minerals, which Ottawa signed in August
with Mercedes-Benz Group and Volkswagen
Group, contained no contingencies
requiring the creation of processing and/or
refining jobs. FILE PHOTO
Mining Act stipulates that companies mining
ore in Ontario must treat and refine the material
in Canada.
" It's there to try to create more added value
to the mineral resource, " said Chris Hodgson,
president of the Ontario Mining Association.
EXCEPTIONS TO THE RULE
But the regulation does leave the door open
to exemptions.
Permission to export unprocessed material
is granted at the discretion of the provincial
Cabinet, Hodgson said. Exemptions are not
unheard of, but not common, he said, with
companies typically needing to demonstrate
why they are unable to refine within Canada.
In Quebec, Canada's other leading battery
materials jurisdiction, the provincial mining
act " contains certain particularities concerning
processing, " said Eric de Montigny,
a spokesman for the ministry of natural
resources and forests.
" [It] provides the government with the
power to require, on reasonable
grounds at the
time of entering into the
[mining] lease, the maximization
of economic benefits
in Quebec from the development
of mineral resources
authorized under the
lease. "
Pirie: Ontario
is moving
" aggressively "
to change
the practice
of favouring
raw-material
exports
over selling
processed
materials.
PHOTO: LINKEDIN
The province works
to secure investment in
Quebec across the " entire
mineral process " under
these rules, de Montigny
said. Quebec also launched
both critical minerals and
battery industry strategies
in 2020 with the goal
of developing a footprint in
both sectors.
No such processing
rules exist at the federal
level, said Anthony Ertl,
a Natural Resources Canada spokesman.
Ottawa does emphasize processing through
financial backing, however.
" Federal funding is contingent on demonstrating
benefits to Canada and Canadians,
which could include new jobs, anchoring a
new sector or industry, and enabling innovative
technology, in addition to processing
or refining, " Ertl wrote in an email to
Automotive News Canada.
The federal government's $3.8-billion
Critical Minerals Strategy, released in
December, acknowledges Canada's current
lack of processing capacity for materials such
as lithium. It recommends Ottawa focus on
supporting companies actively developing processing
plants, but does not address the prospect
of restricting exports of raw resources.
In two recent agreements, processing
requirements fell by the wayside.
SEE MINERAL PAGE 22
Automotive News Canada - January 2023

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