Automotive News Canada - October 2023 - 10

10
10.23
OPINION
The damage done
by horrible bosses
IT'S OFTEN SAID THAT PEOPLE DON'T
quit jobs, they quit bosses.
Bosses who encourage dealership
staff to stay late every night, but then
harass them for wanting to start an hour
later one morning to deal with a family
issue. Bosses who reward top-performing
employees with more work. Bosses who
micromanage employees to the point
they feel marginalized and disenfranchised.
Bosses who neglect employee
potential and their desire for a career
path, and bosses who turn a blind eye to
toxic work environments. Or bosses who
intentionally create them.
Regardless of career, everyone reading
this has likely been a victim at some
point. Let me take you back to one particular
job I had as a graphic journalist in
the 1990s.
When you have
a great boss,
you'll be more
inclined to
move across
the country
to work
with them.
I loved that job, partially because an
assessment revealed that I perform best
with very wide but well-defined guardrails,
and with guidance vs. control.
I didn't have to punch a clock. I came
and went mostly as I pleased and
worked whenever I
had to get the job
done. I pulled many
all-nighters without
any reason to do so
other than I loved the
work and I was driven.
I was committed. The
awards piled up and
at age 29, I appeared
to be well on my path.
Then it all came
crashing down.
Both my bosses
- very forward-thinking and imaginative
people - were replaced in a corporate
shake-up. In the interim, I was promoted
to managing editor, a role I probably
didn't have the chops for at that point.
Their replacements arrived and set
about to foster the most toxic work environment
I've ever seen, pitting staff
against each other to keep their jobs
and, in my specific case, made it known
that because of my connection with the
previous management, I was going to be
run out. The treatment was degrading
and despicable, but since there was no
cause for termination, I was advised to
wait for a buyout, which I gladly accepted
when it arrived several weeks later.
On Page 16, Peter Burke, president
of Workforce Research Group, which
administered the 2023 Automotive News
Canada Best Dealerships To Work For
program, said, " Employees who are highEDITOR-IN-CHIEF
JEFF
MELNYCHUK
ly
engaged don't necessarily see work
and life as two separate places to be or
definitive ways to spend their time. "
He's 100 per cent right, which is why
I was shaken to my very foundation. An
attack at work was an attack on me, my
life, my work ethic and my values of proportional
appreciation for hard work.
It was spring, so I decided to take a
few months off to regroup and fly around
the country for interviews, some within
the very company that had treated me
so poorly, but with different bosses.
Six months later, I accepted what
seemed like a dream job with another
newspaper at another company, and
then I got a call from one of my two old
bosses who had since landed in the
Maritimes.
I'm paraphrasing, but he said something
like, " Just come out here and do
what you do, but bigger and better. We
have a blank canvas. "
Initially, I didn't know exactly what the
job was or even what city it was in, but I
didn't hesitate to accept. I picked up and
moved clean across the country. That
says something about a good boss and
the value of what Burke calls work-life
chemistry.
" When employees love going to work,
the benefits to the employer and customers
have been well-documented:
lower voluntary turnover, higher productivity,
increased customer satisfaction levels,
etc. "
My boss knew what he was doing.
I don't have personal knowledge of
the 35 Best Dealerships To Work For -
Pages 15-46 - but I was particularly
sensitive to survey comments from many
of their employees about being well
taken care of, heard, valued and provided
career counseling - clearly a deliberate
effort to actually keep them. That
makes me smile.
Some businesses have put into numbers
how much it costs to lose an
employee. That's an awfully corporate
way of thinking, but if that's a reason to
treat employees properly, then I'm all for
it. But good bosses know it's the right
thing to do and that the reward for all is
much greater. - ANC
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Help workers better themselves,
and they'll make you the best
AFTER DIGESTING THE FINDINGS FROM
Automotive News Canada's Best Dealerships To Work
For surveys, the most inspiring best practice among
the 35 winners was their commitment to career
development.
Companies that chart clear career
paths for their staff enjoy such benefits
as lower turnover rates, healthier
bottom lines and, more important,
highly motivated workers.
Ask Meghan Muloin. In just
three years, Muloin worked her way
up from the reception desk at
HGrégoire Mitsubishi Laval to sales
coordinator at the Quebec dealership.
Employees
given an
opportunity to
grow invariably
go that extra
mile for their
company.
" It really fills me with pride and makes me thankful
to have the team that I have, a team that takes the
time to appreciate everything I do for them and is
thankful of my work, " said Muloin.
While she's focused on the " now, " she's contemplating
long-term goals, possibly
getting her business degree toward
a senior role as controller.
Muloin's store, part of the
HGrégoire group, offers employees
the " opportunity to move up or
change departments. That involves
cross-training for employees seeking
lateral or upward career moves.
" I was trained in several
aspects of different departments,
which allowed me ... to move up
within the company, " Muloin said.
HGrégoire's commitment to career development
helped the group net five stores on the Best
Dealerships list.
Most of the winning dealerships - read about
them on Pages 15-46 - stressed career-advanceMACALUSO
MANAGING
EDITOR
GRACE
ment strategies that also served to put the right people
in the right spots, which helps the business.
Winnipeg-based Birchwood Automotive Group had
four winning dealerships. Managers regularly meet
with their teams for " performance-development conversations
that are documented, "
said Sarah Giesbrecht, the dealership
group's director of human resources.
These meetings address everything
from achievements to work ethic to
career development. " Once they've
set up the plan, their manager works
as a coach to help them attain their
career goals, " she said.
Calgary's Eastside Dodge-Chrysler-Jeep-Ram, part
of the McManes Automotive
Group,has developed its own " playbook
designed for new hires and
their onboarding, " said General
Manager Darcy Schinnour. " The
playbook lays out their schedule for
training for the first two weeks and
portrays the growth potential at
Eastside Dodge. "
It also features examples of
employees who started on the
sales floor and are now dealer
partners in the McManes group,
with three dealerships landing on
the 2023 winners list.
Employees given an opportunity
Meghan
Muloin, from
receptionist
to sales
coordinator.
SUPPLIED
PHOTO
to grow will feel empowered and valued. They will
invariably go that extra mile for their company.
Said HGrégoire's Muloin: " It makes me happy and
excited to come to work every day when I know I'll be
spending the day working with these amazing people
who work hard and support me in my work as much
as I support them in theirs. " - ANC
Be it contracts or campaigns,
politics is a powerful force
THE MORE CLOSELY I WATCH
the contract talks between Unifor
and the Detroit Three, the more
they resemble federal politics.
Unifor President Lana Payne,
while negotiating with automaker
executives, is trying to keep happy
the very diverse membership that
voted her into power.
That's no easy feat, and it's
one similar to a political party trying
to win a majority mandate.
That didn't happen for Liberal
Campaigns
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KC CRAIN, GROUP PUBLISHER & CEO
JEFF MELNYCHUK, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF, 506.866.8236, Jeff.Melnychuk@autonews.com
GRACE MACALUSO, MANAGING EDITOR, 226.787.0441, Grace.Macaluso@autonews.com
GREG LAYSON, DIGITAL AND MOBILE EDITOR, 519.567.8877, Greg.Layson@autonews.com
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416.560.7663, tim.dimopoulos@autonews.com
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CHRISSY TAYLOR, VICE-PRESIDENT EDITORIAL OPERATIONS, AUTOMOTIVE NEWS GROUP
KC CRAIN, PRESIDENT & CEO
KEITH E. CRAIN, EDITOR EMERITUS
and negotiating
committees
need to find
the balance to
keep all their
constituents
happy. Or at
least enough
to ratify a
contract.
Prime Minister
Justin Trudeau,
who is governing
with a
minority. And
similarly, ratification
of the
deal struck
between Unifor
and Ford
almost didn't
happen.
Only 54 per
cent of about
5,600 members
voted in
favour of the
contract.
That's because
skilled-trades workers at Ford
plants in Windsor and Oakville,
Ont., took serious issue with the
negotiated pension, which fell
short of their expectations.
All along, we were told that
pensions were the sticking point.
DIGITAL AND
MOBILE EDITOR
GREG
LAYSON
That's mainly because skilled
trades comprise an aging workforce
with retirement top of mind.
At the same time, there were
junior members stuck at the lowest
pay scale, some living in the
high-cost Greater Toronto Area.
And, of course, everyone wanted a
raise.
It's similar to a federal party
attempting to win the right to govern
by making promises to Quebec
and the Prairies, as well as to
young, old, rural and urban voters.
Campaigns and negotiating
committees alike need to find the
balance to keep all their constituents
happy some of the time. Or
at least enough of the people
happy to vote them into power -
or ratify a contract. And that's
exactly what Payne and Co. did.
They hammered out a Ford
deal that includes the biggest
signing bonus in contract history,
valued at $10,000 before taxes.
It includes the biggest raise in
contract history - increases of
10, two and three per cent in
each year of the three-year deal.
The cost-of-living allowance is
back, something gone so long
ago that junior members hired
after 2008 might never have
heard of it.
There's little doubt that the low
ratification results weren't what
Unifor Local 200 President John
D'Agnolo was hoping for.
" I'd be lying if I said I wasn't
disappointed, " he told me.
" But when you're in front of a
bargaining table, you're focused on
everybody. And this was the case
here. We had to
make sure that
we had huge
improvements
for those
low-seniority
workers
D'Agnolo:
" I'd be lying if
I said I wasn't
disappointed "
that more
members
didn't vote
for the Ford
contract.
FILE PHOTO
because the
cost of living has
gone through
the roof. "
Spoken very
much like a politician
playing all
sides.
Perhaps
D'Agnolo and
Payne might
one day run for
office. This Ford
deal proves they can do just
enough to win the majority, even if
only by the slimmest of margins.
And in politics, and contract
ratification, that's all that's
needed. - ANC

Automotive News Canada - October 2023

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