Firstly, a reminder that the time available to enter the Dealer Of The Year Awards is rapidly running out.

Dealers and manufacturers have until this coming Monday October 10th at 5pm to get nominations in for businesses and individuals.

It's going to be a great event this year, with expanded categories, so please don't miss out on gaining that recognition that you deserve. The Gala Awards dinner, that follows on from the day's Conference, is always a special night - and this year it could be your company and your people taking home the accolades.

So get entering!

Staff retention

Talking of the Conference, one of the key areas of concentration this year will be issues surrounding staffing in the dealership. One aspect of this subject that might perhaps not always receive as much attention as it should, is the notion of employee retention. 

It's understandable that when considering the whole topic of staffing, focus can often be principally drawn to how do we attract candidates to vacant positions? Crucial to the ongoing success of any business though, must be doing all we can to ensure that key team members choose to stay.

I heard from a dealer contact just recently with a tale similar to one that, unfortunately, I've had related to me by several of our readers over the years. This dealership had taken on two apprentices who they had hoped would stick with the business - but alas, both decided to move on to other industries within a short space of time of each other. Finding two young people with an interest in our sector did seem "too good to be true" is how this dealer put it. But surely it shouldn't be?

Another dealer contacted me, exasperated that some recent advice they'd been given by a supplier to keep hold of staff was to basically throw money at the problem. They told me the supplier in essence said that dealers needed to “get our hands in our pockets and employ the best"! Hardly ground-breaking advice to what is a serious issue.

On a related note, I saw the results of a survey last week, that claimed one-third of all employees in the UK, which equates to almost 10 million people, feel undervalued at work. How accurate those figures are and what the veracity of the methods this survey employed to discover that, I can't attest to. What I can believe though is that anyone who feels undervalued at work - and not just financially - is likely to have their attention drawn elsewhere.

I mused a couple of weeks ago in this blog that perhaps an exercise such as entering the Dealer Of The Year Awards, could have the bonus result of a boost to staff morale. If some mutual backslapping were to take place as a consequence of taking a step back and considering everyone's achievements, that's all for the good. Hard work can be at risk of being taken for granted if it isn't acknowledged - which is not a healthy environment in which to work.

It does seem that there are some non-monetary steps that a business can take though, to help towards making sure staff opt to stay. In our upcoming issue of the magazine for example, our SME Digest editor Adam Bernstein, writes an article entitled 'Use stay interviews to understand employees'. In it Adam says that employers can find themselves in a double-bind. "On the one hand they can struggle to recruit, but on the other, they need to prevent good employees leaving," he states. "It makes sense, then, for employers to retain good employees and one tool to do this is to run what is termed a ‘stay interview’." Make sure you read the whole piece in the next mag where Adam explains exactly what this is.

Also at November's Conference, it's been confirmed that one of the workshop sessions, which will be run by specialist recruitment experts Stuart Goodinson and Grace Nugent, will be called 'Great Business or Great People - which is most important?' In it, they say they will work through with our dealer delegates  " . .how to find the people your business needs, understand the things that will make them want to work with you and most importantly how to make sure they stay and grow with your business too". Sound advice indeed.

So whilst it may be worrying for business owners in this current climate, that staff might only be on the lookout for the largest pay packet - that might not necessarily be the case. Experts who clearly know way more about these things than I, do seem to have theories and practices that can be actioned in the workplace.

The trick will be finding which best suits your dealership and your staff.