For 2015, OpenRoad Auto Group was named one of the 50 Best Employers in Canada. The survey, conducted by global consulting firm Aon Hewitt, ranked OpenRoad eighth overall out of the top 50. The accolade also represents the third time in five years that OpenRoad has been named one of Canada’s best employers.
Additionally, within the last decade, OpenRoad Auto Group has seen significant growth and expansion. One of the most recent developments was the acquisition of three iconic Vancouver dealerships, the BMW Store, MINI Yaletown and Rolls-Royce Motor Cars Vancouver.
To find out a little more about OpenRoad’s success and why it has been consistently ranked as one of Canada’s best companies to work for, Canadian auto dealer interviewed Christian Chia, President and CEO, OpenRoad Auto Group.
HE: How does it feel to be recognized as eighth out of Canada’s 50 Best Employers for 2015?
CC: It feels great, though it did come as a surprise to us, to be recognized among organizations across the country. At the end of the day, the recognition is validation of our efforts in making OpenRoad Auto Group a desirable place to work.
HE: What do you think have been some of the key attributes in achieving such success and recognition on a consistent basis?
CC: I think there are several key factors. For us, as an organization there are three things I think we have done quite well. The first is realizing that employee engagement is one of our critical metrics. Second, it’s having a solid process to measure employee engagement, and third, having a good framework in place upon which to act on that metric and holding people accountable for it.
We utilize Aon Hewitt to conduct the study, and they are very good at what they do. Typically, these studies identify four or five key areas and from that we look to identify trends — where we are going, what has improved and where we are not doing so well or moving backwards. In those areas we are seeing concerns, we want to understand why and put countermeasures in place to fix them.
HE: It seems that in theory, the concept of understanding employee engagement seems relatively straightforward. In practice, it often seems hard for organizations to really get quality feedback. What are your thoughts on that?
CC: It is not easy and it is not a perfect science. We have always utilized a third party and when you start conducting surveys like this it can be scary, especially for the first couple of years. But once you’ve been doing it a while, studies like this become a very effective tool for management. If you can get good participation from your employees, a study provides very valuable feedback and clearly highlight those areas where there are opportunities to grow.
HE: Can you tell us a little about some of the programs you’ve assembled to help assist and support your employees and associates in helping the organization grow?
CC: For us, the status quo simply isn’t acceptable. Our employees and associates want growth — they ask for it and we’ve made a concerted effort to hire and promote from within. When we started to do that, we felt we had an obligation to ensure those people wanted the additional responsibility and advancement. The desire to move ahead simply wasn’t sufficient. We had to provide the training skills and ability to move forward, and our sizeable HR department is one of the key pillars in our organization whose role is to do just that. When the commitment to hire from within was first made 10 years ago, we had an obligation to make sure our staff were sufficiently skilled and trained, so we started building internal development programs. One I’m particularly proud of is our Leadership Program. It’s like an OpenRoad MBA that we administer in-house that also includes a graduation component.
HE: When it comes to work-life balance what do you think are some of the factors organizations need to consider when it comes to having happy, productive employees?
CC: When it comes to work-life balance, I think there are two major factors we need to try and understand. Firstly, as an individual, you need to like what you do in your career. If you don’t then you’re not likely to be very successful at it. Secondly, in our business we want automotive industry professionals. It doesn’t mean you need to be in the industry for 25 years or have tons of experience but it does mean that you take both your career and your industry very seriously and you want to be the best you can be. And I think that when you have people who understand their role — that it is a career and a profession — that’s when you get results.
At the same time you also want to have fun. One of the things we do every year is something called OpenRoad Games where we have different teams from within the organization compete against each other in three or four different sports (last time it was go-karting, bowling and volleyball). It’s about having fun but also competing. It creates great participation and teamwork and gives us a chance to get to know each other outside the work environment and to get our families involved.
HE: How do you think businesses can work to recognize the efforts of their employees? Do you have any examples you can share?
CC: I think a key part of creating a special workplace environment is being able to recognize people for doing great job internally, for going above and beyond. And I think it is something many businesses do often struggle with. One of the ways we’ve approached it is through an app we’ve developed called OpenRoad Hearts. We have around 750 employees and they have this app on their smartphones. It allows our associates to give and receive little hearts for going above and beyond. Since we launched it in June 2013 there have been over 3,000 hearts given and 3,000 hearts received within our organization, so we’ve seen around 6,000 individual engagements. There is a feed so it works like a social media channel. Everybody within OpenRoad Auto Group can see those hearts. There are photos and comments and our associates can provide feedback and endorse them. It is often the little things that count.
HE: On a final note, when employees are happy and engaged, they tend to be productive. As an automotive retailer where do you think our industry can have the biggest impact when it comes to the customer?
CC: At OpenRoad Auto Group, we focus a lot on our strategic role and also the role the dealership plays in the customer ownership/purchase cycle. Today, the role of the dealership is actually quite narrow. The qualifying of the product and the brand — that’s all done by the owners themselves. I think where we are relevant and can really add value is in the test drive and also aftersales service. We need to make sure all contractual paperwork and pricing is done in a positive, fast and efficient way. I think it is very important for dealers to understand that.
