Welcome to AM Best UK Dealerships to Work For 2017, a chance for us to honour and celebrate the best employers in the motor retail sector.

Fifteen dealerships made the grade in our inaugural year, out of the 40 or so who participated. We hope this programme will grow in future years, attracting a range of businesses from the largest PLCs to the local owner-drivers. Registration for 2018 is now open.

Employee engagement is an essential ingredient for a successful business. No company, large or small, can succeed over the long term without a motivated, well-led workforce that understands and believes in the company’s mission.

AM Best UK Dealerships to Work For CTAThe next seven pages are a celebration of elite employers in the motor retail industry who have proven that they know what it takes to create an environment where people love to come to work. 

The goal of the program is to raise the bar among industry employers, creating excellence and employee engagement in the workplace that will attract talented people for years to come. Andrew O’Kelly, European partnership development director for Best Companies Group, said: “It is not an easy task to make this list, so those being honoured here should be extremely proud of their organisations and, most importantly, their staff.

“For years, all of us in business have focused on our product or brand. We spend hours, and untold amounts of money, marketing our products and services. While that will always be important, these dealerships – like many businesses – have realised they also need to focus on their brand as an employer. 

“Being named one of the best places to work in this industry just gave these companies’ employer brands a huge boost. What they had to do to get there is not easy and their accomplishment is most certainly significant.” 

 

Insights into the Best UK Dealerships to Work For

The AM Best UK Dealerships To Work For are engaging their employees at record levels. About 92% of their staff feel emotionally connected to their employer. The national average of employees across all UK industries who show similar engagement levels is 41%, according to Best Companies Group’s data.

Of the staff at our 15 Best Dealerships, 96% said they were proud to work at their dealership, compared with 86% at the dealerships that applied but did not make the listing. Of the winners’ staff, 87% said they looked forward to going to work most days, 10ppts higher than at the unlisted dealerships.

The results showed an engaged workforce can also help a dealership as it expands, as 89% of employees at the best dealerships to work for would recommend working there to a friend, 14ppts more than at other dealerships. At the best dealerships, 97% of the workforce said they were willing to give extra effort to help the business succeed.

Employees at the best dealerships feel supported, respected, recognised for their good work, and have strong connections with their supervisors, who are open to hearing their opinions or feedback. ‘Relationship with supervisor’ was the highest-scoring survey segment overall, at 92%. Dealerships that did not make the list scored 81%.

Leadership and planning are strengths of the UK’s best dealerships – 93% of their employees said they understood the long-term strategy of the dealership, and 94% had confidence in its leadership, 17ppts higher than at the other dealerships. At best dealerships, 90% of workers believe their senior leaders care about employees’ well-being and 91% felt the leaders lived the core values of the business, compared with 72% and 78% of staff at unranked dealerships.

Pay and benefits is the area in which dealers need to improve the most. At dealerships that did not make the list, 41% of employees do not believe their pay is fair for the work they perform, and 38% are not satisfied overall with their staff benefits scheme. The negativity was lower for best dealerships, at 28% and 19% respectively, nevertheless these proportions remain significant.

 

About AM Best UK Dealerships To Work For

■ The survey is open to all UK dealerships with more than 15 full-time employees. Dealers enter as single dealerships, not groups. It is free to participate.

■ Managed by Best Companies Group (BCG), it has a two-part assessment process:

An employer survey, where BCG asks dealerships about the benefits they provide for their staff and what measures they take to promote staff engagement and development, such as flexible working, team events and leadership training. The results of this part of the survey will constitute 25% of their overall score. 

An employee engagement survey, where BCG asks every employee in the dealership to anonymously state whether they agree or disagree with a series of 77 different statements. This gives a very clear picture of the overall level of staff engagement. This part of the survey carries 75% of the marks towards a dealership’s overall score. 

■ BCG analyses the results, which determines those dealerships that may proudly refer to themselves as an AM Best UK Dealership to Work For.

■ AM and BCG present the successful dealerships with their AM Best UK Dealerships To Work For awards during Automotive Management Live. The accolade may be displayed as they wish, such as on their stationery, website and on job adverts.

■ The headline trends are published by AM magazine.

■ Each participating dealership has the option to purchase their own BCG Employee Feedback Report, summarising the employee data collected through the survey process and containing transcribed anonymised employee comments and the UK dealership benchmarking data from the winners and non-winners.