Staff turnover and ballooning expenses continue to plague dealerships - and the two problems are related in many ways. Because the average yearly dealership employee turnover is 65%, its impact on your business is easy to see. Imagine the cost of training 65% of your staff every year.

High turnover has many causes, including unclear job duty definitions and assignments, a murky organizational structure, and an inadequate training curriculum. But because a clear-cut organizational structure and training curriculum will ultimately result from defining jobs, your first priority is to write accurate job descriptions for each position in your dealership.

Writing the Job Description
You should have on file for each position written job descriptions that clearly define the assigned responsibilities. If you don't, the simplest way to get them is to ask each employee to record exactly his or her duties. Each employee's written description should include:

• Job title,
• Immediate supervisor,
• Overall responsibility, and
• Typical duties.

Distribute the Workload
After you establish clear job descriptions, shift the focus to increasing efficiency. Using the written descriptions, you can determine which duties are essential and which are marginal. By eliminating unnecessary tasks, you can cut expenses.

Reviewing job descriptions can also help you determine whether you have properly distributed workload among employees. You may conclude that you need to rearrange jobs within the dealership. Or you may have to revise the functions and duties, or assign additional or different tasks as circumstances change.

Inform employees of their co-workers' responsibilities and how jobs are interrelated. Concise job descriptions help an employee to take over another employee's tasks when necessary. Whether caused by an emergency or a common event - such as a vacation or parental leave - knowing co-workers' responsibilities is essential.

Hire the Right Candidate
Before interviewing applicants, review job descriptions to understand the position's daily activities and determine exactly what skills are necessary to perform these tasks. List skills and personality traits necessary for each position. This procedure will also help you calculate salary ranges.

Evaluate Performance
When preparing performance evaluations, clearly defined job descriptions come in handy. These descriptions make management aware of the specific responsibilities assigned to each employee. Job descriptions also help determine whether employees are performing their designated tasks, and if they are exceeding or not meeting expectations.

Seek Professional Help
As high staff turnover continues to adversely affect automobile dealerships, writing and updating job descriptions for all positions remains important. For help, please call us. We would be glad to assist you in lowering your turnover rate and raising your profits.