With many collision repair shops across the country struggling to find and retain talent, an effective long-term strategy is growing the company from within. This is an approach DCR Systems has been able to effectively implement and execute. Not only does this allow team members to learn and move into new roles, but it also helps with employee retention and gives the business a competitive edge. As a result, the company has found great success and fulfillment with this commitment. Michael Giarrizzo, CEO, and Cheryl Boswell, CFO, of DCR Systems, respectively, sat down with ABRN to discuss the advantages of promoting from within your four walls and how to get started down that path.
Adopting a culture of opportunity
Giarrizzo: Our company culture and DNA are all about opportunity and I encourage other businesses to adopt a similar approach if they want to retain good people. Employees deserve and earn opportunities every day by furthering the business’s cause. A facility’s best and often untapped resources are the people working for the organization. They are the ones who clearly see solutions and improvement opportunities. A big part of an employee’s future success largely stems from adopting that “can do” culture. Promotion from within is a leg up based on embracing that culture and cause.
Boswell: When companies grow and evolve, employees do too. New opportunities are created along the way. Who better to be in those roles than existing team members? Our philosophy is that improvements and process enhancements are best driven by those doing the work. When you allow employees to play a key role in the evolution of your business and provide them with opportunities, it is the only way for both the company and the employees to grow.
Lessons learned when hiring from within
Giarrizzo: We’ve always taken the approach of doing things fundamentally different than other collision repair facilities and being what I refer to as “segmented” in our process steps. This has allowed us to grow our employees’ skills from within the company by not subjecting them to an all-or-nothing approach. They can add value to the process and product without requiring master-level skills in every part of what we do.It is similar to the medical field, where everyone in the operating room does not have surgical skills. Their work is also segmented and everyone plays a role that is interdependent to the entire set of steps. The technicians of tomorrow will require a much different skill set than they do today and did yesterday. Therefore, a workforce’s future skills must be built from within rather than be recruited from the outside.
Boswell: The best-kept secret is growing the team sitting in front of us. People will not always speak up when they want to try new roles and grow. When individuals enter the workforce, they should receive on-the-job training, regardless of their industry. Ask and listen and then take the time to develop them.
A company that is supportive and encourages mentoring is key to helping people grow and stay within the company and industry. Those who believe they are improving their skill sets and are creating value will typically remain at the same company. As an industry, we cannot rely on hiring technicians away from each other. Instead, we should be recruiting people into the industry.
Creating a structured path for employees
Giarrizzo: Every employee deserves to have a complete understanding of their career path and potential. They also deserve to understand the progress they are making at all times. This provides fulfillment as well as ongoing learnings as vehicles continue to advance in their complex systems.
Work standards and an internal training program yield so many benefits, with the most gratifying being able to facilitate the career growth of your people and making a difference in their lives.
Boswell: When interviewing, one of the most popular questions is, “What are my chances of advancement?” If you don’t have a path for your employees, they are not going to envision themselves working with your organization long-term. Nothing is more costly than a high turnover rate.
How to create a structured path
Giarrizzo: Documenting your process is critical to creating a training program that facilitates career development. It’s imperative to document what you do and why you do it, thus creating and documenting clear and precise work standards. This includes defining an employee’s job position, mapping out a career path, identifying his or her needs, creating training programs to meet those needs and then tracking the progress made along the way. Boswell: Once a career path is created, it’s important to document the steps needed to advance to the next level. Set up times for regular employee reviews to talk about their progress, goals and areas of improvement. This doesn’t necessarily mean a pay increase!
A case study: From body tech to store leader
Giarrizzo: A clear set of work standards for a position like store leader provides a clear path and understanding of the skills needed to be ready for the position. Once those are determined, then a training and coaching plan can be set in place. We’ve found that structure provides for both external and internal support. This allows people to learn skills or process steps while being supported along that learning curve.
We can formalize a training plan that is relatively easy to evaluate the progress being made. The outcome is that virtually anyone in the company has the opportunity to grow from within and achieve any position.
Boswell: At DCR Systems, Jerry Diorio, Marnee Miller, and Melissa Novotnak were all promoted to store leader positions in the last few months and are great examples of this philosophy.
Jerry joined DCR Systems two years ago as a body technician at The Collision Center location in Rockland, Massachusetts. He was asked to step into the store leader role six months ago and is acquiring new duties. Jerry has great energy and enthusiasm for doing the best for our customers and team.
Marnee started 10 years ago as a customer service representative (CSR) at the Classic Accident Repair Center in Mentor, Ohio. Promoted to store leader this year, she is now responsible for ensuring processes are being executed by team members. This includes staying in constant communication with the team to strategize the day/week/month for success. Marnee can be described as a natural leader. She is not only knowledgeable, but she is also a great teacher.
Melissa joined DCR Systems as an administration leader at the Metro Accident Repair Center in Brookpark, Ohio, in 2012. In her new role, she is responsible for the day-to-day operations as well as managing the inventory and ensuring employees are educated and follow DCR processes. She works with customers to meet their needs and expectations and ensure they have a positive experience out of a bad situation. Melissa is committed, persistent and compassionate. Her leadership skills have resulted in consistent, strong month-over-month store performance.
For more information about DCR Systems, visit https://www.dcrsystems.com/ or email Michael Giarrizzo at [email protected].
