As the automotive industry evolves both through technological and societal change, so too must its workforce in terms of demographic and skills.
However, the evolution is only just beginning. According to the Institute of the Motor Industry, there currently 23,000 vacancies in the sector, which equates to four per cent of the workforce. While this presents an opportunity to accelerate change, it also emphasises what a precious commodity well-trained and motivated colleagues are, and how critical engagement and retention has become.
Here, we speak to Stuart Sandell, AVP Sales for Insurance Replacement UK & Ireland at Enterprise, about the changing face of people and skills in the sector.
Automotive is experiencing a widespread skills shortage – is Enterprise facing a similar challenge and how are you overcoming it?
Our Management Trainee programme recruits graduates and develops them, starting with working in rental branches so they learn the business from the customer perspective. We recruit from 100 universities to attract the widest possible talent pool and also to reflect the diversity of the 450-plus communities where we have branches and operations.
We then promote from within, which means that our employees are always first in line for management and senior roles. This is something that our people value enormously and means we enjoy strong retention. Another factor is that people are promoted primarily on objective performance and in particular, for their customer service scores. Again, this boosts retention.
As a customer service business, we are competing less for technical roles compared to bodyshops and automotive employers. As a result, a technical skills shortage is likely to affect us less notably.
Can you give us an insight into your commitment to training and career development?
‘Are you having fun?’ was one of our founder Jack Taylor’s most quoted phrases, so being a great place to work has been part of our company values since Enterprise was established in 1957.
Employee career development is vital to our continuing growth because we promote almost exclusively from within. Almost all our senior leadership started as a Management Trainee in a branch, as I did. Working at the coal face of rental brings a unique experience of the needs of different customers – and especially bodyshops. You develop personal relationships that teach you how best to support your customers.
We provide employees with on-the-job training and a wide range of formal classroom training, as well as comprehensive mentoring programmes that assist mentees in their professional and personal development by focusing on customer service, company culture, diversity and inclusion, leadership, interpersonal skills and work-life balance.
Where specific skills are required, such as external qualifications or technical capabilities, we partner with organisations such as Thatcham Research to ensure our employees get the training they require.
Is company culture the key to engagement and retention?
Company culture is one of the primary drivers of engaging and retaining great people. We have a culture of leading by listening – that comes from the top and filters down all the way through. That principle applies whether you’re a small business, a regional group or a multinational rental company with tens of thousands of employees.
There are so many initiatives, such as reverse mentoring, learning sessions and employee resource groups, that have been established because of the initiative of one employee and because their manager has sponsored them. It’s core to how we create strong teams that are committed to building a strong business.
How can effective partnerships mitigate a shortage of skills within the supply chain?
We are also committed to skills development across the industry as this strengthens us all, and we support our partners with a number of initiatives and especially through AutoRaise. A good example is that we’ve made our unspent Apprentice Levy funds available to bodyshops in our approved repairer network through this partnership.
Partnership is key when it comes to ensuring everyone has access to the skills they need to prosper. Being part of a community of businesses in the automotive supply chain means we can share knowledge and best practice and work together.
We share our knowledge and insight on new vehicles and technologies with our repair partners so we can all better understand them and support our ultimate customers – the driver. This extends through our manufacturer relationships.
Our repair partners will work on a diverse mix of vehicle types which are often older. Sharing information about emerging technologies is something we can offer because the majority of our fleet is so new. It’s part of how we work together to provide the best service to the driver at the roadside who needs their vehicle to be repaired and also a replacement car while that is happening.
The rush towards digitalisation/automation is gathering pace – how does Enterprise balance technology with the human touch?
We find that often the pace of change in technology actually increases the need for the human touch, as people need advice and guidance in how to manage the new, fast-moving technologies. People might want additional assistance when renting an electric vehicle for the first time, or when determining if a daily rental from a branch or automated rental through a 24/7 car club is the more suitable choice for their needs.
Great people and great technology are a strong combination, which is why we have invested significantly in a number of bespoke platforms to support our repair and insurance partners, such as our technology business Entegral. One of the reasons for this is that we ourselves have a fleet of 130,000 vehicles that need maintaining and repairing every year, quickly and efficiently.
We think we can help the industry by introducing technologies that streamline processes for us – and can do the same for repairers and insurers.
How are colleagues and services adapting to changing customer behaviours and attitudes?
Enterprise was founded on the concept of listening to our customers and we’ve been doing it for more than 60 years. Our free Pick Up service is a great example because we realised customers would be interested in an alternative to delivery and collection. This has the added benefit that it’s easier to explain a vehicle and rental process to a customer in a branch.
We then developed bespoke tablet technology so that our employees can transact vehicle rental anywhere, not just at the branch counter. The same technology helps us to pinpoint vehicles across our fleet so that branches can locate a particular size or make of vehicle for a customer.
We still provide a low-touch/no-touch option for kerb-side rentals and we’ve now started looking at how car club vehicles might be suitable for a short-term replacement rental with some repairers. All these services were introduced because customers wanted them. Adapting to customer requirements is how we strive to deliver great service.
A recent IMI report highlighted a lack of diversity in automotive; how is Enterprise promoting inclusion and gender equality within its own workforce?
It is good business sense to recruit from the widest talent pool possible, and that’s why diversity is so important to us. We can see from our own business the importance of ensuring our employee base mirrors the communities that we serve.
Inclusion is an essential to ensure the success of our business model, which is based on promoting from within. Our culture must make everyone feel welcome and that they can be themselves at work, getting the support to flourish as well as equal access to opportunities as they emerge.
We measure everything, and this is especially true when it comes to diversity, equity and inclusion. We track recruitment, employee development and promotions, as well as the investment that we make in programmes that address particular diversities who require specific support or representation. We also benchmark ourselves within our industry and beyond so we can learn and identify areas for improvement.
A key aspect of this is encouraging our employees to find their voice and partner across the industry. This is where being active in groups such as the Automotive 30% Club is so essential, and also supporting the industry with programmes through organisations such as AutoRaise.
Our diversity, equity and inclusion strategy is about how we can be a better business and a better partner, and also how we can help our customers and partners. As a large global business, we see the potential for Enterprise to support the industry in becoming a great place for everyone to work and thrive.
