“Employees who believe that management is concerned about them as a whole person – not just an employee – are more productive, more satisfied, more fulfilled. Satisfied employees mean satisfied customers, which leads to profitability.” – Anne Mulcahy, former chairperson and CEO of Xerox The above quote includes all the reasons why ensuring your employees are satisfied and engaged is crucial to your dealership’s success. While they work for you, they are the individuals your customers interact with daily. Ultimately, they represent you and the brand of your company. Therefore, you want to ensure they can thrive within your dealership. Much like how you would take a reading of your temperature or blood pressure to monitor your health, you have to take a similar approach to track the engagement and satisfaction of your employees. Fortunately, there are a variety of metrics out there that can help you keep an eye on the pulse of your team. So, if you want to ensure that your employees continue to contribute to your profitability and business success, here are four essential employee metrics you should track, and how you can improve if the metrics are unfavorable.
Employee Turnover
In a given year, how many employees are leaving your dealership? This metric is a percentage of the number of individuals leaving your company in a month divided by the average number of employees (the average of the number of employees at the beginning of the month and the end) multiplied by 100.
There are a variety of reasons individuals may move on from your business. However, if this number is getting too high, it could mean that employees are having concerns about the workplace culture, or that your competition is offering incentives that you are not yet providing. 
Why You Should Care: Turnover can cost organizations anywhere from 16 percent to 213 percent of the lost employee’s salary. It costs a lot to recruit someone else and train another person. So, you can save money by working with your employees to see how you can best meet their needs. You can do this by having an exit interview with every person that leaves your dealership to see if multiple employees mention the same problems.
Employee Satisfaction
Highly engaged teams contribute to 21 percent greater profitability for companies. Engagement is a byproduct of satisfaction. If employees are happy, they are much more likely to be engaged and productive. You and your customers benefit greatly when your employees are satisfied and engaged with the work they do. While you might not be able to provide all their wants and needs, you should make gaining insight into how they feel a priority. A great way to do this is through anonymous pulse surveys. They can be one to three question surveys that you send out to employees once a week to gauge their feelings. If you make it so that employees can respond anonymously, you have a high chance of receiving honest answers. Why You Should Care: Disengaged employees can lead to a dip in profitability and productivity for companies. Currently, 85 percent of employees all over the world are disengaged, which is leading to the collective $550 billion U.S. companies are losing every year due to employee disengagement. You want your teams to give their best, and tracking their satisfaction will allow you to ensure this.
Employee Burnout
Whether you have a small team or multiple departments of employees, burnout is a serious threat. In fact, most people are suffering from work fatigue as 61 percent of individuals who responded to a CareerBuilder survey said they were burned out on the job. Unlike the previous metrics, this one cannot be measured with one piece of data. Burnout can show up in several ways, and your metric strategy should reflect this. For example, you may want to measure how long it takes employees in certain key positions to complete specific tasks in comparison to another point in time. Also, an increase in the number of sick and vacation days employees are taking could mean an uptick in burnout. Why You Should Care: Burnout can easily lead to disengagement, and eventually to turnover. If employees are burned out, begin to look at their workloads. There might be some tasks that should be given to another department. Also, a worker may be doing the jobs of two people, and the situation requires a position to be split for a more reasonable workload.
Training and Development
Most employees are not satisfied with staying where they are. Most want to excel and move into new avenues. As a result, employees want opportunities for training and professional development. Data reveals that companies that offer comprehensive training programs have 218 percent higher income per employee than companies who do now have formalized training. Also, in 2016, 68 percent of workers said training and development is the most important workplace policy. Employees want the opportunity to do better. So, in addition to those pulse surveys, begin to ask employees where they want to grow in their careers. From there, you can create a training and development plan to give them the instruction they need. Why You Should Care: As mentioned above, employee training means higher income. So, you have a tangible reason to invest in the development and growth of your employees. In addition to profitability, you will also likely decrease turnover and improve your training and development programs since you can directly implement the skills and experiences your employees most desire into the curriculum.
Final Word
Many times, when we discuss the importance of feedback, it is only connected to customers. While this is crucial, your employees also need to be included. They are the ambassadors of your dealership and are more likely to interact with customers than senior leadership. Therefore, you want to consistently pay attention to their relationship with your company as well as their feedback. You will ensure that your workers are happier, while also helping your bottom line.
