In today’s shop operation, you must have clear policies in order to develop a strong culture. A strong culture will create a “career” atmosphere and retain the top talent compared to a “job” culture, where in essence the person is saying, "I am here until something better comes along."
This three-part article series is a full sample of what your policy manual for your team could look like for them to understand how they will conduct their business and where everyone understands where they fit in. Adjust where necessary for your operation. With these policies from these three articles in place, your operation will truly have a “career” culture within your business.
Part two continues the outline for your team.
Team member responsibilities
New team members – Hiring of new team members is a joint effort by all staff being involved in the interviewing and hiring process to make sure the suitable candidate fits into our culture and team. New team members will have a minimum 90-day training and probationary period to learn and witness the processes we have tested and proven to achieve our objectives and long-term goals. The team will manage each other’s performance as a team. Team members displaying actions that are not becoming of our business culture will first be given a verbal warning. If the action is not corrected, the team member will be given a written notice. If the team member still does not take the appropriate actions to correct the behavior, they will be terminated with just cause.
Dress code – Team members are required to wear branded clothing provided by (Your company name here), which includes black dress pants and a company-branded golf shirt, short or long-sleeved button-down shirt according to the season to clearly identify you as a representative of (Your company name here). Jeans may be worn on occasion.
Benefits and company retirement plan – All staff will be enrolled with our company health and dental plan provider after a 90-day waiting period, which the company will pay 100 percent. Any extra life and disability coverages will be the sole responsibility of the team member. Retirement plan will be contributed by the team member and may be matched to 50 percent from the employer.
Employee one-on-one bi-weekly meetings – We respect our team members and expect the same in return, therefore we feel it is important to keep all lines of communication open. We will have a set time and day that we will set aside bi-weekly to discuss with individual team members any concerns or achievements that they may have or to just spend a few minutes catching up. We will also take this time to go over any concerns that need to be addressed.
Staff meetings – We will hold monthly staff meetings with all team members present to discuss in a group any concerns and achievements and if we have any changes that we wish to implement. Potluck lunches where each team member will be required to contribute will be held monthly to enhance team-building with a different theme being chosen. Team-building events to be planned quarterly outside of work.
Overtime, salary — The team member acknowledges that his/her employment, while a full-time position, is not an hourly position and understands that the hours of work required to fulfill his/her obligations may be irregular and in excess of 8 hours per day or 44 hours per week. The team member also acknowledges and agrees that his/her employment, is in a managerial and supervisory capacity, as contemplated by applicable employment standards legislations. The team member further acknowledges that the compensation he/she receives shall be in full satisfaction of any entitlements or claims for additional hours worked or overtime.
Overtime, hourly – We typically do not pay overtime, as we generally complete jobs in the hours of operation for the business. If there is a job that has to be completed by the end of the day or requires a short period of time to be completed, the technician will stay past 5 p.m. to finish the job so that hoists are available for the morning appointments. If a team member needs to take time away from work or wishes to leave early, they may do so without being docked pay in lieu of time worked.
Mentorship, training and development – We have a relationship with (insert your business coach's name and company here), who coaches and mentors us on upcoming trends in the industry and provides us with monthly reporting objectives and trends to date. Together with our coach, we look at ways of managing and growing our business according to the opportunities within the business to build net income. Pertinent numbers and objectives will be displayed and discussed daily, weekly, monthly and year to date.
Tools and equipment – (Your company name here) provides certain shop tools, equipment and diagnostic tools and subscriptions for use by team members, and team members are required to use the machines properly and to clean and maintain them as required. Team members are encouraged to purchase and update their own tools and toolboxes as new technologies become available to stay as efficient and productive as they can be.
Social media – There is no posting or discussing of any person, vehicle or business practices on social media for freedom of information and client confidentiality breaches.
Warehouse distributors – we have developed close relationships with our parts distributors and are loyal to them. With this loyalty, we are focused not on price but on service and quality. We know that these relationships we have developed are longstanding, and we know that if we have an issue, it will be taken care of.
Communication is of the utmost importance to our success. Customer service and customer satisfaction are what make us stand apart from the dealer.
We hold daily scrums in the morning prior to the start of the workday to go over the day and again in the evening to discuss any challenges that may have occurred and to address our achievements.
We achieve this by listening carefully to the client, asking questions which allow us to really understand their concerns and issues, and always address these primary concerns first before addressing any other issues we may have found upon the inspection of the vehicle. Explain how you understand their concerns and how you clearly see their concerns being resolved. Asking the proper questions allows us to really understand their concerns and issues. We are hired by the client to advise and resolve their concerns with their vehicle for safety, reliability and efficiency. We do not sell — we counsel and advise based on the facts as we understand them. Communication consists of more of the client talking – the focus must be on learning the client’s needs, goals, and concerns. It is about building a relationship.
Closed-ended questions make people feel manipulated. Conversations reveal opportunities. Being able to ask a question or add a piece of information in real time is how you increase revenue.
