9:06 am, March 2, 2020
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THE latest BDO Motor Salary report shows that once management remunerations are excluded, there has been an average decrease of three per cent in dealership pay, with a significant drop in commissions and bonuses the main reason for the reduction.
To counter this, dealers are looking for new and innovative, but critically cost-effective, benefits to attract the best people to their businesses.
Forty-nine per cent of automotive employees interviewed by Copeland Select Automotive Recruitment said that they would decline a job offer if the non-monetary benefits were not strong enough.
Making your dealership an ‘employer of choice’ in the automotive job market
Dealers are looking to develop an Employee Value Proposition (EVP) that meets the interests of automotive employees.
According to a survey by AON, only 24.5 per cent of employers say they have a clear EVP and almost a third of those with an EVP don’t actually communicate it to employees.
What is an Employee Car Ownership Scheme and an All Employee Scheme?
An Employee Car Ownership Scheme (ECOS) is a method recognised by HMRC of providing a car benefit to an employee without it constituting a traditional taxable company car. Employees do not pay company car tax liabilities and no employer Class 1A NIC applies. Future increases in company car tax also do not apply, making it beneficial to those who are currently entitled to a company car.
However, within every retailer there will be a large number of employees who are not entitled to a company car, but who contribute significantly to the running of the business and may be a key focus within a dealer’s recruitment strategy.
An All Employee Scheme is structured to provide all the key benefits of the ECOS to the wider workforce without any cost to the employer.
‘The flexible structure of the schemes allows dealers to determine what the employee pays each month and to optimise the benefit for both the employee and the business’ – James Edwards, Head of Network Development, Car Benefit Solutions (CBS)
Five great ways a dealer can boost recruitment through the effective use of an ECO Scheme
1. Include the scheme in job adverts and employee review sites to attract top talent, setting your business’s offering apart from the rest.
2. Provide representative examples at interview to demonstrate the indicative value of the benefit.
3. Use existing employees’ reviews to advocate the benefits of the scheme. CBS’ Customer Satisfaction survey finds that 98 per cent of drivers would recommend the scheme to a colleague.
4. Let your employees know that the scheme offers affordable access to the popular and premier models they really want to drive.
5. Utilise the scheme to control the level of benefit provided. The benefit can be tiered to complement the management structure of the business or opened out to the wider workforce.
Maximise the potential of employee car provision for your business, whilst delivering a rewarding staff benefit with Car Benefit Solutions. You can also follow Car Benefit Solutions on LinkedIn.
Learn more about the benefits of an ECO Scheme for dealers and their employees in the video below:
Car Benefit Solutions is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. Registered office: The Barracks, 400 Bolton Road, Bury, BL8 2DA.
