Finding ways to recognize success can keep employees at your dealership.

By Denise L. Rondini, Executive Editor

Truck dealers know that in order for their businesses to continue to grow, they must attract young people to their organizations. And once they have hired younger employees, they face the seemingly insurmountable task of keeping them. Gone are the days when you hired someone and they stayed with you for their entire career.

Unlike Baby Boomers, Members of Gen X (born between 1960 and 1975) and Gen Y (born between 1976 and 2001) do not expect to spend their entire career with one organization. However, there are things you can do to help ensure they stay at your dealership for many years.

One of the main ways to keep younger employees at your dealership is to recognize their achievements. According to Dr. Bob Nelson of Motivation, Inc., speaking at the recent Commercial Vehicle Solutions Network’s Aftermarket Distribution Summit, “Recognition is acknowledging and appreciating people for their achievements based on performance.”         

Nelson pointed out that in a recent study 99.4 percent of employees expect to be recognized when they do a good job, but only 12 percent feel they are recognized in important ways.

“If you create a culture of recognition, employees will be seven times more likely to stay with your company,” Nelson says. In addition, he says that committed employees deliver 57 percent more efficiency than uncommitted ones.

In the past, dealers were most likely to use monetary rewards to recognize employee achievement. While fair compensation is a given with younger employees, cash rewards are not necessarily the best way to acknowledge their achievements.

So what is? There is no easy answer to that question. Nelson suggests sitting down with each employee to set goals and to discover what is important to them.

In a nationwide survey of 2010 college graduates conducted by Achievers, Inc., 84 percent of survey respondents ranked travel rewards as one of their top three reward choices. Experiential rewards and products of their choosing were two and three on the list.

Gen X and Gen Y workers also tend to desire a more balanced lifestyle, so rewards in the form of more time off with pay are also a good choice.

In a White Paper titled The New Rules of Recognition: How to Engage Gen X and Gen Y, Achievers, Inc. points out employees want to be part of the recognition process, which means peer-to-peer recognition is becoming more important. However, these programs must be structured so they recognize everyone who deserves it and not someone who was randomly selected as has been done in the past.

In addition, rather than structuring your rewards program based on workplace tenure, it should be based on results. This means you need to set concrete goals with measurable objectives with each employee as well as determine the appropriate reward for achieving goals.

Managers need to provide feedback on an ongoing basis to let younger employees know how they are progressing toward the goal.

The final point to consider in recognizing Gen X and Gen Y employees is how to make the employee’s achievements known to others. According to Achievers, Inc., “The newest trend in making employee recognition meaningful is to leverage social media programs to enhance the power of employee recognition.”

This can include posting achievements in the dealership’s newsletter and on your website. And you can encourage employees to post to their Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter accounts as well.

“Companies that enable employees to publicly share recognition can stand out as employers of choice in front of an online audience that can run into the thousands or even millions,” according to the Achievers, Inc. White Paper.

And that can help you with attracting talented young people in the future.