“I’ve gone to big GM functions, and I always say you never have to wait in line for the women’s washroom,” said Caron, who was among the CDK survey participants.
Mentors, Advice
Sales roles in particular have a poor representation of women because of the long hours and lack of flexibility, said Judy Farcus Serra, chief financial officer of Headquarter Hyundai in Sanford, Florida.
“It’s a dog-eat-dog kind of setup, an every man for them self kind of environment on the sales floor,” said Serra, another CDK survey participant. Women need mentors to offer advice and support and few get such help, she said.
Toyota Mega Dealer Embraces Online Using Startup’s Software
Women tend to get more support if they work in a dealership run by other women, with 63 percent saying the gender ratio in key positions was favorable at women-run dealerships compared with 29 percent in those run by men, CDK found. Women were also much less likely to be harassed, according to respondents.
AutoNation, the largest dealer group in the country, has set goals to hire more women into general manager roles and at every other level of the company, said Andrea Schliessman, senior director of learning and development.
The share of women running AutoNation dealerships has increased to 7 percent this year from 4 percent in 2012, and the number of assistant service managers has more than doubled to exceed 300 in that time frame, said Dan Best, head of human resources for the Fort Lauderdale, Florida-based company.
Work-Life Balance
AutoNation also is rethinking compensation and schedules to help recruit more women. Rather than pay employees entirely on commission and sometimes require them to work seven days a week, they can now opt to receive about half their pay in salary and also work closer to a 40 hour week, according to Best.