Whether employees are compensated with partial salary or pure commission, total pay ranges from about $42,000 to $47,000 for a starting sales associate, and the more flexible schedule can be attractive to female candidates, Best said.
“Late last year we started looking at changing things that had been a barrier to women and other employees,” Schliessman said. So far this year, she said about 20 percent of new hires are women.
Barragan said she ultimately bought a used Honda Civic from another dealer the day she was turned off by the sales pitch at AutoNation Honda. She’s now one of four women at the dealership selling alongside about 25 men.
“I do feel that women are more comfortable working with a woman sales associate,” said Barragan, who eventually bought a new vehicle from her current employer. “They can feel like there’s a little more trust, maybe, that we’re not trying to just push something on them. Even as a customer myself, I felt that way, too. I didn’t want someone pushing something on me.”
This article was provided by Bloomberg News.