Leaders from both the National Automobile Dealers Association and American Truck Dealers are asking members to take part in NADA’s new Dealership Workforce Study that will analyze employee compensation, benefits, turnover and other data.

NADA and ATD member dealers have until May 2 to share their feedback, and the association emphasized there is no cost to participate in the study.

“The study will provide dealers with valuable comparative data to assess and adjust, if necessary, their employee compensation programs, health and retirement benefit packages, and find out what it takes to be competitive in recruiting new employees,” stated Marilynn Youngs, senior director of NADA University. 

“All individual dealership data will be kept secure and remain strictly confidential,” Youngs added

Once the study is completed, the association indicated that participating dealers will receive a free copy of the basic report that compares their individual dealership to the regional and national industry, as well as the Driven management guide summary report. 

NADA pointed out that dealers who do not participate in the survey will not be eligible to receive the comparative Dealership Workforce Study reports but can purchase the Driven management guide.

“So far, dealer participation has been strong, and dealers are telling us that it’s quick and easy to complete the survey,” Youngs shared.

“A higher number of dealers participating in the study will result in more detailed reports comparing data at the national, regional, state and metro levels,” she went on to say.

NADA 20 Group member Jeffrey Weber — president and general manager of Anderson-Weber, Inc. in Dubuque, Iowa — says he and his office manager spent about an hour compiling the information for two dealerships, completing the online survey and uploading the payroll data files.

“The more data collected, the better the final output will be for dealers,” stated Weber, who also is encouraging dealers to submit their data. “The study will be a useful tool when looking at employee compensation and benefits packages.”

To streamline the process for dealership chains with multiple stores, Youngs mentioned that the NADA University staff is ready to work with dealers and their managers who wish to provide an aggregate pull of payroll data, instead of providing data for each store individually. 

To participate in the 2012 Dealership Workforce Study, visit www.nadaworkforcestudy.com.

For more information or questions, contact Cynthia Cook with NADA University at (703) 821-7197 or ccook@nada.org.