Cheryl Thompson, CEO at the Center for Automotive Diversity, Inclusion and Advancement, echoed the importance of flexibility in today’s workplace.
“I was a young single mother for many years, and I just always wanted that flexibility,” Thompson said. “You would think it’s not that hard. But I think that people get stuck in their ways. They have always been used to doing things a certain way and it’s difficult to change, and we’re pushing against the status quo. I’m thrilled that’s the silver lining that the pandemic gave us. I just really hope that we don’t have amnesia and that we’re able to bring this flexibility forward and do even better when we can be intentional about it.”
Offering flexibility could also be a solution to a longtime industry pain point: a shortage of technicians.
Thompson pointed out that just 1 percent of dealership technicians were female, according to the 2019 NADA Workforce Study. And as dealerships across the country face a tightening labor market, hiring more female technicians could be an opportunity for change.
“Let me just say this: Opportunity, opportunity, opportunity and flexibility, flexibility, flexibility,” said Myra Dandridge, the National Automobile Dealers Association’s executive director of external affairs and public policy.
