The Price of Retention - What it costs to keep a good employee

Residents of the bay area are one group of many facing spikes in the costs of living while trying to get by on pay rates that remain the same.  While financial compensation is a major factor when deciding on a career, as the millennial generation navigates the work force, they are beginning to understand that there are many benefits that can’t be applied in monetary denominations. 

The benefits of cold hard cash are undeniable, however things such as flexible hours, growth opportunities and feeling appreciated by other employees have become major selling points for selecting and staying with a chosen company.  It’s the people that you work with that will make or break job retention.

Take a moment and think about how you came to be at your current company.  What were some of the attributes that you looked for while searching for a job?  And even deeper than that, while searching for that job, what was the motivation behind the search?  Were you trying to put out an immediate fire (i.e.: you needed money to pay bills, rent is looming and you need money to pay it) or were you already employed and looking to better your current situation (i.e.: maybe you aren’t getting along with your co-workers or although it’s a great job you just can’t afford to stay at it due to rising cost of living). 

As an employer, it is important to constantly be evolving.  Changing times mean constantly being aware of your employees needs and attempting to meet them when possible.  Working for Hendrick Automotive Group has given me direct access to a working reverse pyramid management structure that has been successful time and time again. 

The idea behind this working structure is to have leadership at the bottom of the pyramid allowing them to be of service to the people working on the front lines and beyond, while the front line associates and on floor staff are placed at the top, making them the most important to our teams’ success. 

Lead by Rick Hendrick and his management teams across the states, Hendrick Automotive Group has provided a covenant that they have stuck to from the beginning.  

1. We Think Big

2. We Embrace Openness

3. We Develop Solutions

4. We Demand Excellence

5. We Expect Great Things

6. We Execute Brilliantly

7. We Serve With Passion

8. We Communicate Effectively

9. We Cherish and Understand

10. We Always Win

11. We Celebrate Achievements

12. We Learn and Grow

Through monthly team appreciation luncheons, staff outings to baseball games for the Oakland Athletics and The San Francisco Giants, and even an annual trip to the Sonoma Races to celebrate Hendrick Motor Sport with Mr. Rick Hendrick himself, employees are reminded just how valuable they really are to this team. 

In addition to the incredible outings and events hosted by the management, team members are offered full benefits packages that include medical, dental, vision and 401K options.  They are affronted vacation and sick time allowing for them to come to work refreshed and rejuvenated while enjoying a healthy work and home life balance.   

But if you remember, it’s the people that will make or break your decision to stay or leave a company.   So in addition to the incredible benefits packages offered, it’s the people that we bring in that make this company so great.  By using MBS and Wonderlic testing we are able to determine the best communication styles for each team mate, and are able to help determine strengths within people that we are able to apply during the hiring process. 

Being able to approach and work with our team mates in a way that is best matched to their personality types allows for trust and comfort to be built between our staff and management.  This trust enables the company to communicate more effectively and allows everyone to understand how they fit into the big picture for the company’s growth. 

Employees and job hunting hopefuls alike will always have a list of values that they want in a current or future company.  Not all of them are motivated by dollar signs.  As employers, it’s our job to be aware of the rising costs of living, adjust pay scales as needed and provide benefits not found at any other company. Giving your employees and future employees a comfortable and enriching work environment that values their time as much as the companies time, will always result in longevity and harder working employees, happy to further your company’s future results.  

Want to learn more about the Lexus of Pleasanton business culture? Interested in joining our team? 

Click on the link below to take your first step!

https://www.facebook.com/PleasantonAutomallEvents?fref=ts

Creating a Meaningful Maintenance Routine

There are few things that can determine a good or bad day more than my first cup of coffee.  If I am able to enjoy that one cup of coffee before my bouncing bundle of conversation jolts into the land of the living, I know I’ll survive the day.   However if I am blessed with an early riser, my schedule gets thrown to the wind and I become a frantic mess.  It’s never a pretty sight. 

While racing to throw everything I could possibly need into my bag, making sure my child has clothes on and food in her stomach and maneuvering through San Francisco’s illustrious commuting maze, the last thing I want to worry about is a check engine light on my car dashboard.   So when things like little wrenches that light up on my dash, or even worse, letters and numbers that give me no indication of what is actually wrong, my inner control freak flips out just a bit.

Proper maintenance for one’s self has become very trendy these days, thanks to the ever booming yoga and meditation groups, the scary obsessed Cross Fit clans and even the ever growing marathon trends.  Who knew that throwing glitter and bribing people with wine and hot chocolate would promote fitness? Now, what about your vehicles well being?

If you’re anything like me, I had a love hate relationship with my first car.  It wasn’t glamorous, nor was it new.  I drove a 1967 Fleetwood Cadillac handed down to me from my grandfather.  Now as a sweet little 5 foot three inches sixteen year old, this was both AWESOME and terrible all at once.   The car was a tank, and any time I pushed on the gas pedal, I literally watched the gas quickly drop to the letter E. 

The part I never fully understood until now, was how well the car ran.  It was a flawless drive, and although, by the time I got to it, the shocks were much to be desired, the engine was still a beast and purred like the kitten she was the day my grandfather bought her.  I remember watching my grandfather go through his old ledger books marking down oil changes and different services done on the car.   His meticulous efforts to care for that car were the reason I was able to drive it to and from high school 30 years after it was made. 

What does a regular maintenance routine mean? Thankfully, as drivers today, we have the ability of self-alerting vehicles letting us know when and what maintenance are needed for our cars.  There are different symbols and light colors to let us know if the issue is a minor or major concern.  We even have alerts letting us know when the pressure has dropped in our tires. 

The easiest way to get on a regular maintenance routine is to start with purchasing a pre-paid maintenance plan for your vehicle at the time of purchase.  Although it is a large chunk of change up front, it’ ensures that you’ll always have the money to pay for your car’s needs, and knowing you already spent the money makes it more important for you to show up and take advantage of the service appointments. 

The next best way to ensure you stay on track for a regular maintenance routine is to build a relationship with your service advisers!  Most dealerships will offer in house vehicle maintenance, which allows for your car to be serviced with factory parts and factory trained technicians, as well as having an onsite expert ready to answer all your questions and concerns regarding your vehicle.  Creating an ongoing relationship with your service adviser allows for you to have someone you trust “on the inside” working for you to get you back on the road in a safe and well maintained vehicle.

Are you interested in scheduling your vehicle for its next maintenance?

Click on the link below to check available times!

http://www.lexusofpleasanton.com/ServiceApptForm

The Cost of Your Commute

Part of making the choice to live and work in separate cities is committing to the weekly commute.  San Francisco has consistently landed on the top-five lists for the worst traffic and commute, and the stories of hour plus drives to and from work is a very real occurrence.  As the young kids like to say, the struggle is real.  

The average morning drive in the bay area can range anywhere from 40 minutes to over an hour and a half each way.  With hiking commutes, people have begun exploring different forms of transportation trying to alleviate the costs.  From local tube transports to hybrid vehicles, San Francisco has been a front runner for commuter convenience. 

Known for its illustrious BART system, San Francisco’s tube takes you from one end of the bay to the other at the cost of a cup of coffee.  In addition The Ferry services, offered from Vallejo, Oakland and Larkspur, Sausalito,  he San Francisco Ferry Building, Fisherman’s Warf and even AT&T Park for the occasional Giants games  give you ample opportunity to arrive to work fairly stress free, having been able to avoid sitting in hours long traffic. 

Not a fan of the public transportation options? I can understand that, I love my car just as much as the next.  In fact, being a Los Angeles transplant, I grew up knowing nothing about public transportation.  Cars were all we knew.  So then how about looking into a hybrid vehicle? 

When driving three hours a day in traffic, gas millage and vehicle wear and tear become major concerns. Having the available hybrid or eco system, allows you to conserve gas when needed.  On average, you can actually save from upwards of $500+ dollars per year, but the cost of the vehicle can be slightly higher than standard engine vehicles. Also if you do your homework, certain green vehicles let you drive in the HOV lanes on highways.  That can definitely help save some time on your drives home, and depending on the actual gas cost savings, hybrids could be a great choice for most!

Now if you are anything like me, I love the idea of the hybrid, I am just not a fan of how they look.  Thankfully in this day and age, hybrid vehicles have jumped on the sexy car bandwagon.  Following suit of the likes of Tesla, Lexus has taken the hybrid engine and placed it inside some of its most popular models including the CT200t and the NX200t.  The CT is a nice sporty hatchback, reminiscent of the Honda Civic Hatchback, but with that much needed very sexy upgrade that includes leather seats, Navigation, and push start engines.  The NX is a smaller SUV that also provides the ECO/Hybrid engine with a luxury upgrade.  Leather seats, surround sound, streaming Pandora and XM radio, and USB ports come standard, making this vehicle ideal for long road trips or even that long drive into the city. 

Now, the self-driven vehicles are still a very new concept, however with Google, Audi and Tesla breaking ground on these cars the concerns regarding safety are currently in discussions.  Although testing has shown that no more accidents have occurred than in stander drivers, the self-driven vehicles are still very much in trial phases.  We might have to wait a few more years before we can let our cars take the wheel. 

For more information on hybrid vehicles or to shop for one of your own, check out the link below!

http://www.lexusofpleasanton.com/VehicleSearchResults?search=new&make=Lexus

The Millennial Me Cave

Having spent the majority of my younger years involved in some form of sports team or athletics program, the  foundation of guilt for not working out had already been laid.  Throughout my college and even into my adult, post college days, I had managed to bounce in and out of gyms and work out routines.  I’d work out just enough to lose the water weight, then I’d fall right back into my old ways and the workout routines would fall back to the waysides.

It wasn’t until I had my daughter, and I started having to divide my time into two, and I realized just how much I had valued that hour or two a day sweating out my frustrations on the treadmill, or breathing out the bad and inhaling in the good, surrounded by a room of sweaty strangers.  I realized that my need for “me time” wasn’t just something you read about in those girly magazines at the grocery store.  It was a real thing, and my struggle had become very real.

Finding ways to incorporate your own form of me time is different for everyone.  For me, me time could fall under an outing with the girls, a few hours at the gym sweating out my daily failures, or very simply enjoying a restroom break without having a whining six year old clawing at my sleeve like Sméagol reaching for his precious.  Yes, it really happens.  Me time has never sounded so good.

The most important part of any me time experience? Be there in that very moment.  This may sound a bit crazy, but when you go to the gym or are taking time out to spend with your friends, put the cellphone away! Very simply, I have found that when the phones stay inside our pockets, the conversations are better, the experienced is remembered more and the time spent there became that much more valuable to me.

Second, enlist your friends in the fight! Schedule the time, put it in your calendar and make it as important as you standing Game of Thrones dates with HBO.  Trust me, they created HBOGo for a reason… so you can GO and do more than just sit in front of your TV screen. Live a little.  Khaleesi will understand.

Third, change a few daily habits to allow for you to become more of a priority.  I learned to be a morning person.  This was not an easy choice for me being as my entire life has always been between the hours of 9:00 pm and 3:00am. But learning to be an early riser has literally changed my life.  Having realized that my creative juices flow in the early hours of the day, I used to try to stay awake to piggyback off of my peak hours.  Instead, I have learned to just wake up at those times, which yes, requires me to get to bed a lot earlier than I normally had, but the alertness and creativity I experience after having just woken up from a full nights rest has won me over time and again.

Lastly, simplify things.  Learn to say no, try not to overbook yourself, and remember that me time doesn’t have to be a big production.  Just remember to find gratitude in all that you do.  Even when you are hiding in that broom closet devouring the last chips ahoy cookie, knowing that you don’t have to share it with your kids.

For more tips on how to find simplify your life,
take a look at the latest Lexus vehicles with add on package features!
http://www.lexusofpleasanton.com/NewModelsPage

10 Things To Do This 4th of July Weekend!

With the 4^th of July holiday upon us, the hunt for the perfect fireworks show begins.  The bay area is home to some of the most spectacular fireworks shows around, but there is so much more to see and do this three-day weekend! With three days away from the office, there is plenty of time to enjoy both the day and night life of the bay area.  From hiking, kayaking, sailing, shopping, and wine tasting to spoken word, concerts, dancing and outdoor festivals, San Francisco isn’t holding anything back this year!

For the adventurist at heart, Point Reyes National Seashore offers kayaking along Tomales Bay.  Sprawling over 70,000 acres and home to the likes of leopard sharks, seals and jelly fish you are in for a memorable ocean environment experience!

For the night-owls that love a bit of city life, come pop by the Holiday Hip Hop Party in San Francisco with Golden Era, at Slate Bar, 2925 16^th St.  This weekly party offers a tribute to classic Hip Hop and a great mix of dope beats. Best part? It’s free before 11pm.

Prefer a more instrumental approach to your music and partying? Check out Rowdy at Red, White and Bluegrass, at The Plough and Stars, 116 Clement St.  Celebrating Independence Day in bluegrass style, enjoys the rustic and mesmerizing sounds of banjo, mandolin, fiddle, bass and dobro all while paired with jazzy vocal overtures!

To read more about weekend activities in your area click the link below!

http://www.sfstation.com/guides/10-things-to-do-this-4th-of-july-weekend/

SATURDAY MARCH 28TH, 2015

FAMILY FRIENDLY KIDSAFE EVENT

PLEASANTON AUTOMALL 4345 ROSEWOOD DR, PLEASANTON CA 94588

FREE digital fingerprint and photo safety program. Specialized digital imagery equipment will
only be in your area for a limited engagement! Did you know over 2,000 children are reported missing everyday in the United States? Don’t miss this opportunity to get your FREE Child Safety Kit, including digital fingerprints and photograph. Safety tips will help you set up a family safety action plan.

OPERATION KIDSAFE “SAFETY WEEK”

How it Works: Operation KidSafe captures your child’s picture and fingerprints using a digital

video capture device, digital ink-less fingerprint capture device and specialized software. The captured data is assembled and a quality 8 1/2 x 11” printout is given to the parent. The parent can use the printout they receive to provide to law enforcement anywhere in the world to instantly aid in an investigation.
NOTE: No database or records of children are maintained.

The only record of the visit will go home with the parent for safekeeping. 

What do I bring?

Just the kids. As long as they are with a trusted adult the service will be available.

When can we have this done?

Anytime the Dealership is open. It’s totally FREE and totally PRIVATE for every family. (look at copy of flyer and let them know the dates that it is available)

What do we get?

A bio document with your child’s digital prints and photo. This document also has safety tips and helps you start a family safety action plan.

How much is it?

Our company is providing the service free for the community.

Where does this information go?

Operation Kidsafe does not data base. They will not ask for any personal information. The only record of the visit goes home with the parent.

What ages?

Operation Kidsafe recommends one year and older. However they can many times get readable prints on younger babies if you want to give it a try.

What do we do with this document?

You take it home, keep it available 24 hours a day. If there is ever an emergency, hand the form to law enforcement.

Is it just for kids?

No. Operation Kidsafe offers this to anyone including special needs adults that are at risk.