Manitoba's Top Employers

The Birchwood Automotive Group is proud to be recognized as one of Manitoba's Top 30 Employers, as well as one of Canada's Best Employers. If you are serious about your personal and professional growth, don't settle for just a job, talk with us about your future. We involve our people in our business and work out solutions together. We offer team members a respectful and challenging work environment, an industry leading compensation package including group insurance, and realistic potential for advancement based on performance. birchwoodcareers.ca Drive your career at: 09 That's why the president and Birchwood CEO gets just as much satisfaction from being named one of Manitoba's Top Employers as he does from excellent sales report. The two are directly correlated. "We want to make sure we're treating our people properly," he said of the the Winnipeg- based auto dealer, which has more than a dozen dealerships and 1,100 employees. Chipman ensures the company has its finger — and not its elbow — on the pulse of employees by conducting regular internal surveys and then acting accordingly. "We canvass all of our employees to get a temperature of how things are going in our stores. We're active in the community, we promote our people's involvement in the United Way and we have a good benefits program," he said. Birchwood is also taking a leading role with its efforts to increase the number of women on its payroll, no easy task in an industry long dominated by men. It launched its "Women In Automotive Leadership" program a little more than a year ago with the goal of nurturing its female employees and fostering further recruitment. "I think we need to have a representative and diverse workplace. We should look like our customers. A lot of our female staff are very good at selling cars and managing people. If we shut the door to women, we shut out half of the population. That wouldn't make any sense," he said. "We are trying to open the gate for woman to see the automotive industry as an industry of choice. They haven't thought a lot about us, but we have opportunities." While most of Birchwood's employees are paid on commission, the company offers referral bonuses to every staff member who can recruit a friend or relative to come work for the company. Many of the company's best people have arrived this way. "We believe our people are the richest source of new strong candidate referrals. They know the place better than anybody. They know they're treated fairly and respectfully. They're our best ambassadors. People like to work with their friends and like-minded people. They also know what success looks like. They really know the work and the opportunities," he said. Opportunities for growth and advancement often come from Birchwood's own internal training program — called Birchwood University — an eight- month leadership course that's accredited by the University of Winnipeg. "We have a big graduation and really celebrate people's development," he said. And that development is on display through Birchwood's own intranet — essentially an in-house LinkedIn — where every employee builds their own online profile, including pictures, work experience, education and training programs. The site also features profiles of high-performers who have risen up through the ranks, such as a car detailer who went on to become a sales manager. The average Birchwood employee is 32 years old and on average stays with the company for five years. Chipman wants to minimize the impact of the inevitable turnover. That's why the company makes a big push every year to recruit young people in high schools, colleges and universities. It had 15 summer interns this year who did everything from studying lean manufacturing and performing analytics to selling cars. "We've had interns for 20 years. Some of them have transitioned into management at our company," Chipman said. At least a few former interns will be involved in a soon-to-be-launched program called "reverse mentoring" where Birchwood's young people will pass on their high-tech knowledge and other know-how to veteran employees. Birchwood also encourages more traditional mentoring, too. "We've got people who are willing to share their knowledge and deep experience in the industry that isn't written down in a book. They can nurture those people along to success," he said. Birchwood's culture is a reflection of its late founder, R.M. (Bob) Chipman, Steve's father. The elder Chipman started out with a single car dealership — Birchwood Pontiac Buick Ltd. — in 1963 which has now grown into the largest network of car dealerships in Winnipeg. One of his early initiatives was to provide academic scholarships for employees' children and tuition subsidies for employees who take job-related courses and programs. "It's a reward for the people who work for us. It gives them some pride in their workplace," he said. BIRCHWOOD AUTOMOTIVE GROUP STAFF TAKE PART IN THE 2017 UNITED WAY KICK OFF. SUBMITTED PHOTOS BIRCHWOOD BELIEVES IN ITS PEOPLE "We canvass all of our employees to get a temperature of how things are going in our stores. We're active in the community, we promote our people's involvement in the United Way and we have a good benefits program." BY GEOFF KIRBYSON Steve Chipman wants to sell as many cars as possible but he knows that goal is just a pipe dream unless his employees are happy, feel empowered and enjoy working at Birchwood Automotive Group.

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