June 2020

JUNE 2020 AFTERMARKET 11 Above: Bull Lane Garage www.aftermarketonline.net got all my staff onto the Facebook page of the Automotive Support Group, because they can read what’s going on out there in other garages, and that there is great encouragement out there for staff. “ Magnitude We wondered if Mike though that this will change businesses going forward: “We don’t know the financial implications. Yes, we are getting grants from the government, but money does not grow on trees. It has got to come from somewhere, and it will come from future taxation. You are going to see in the next few years huge, huge debt that we as a country have got to pay back. That is going to have a knock-on effect on businesses. “In terms of relationships with the staff, hopefully you are seeing in other garages as well as our own, an increase in the communication between staff and management – a pulling together. The very fact that the staff want to get in and work – we are not like a pub that has to close – we can open but we have had to weigh up factors like health and safety. “The one thing I have been trying to encourage people about on the forums is to keep communicating with staff. We have set up a WhatsApp group.” That’s interesting, we thought. “I wake them up every morning at 7am,” said Mike, with a sparkle, “making sure everyone is ok.” What are they using if for? “They are swapping jokes, there is a lot of banter going on. I sat down and wrote them all a letter about the situation and what I wanted them to do. I wanted the technicians to start looking on the internet for training, and for things to take their mind off the situation. Other staff have been given other tasks. Some of them can access our TechMan files, so they have been going in there and having a clean-up. I am literally emailing them every day with something. The other thing we said was ‘go away and think about our situation. Don’t wait for us to make a decision, have a think about what we should be doing as a business’.” Unity There is a larger picture of course, beyond the group dynamics of Mike and his team: “The unity coming in there, where it is not a case of the bosses coming in and telling you how it works, it is us making an informed decision together. I have asked every single one of them to write to me by email, to tell me where they are at, how they are feeling, how they are doing. The human side of it is that some people could be struggling anyway financially, let alone with the current situation. They have got family situations going on. You know what mechanics are like, we put on a brave face, we don’t talk about feelings – the whole mental health issue. For one or two I know it is going to be tough being isolated. “ Mike added: “We can’t solve those problems but we can at least be there to lend an ear and just say that we care and that we are looking after you. If you are an employee, that’s all you want really. You want the company to look out for you.” Balance With the situation being so fluid, we spoke to Mike a month later ,at the end of April, discovering Fields Car Centre had just reopened: “We reopened on 20 April, “he confirmed. “We had a lot of work booked in, certainly during last week and the beginning part of this week. Some of the work was rescheduled from the period that was closed down. Right now, the phones are very quiet. The work that is coming in is ticking over, but not enough to keep all staff busy here. It looks like we will have to furlough a couple of people off. The difficulty is just not knowing how long this is going to go on for. If you know it is going to be a fixed period of time, you can plan for that, but we really don’t know how much longer this will go on for.” It is a balancing act as far as Mike is concerned: “The government are hopefully going to be easing slightly off soon. We all understand that, but we also understand the risks of a second peak. They have got to do what’s right, but businesses just want to get on and work. We can’t do that if people are told still to stay at home, and obviously they are not using their cars.” On parts, Mike added: “Parts supply seems better, although some of the main dealers are not delivering. What we are hoping is that in the coming weeks they will start to come back and start to open up more, albeit with all the restrictions of social distancing.” NEXT ISSUE We continue to speak to garages about their approach to COVID-19 as business adapt and open up again