Detore: Tire dealers being the best they can be

'Best' certainly is the operative word in our survey this year.

Three Best-One-affiliated dealerships in Indiana — including overall winner Monteith's Best-One Tire & Auto Care — are being honored this year as one of the best places to work in the tire and automotive service industry.

Monteith's Best-One, along with McMahon's Best-One Tire and Best-One of Indy, have been named finalists — along with to Dorsey Tire Co. Inc. — in the annual Tire Business Best Places to Work survey.

This marks the fourth straight year Tire Business, in conjunction with Best Companies Group (BCG), has offered the Best Places to Work survey, which seeks to recognize the best employers in the replacement tire and automotive service industry.

BCG, an independent research firm specializing in identifying and recognizing great places to work, once again conducted the survey, sharing the reasons why these businesses were deemed the best of the best.

These three Best-One locations — part of the Best-One affiliated network, with 275 locations in 26 states —seem to have found a recipe for success. All three dealerships were finalists in last year's survey.

In material submitted for consideration, Monteith's noted that its mission statement is "creating raving fans." But that doesn't happen, the company maintains, without "first creating those raving fans internally within our organization."

Simply put, the organization, with 13 locations, said it puts employees first.

"If we treat employees good, they will then in return treat customers good," the company wrote. "If customers are treated good, then profits will come. We try to make what's important to our team members, important to us. We look to seek out opportunities to celebrate our people both inside and outside of the workplace."

Here are some of the ways Monteith's celebrates its employees:

• Sending employees to leadership and/or product training. That includes sending those interested in improving mechanical skills to NAPA training to better prepare them for ASE certification testing;
• Recognizing employees on social media as well as through Paylocity, the company's communication hub;
• Flexible hours to accommodate events, such as school activities or taking a family member to the doctor, etc.;
• Free or discounted tickets to local family entertainment or sporting events;
• Providing an employer-sponsored Employee Assistance Program (EAP) that provides counseling for marital, parental or financial problems, and/or assistance for substance abuse, smoking, gambling, etc.;
• On-site personal development and/or stress management workshops, seminars or classes; and
• Unlimited time off for those who need to leave for training or military-related events.

Monteith's, headquartered in Elkhart, Ind., said its business has grown because of this approach.

Best One of Indy offers its employees up to $500 back as part of its Wellness Rewards program. Members can earn money or gift cards in the program by completing such tasks as joining a gym, getting a physical or completing a health assessment.

The Indianapolis-headquartered dealership, with 15 locations across Indiana, also offers EAP and Behavioral Health Advantage programs that focus on mental health, provides discounts on LASIK surgery, as well as support through the Anthem Concierge Cancer Care program.

Best-One of Indy hosts an annual team party, where individuals, team members and stores are lauded for their successes. The theme of last year's party was the 1980s — and it proved to be very popular.

Employees also receive hand-written "shout-out" cards from company leaders for a job well done, and individual stores hold outings to promote camaraderie, such as dinner, paintball events, etc. Store managers often treat employees with an impromptu cookout to thank them for their hard work.

The dealership gives away tickets to sports events, state fairs, concerts, museums, etc. Families are welcome at an annual outing held at a local minor league baseball game.

Best-One of Indy believes "in doing this right and adhering to the highest ethical standards, even when no one is watching, and doing these things with enthusiasm." In fact, one of its core values is: Live with integrity, character and passion.

Talk about a home-grown value right in America's heartland.

The company tells us that management isn't only interested in hearing about all the things it's doing right, but also wants to know how and where it can improve.

"This feedback has shown us that our company is doing a lot of great stuff, but also that there are areas of improvement," the company said. "We can identify our weaknesses and only get better. To always be getting better means we are moving toward achieving our goals.

"We believe that while perfection is not attainable, we are striving for it. It is in the pursuit where we experience growth and will achieve excellence."

We have previously documented all of the fantastic activities and charitable endeavors done at McMahon's Best-One — in 2022, dealership President Kim McMahon was named winner of the Tire Business Humanitarian Medal, given to a tire dealer who goes above and beyond to service his or her community.

McMahon became the first woman to receive the award solely in the 29-year history of the prestigious honor. In the last few years, the company said it achieved its goal of raising more than $100,000 for local charities in need.

Fort Wayne, Ind.-headquartered McMahon's Best-One Tire, like the three other finalists, is family-operated and locally focused. The dealership was founded in 1960 and has grown to 10 locations that include retail and commercial shops and a retread facility.

The McMahon Best-One employees rally around the dealership's annual charity golf outing, which raised more than $25,000 this July in support of two local charities.

McMahon's Best-One teamed up with the local animal shelter, Humane Fort Wayne, to build a dog park on wheels for the Three Rivers Festival Parade. Employees rode the float with puppies available for adoption. And another hit with employees is the annual Wreaths Across America campaign, where volunteers lay wreaths on veterans' graves before Christmas.

Part of the dealership's charitable outreach is to employees, asking them which causes interest them most. That in turns, influences what charities the dealership supports.

Finding and retaining talent has been an industry-wide issue for decades. so McMahon Best-One took matters into its own hands, launching a new in-house program in 2022, the McMahon Technology Center. This program is focused on training and development, talent retention and acquisition, service operations and data analytics.

The dealership said it focuses on making employees feel respected and heard. As such, it documents employees' accomplishments while celebrating birthdays, work anniversaries and major life events as part of its monthly newsletter.

"We attribute our continued growth and success in large part to the culture and environment within the company," McMahon Best-One said.

Each year, McMahon's Best-One hosts a spring and a fall family picnic for all staff and their families, providing a day of food, games, music and entertainment "as a thank you for all their hard work."

Savannah, Ga.-headquartered Dorsey Tire, with six locations in Georgia, provides many of the same employee-related benefits and perks that the Best-One finalists do as well. Among them: offering free or discounted tickets to local entertainment and sporting events and inviting families to corporate events.

It's certainly likely that your service shop already does many of these same things that these dealerships do. If so, keep doing it.

But if you read just one additional perk you can offer your employees, we encourage you to do it.

Being the best never gets old.Detore: Tire dealers being the best they can be