Sun Auto named 2022 Best Places to Work finalist

TEMPE, Ariz. — The foundation of Sun Auto Tire & Service's success can be summarized in three words: Putting people first.

That is the core foundation of the aftermarket automotive repair, maintenance and tire business that has grown to more than 350 retail locations, predominantly in the Southwest.

The business, founded in 2018 as GB Automotive and rebranded this past June, has become a major player in the industry, ranked as the 12th largest retail tire chain in North America.

In 2021 alone, Sun Auto Tire acquired 11 automotive service and retail tire dealerships, entering 12 new states and adding 180 locations to its portfolio.

The one constant, however, has been the company's strong belief in treating its employees well.

"If we want to grow the business and continue to be successful, the way to do that is through our employees," Carolyn Barnard, vice president of human resources, said. "We have a people-first mentality."

Barnard joined Sun Auto Tire in 2019 after it had acquired the automotive dealership where she had worked for more than seven years — Lamb's Tire & Automotive Service in Austin, Texas.

She said Sun Auto's people-first attitude excites her both as an HR executive and as an employee. She said Sun's focus on people is "my passion. I am able to do that here, and I have the support of the leadership here."

That mantra is one of the reasons Sun Auto was named a finalist in the Tire Business Best Places to Work survey.

The Best Places to Work survey is conducted by Best Companies Group (BCG), an independent research firm specializing in identifying and recognizing great places to work.

In order to participate in the survey, each business must be a retail, commercial, OTR, retread or wholesale tire dealership in the U.S., and have at least 15 employees. Each owner submits an online survey detailing company policies, practices, benefits and demographics. Employees, meanwhile, are asked to complete, a series of questions,rating the company.

Tire Group International was named the overall winner, while other finalists include (in alphabetical order): Best One of Indy, Indianapolis; Big O Tires, Columbia, Mo.; Monteith's Best One Tire & Auto Care, Elkhart, Ind.; SimpleTire L.L.C. of Trevose, Pa.; and Sun Auto Tire & Service Inc, Phoenix.

Sun Auto, a portfolio company of Leonard Green & Partners, a Los Angeles-based private equity group, was judged in part from feedback from the 180-plus employees at its corporate offices in Phoenix and Tempe.

The company recently completed its inaugural employee engagement survey, the results of which were going to be released in mid-March, during Sun Auto's three-day store leadership workshop that 450 Sun Auto team members were expected to attend.

Two metrics stood out for Barnard: First, Sun Auto scored a 4 out of 5 on culture, "which tells me we are doing something right," she said, and 64% of the dealership's 3,250 employees completed the survey.

Barnard, who has 20-plus years of experience in human resources, called it "an incredible start."

"When we find companies that don't have a strong a culture, employees are not so willing to participate in those surveys or they want to jump in and bash the company," she said.

Barnard found one item particularly noteworthy: Employees scored the company high on diversity and inclusion, a goal the company is emphasizing.

"We are really educating employees and branching out from a recruiting standpoint to make sure we are really getting to those underrepresented groups," Barnard said.

She said the results of that survey told her "we are already creating culture. That was one of our key priorities this year."

Barnard said Sun Auto has devised two or three action plans to help each store improve, based on results of the survey. Store managers will be able to chart their progress through an online dashboard.

The company made several improvements to its benefits plan at the start of the year. Among them: a significant investment in health care and more paid holidays.

In fact, employees at the corporate office will be paid for four more holidays this year than in the past: Memorial Day, Labor Day, the day after Thanksgiving and Christmas Eve.

Another way the company puts its employees first, Barnard said, is recognizing them on milestone events, such as birthdays or anniversaries. That also extends to employees going through a troubling time.

"It sounds very basic but it's so important to people because it's their day," Barnard said. "It's not about how they did from a sales standpoint. It's looking at them as a human being."

In certain markets, Sun Auto also awards employees gift cards for exceptional customer service or simply if that employee goes above and beyond.

Another of Sun Auto's core values is to have fun. That practice drives the company to spearhead several employee get-togethers, including Top Golf, bowling, luncheons, karaoke, an annual holiday party with spouses, and a monthly Rock Star program that designates a store, technician, salesperson or general employee as "rock stars" for exceptional performance.

Barnard said these events not only build relationships between and among employees, it also ties them to the company more closely.

"That certainly impacts turnover, which is costly," she said.

As a relatively young company that grows by acquiring more established businesses, Sun Auto is nimble yet able to adopt some of the best practices of those recently acquired dealerships.

Since those dealerships were extremely successful previously, Barnard said Sun Auto has "the benefit of bringing in healthy cultures and giving us the opportunity to integrate it into ours."

Once an acquisition is made, Barnard said her company "overcommunicates" to ease anxiety of new employees and make them feel welcome to the Sun Auto family.

"Those employees did not come into work that Friday and make a decision they wanted to go work for another company," Barnard said. "That decision was made for them."

The transition is made easier because of the cultures at both.

"I'm not sure our culture is incredibly different from some of those. It's putting our employees first, taking care of customers, doing the right thing ... serving with a passion. Those are things you will typically see in healthy cultures."