Tag Archives: IMI

Trailblazing Toni encourages other women into motor industry

toni_stoneacreI’m delighted to see Toni Louisa Rivett of Stoneacre Motor Group become the first woman to gain Master Technician status at Volvo.

This is quite something bearing in mind that only 2.5% of apprentices embarking on a motor industry based course (IMI stats) are female.

Toni joined Volvo in 2005 when she was 17 as part of the Volvo Apprentice Programme when she was working at John Morris Motors.

She finished that course in 2008, moving up to take the Level 2 qualification in 2010. Level 3 followed in 2012 when Stoneacre took over the Grimsby and Lincoln operations.

She then took her Master Technician programme which she has just completed.

“Ive spoken to lots of women who wish they’d had the chance to do what I’ve done.’ Toni explained.’Perhaps my achieving Master Technician status will encourage more women to come into the industry.’

For either gender Master Technician status is a remarkable achievement as it reflects a genuinely superior knowledge and hands on ability of all matters mechanical in this area.

In Toni’s case this is more than just that – it isn’t easy being female in such a masculine motor industry. Girls are not expected to want to be a mechanic and those that do often experience discrimination even if this is just ‘soft’ or ‘unintentional’. Many females simply give up and choose another career/industry.

But the die is cast now – if Toni can do it so can others. Come on girls – those of you with a strong STEM inclination – pick up your spanners and let’s show the boys we can do it as well, if not better, than the men.

A great career awaits – well done Toni!

The motor industry needs MORE WOMEN

WeNeedYouI run FOXY Lady Drivers Club and if the motor industry was more female friendly in the first place I doubt we’d exist as it was borne out of our daughter’s bad garage experience quite a while ago now!

Nowadays things have moved on for FOXY and yet the industry still needs many more women in it to make it ‘seem’ a more female friendly place for future employees and customers alike.

I use the word ‘seem’ because a lot of the female apprehension I encounter is stereotypical, out of date and there are many female friendly employers who are harnessing the advantages of having women in their workforce. Most of these are in front of house customer service and sales roles where our natural people skills can come to the fore.

Sadly, as a result of this ‘no go’ perception, which is often influenced by out of date parents I hasten to add, too many young women are missing out on some really exciting career opportunities in an industry that is crying out for them; even if it doesn’t realise it or know how to go about recruiting us.

This is particularly bad news for the industry of course because female graduates are outperforming their male counterparts in many disciplines but they are less interested in (or knowledgeable about) motor industry careers.

Start at the top

beale1Yes we need to start by recruiting more Women Board Directors at the top of the motor industry in the male dominated boardrooms of vehicle manufacturers and dealership groups.

Knowing that there are now more women drivers than male drivers on US roads (how many Board Chairman realise this I wonder?) and that the UK will likely follow suit, it’s about time that more UK Boards realised that a male-led agenda doesn’t make them a female friendly employer and that female shoppers are increasingly favouring businesses that clearly understand and meet their needs.

Getting it right for females is therefore a HUGE business opportunity and should surely be a strategic item on all Board agendas; especially knowing the shift to girl power and her financial influence on others is happening during their watch.

The message for female students

JLR_0525The industry needs to get its message out to young women at grass root levels as well. Companies like Jaguar Land Rover’s ‘Inspiring Tomorrow’s Engineers: Young Women in the Know’ course are leading the field here for sound commercial reasons. Women don’t have to get their hands dirty or wear overalls although how else would female engineers, like those in the photo, start their career other than by a hands on induction programme?

And well run garages don’t have to be dirty although far too many still are grubby places in my experience. Having said that I’ve been encouraged by many of the immaculate FOXY Lady Approved accident repair centres I’ve visited recently.

Other than this, all businesses should look at their female friendly employer credentials and have these added to their recruitment campaigns to give them women appeal. Sadly this will be a very short list for most.

Barriers to female appeal

We have women running motor racing teams, excellent but rare apprenticeship schemes for females, women heading up motor industry associations, running their own garages, car dealerships, car parts and leasing companies and so on. But why are we still seen as the exception and not the norm I wonder?

Why, for example, aren’t there more women in car showrooms selling us cars? And accompanying women on test drives. I’m told it’s an antisocial job and women don’t want to do the hours. But nobody asks the ‘right’ women about the hours they could work, even if these are shorter shifts. Or gives them the chance to show what they can do.

I say the ‘right’ women because all too often I come across females who have been employed for their looks rather than their work ethic. I say this with sincere apologies to all those good looking, hard working and ambitious females out there – I am sure they understand the point I am making which is that the ‘wrong’ female employees simply reinforce the stereotypical perception too many men have of us on the shop floor to begin with. You must employ the RIGHT females and they must always be the BEST recruits even if they lack industry experience and need training.

Sadly the industry has been such a male stronghold for so long that too many men can’t imagine there might be a different/better way to do their business. Which of course is likely given an open rather than closed mindset.

Are you a female friendly employer?

Finally, and to make my point crystal clear in case I haven’t been so far ;)… I recall a recent Twitter exchange with a Chairman of a leading dealership group who was too busy to see me but asked me to meet two of his senior female management colleagues.

I duly discussed our FOXY Lady Approved female friendly scheme with them to be told, in confidence, that they could not endorse that business as a female friendly one. So the Chairman still thinks his business is a female friendly one but it clearly isn’t and sadly his senior management ladies don’t feel able to tell him this…

I suspect they aren’t the only leading Group to have this dilemma, or for female staff to feel they can only admit this to an outsider, in strict confidence.

FOXY

My LinkedIn profile

PS To find out more about the many career opportunities in the motor industry I recommend the Autocity website .

To find out about the many apprenticeships in the motor industry I suggest you start with the IMI’s programme.

Yet another ‘rip-off garage’ survey; this time in West Sussex

How much did you say?My blood boils when I read about bad garage surveys. The latest states that only one out of eight garages tested by West Sussex Trading Standards carried out all the required work on a test car with known problems.

Imagine the safety implications here. Not just the vulnerability of many female motorists but the accidents that badly repaired or inadequately serviced cars can cause for us all.

We can’t prove it for obvious reasons but we suspect that many women on their own don’t complain because they don’t realise they’ve been ripped off or, even worse, despatched with a car that’s unsafe.

Why am I surprised by rip-off garages?

No-one should be surprised that garage surveys like this produce these such shameful results across the UK. This is an unregulated industry where
+ anyone can open a garage
+ mechanics don’t have to be qualified
+ the industry’s Motor Codes scheme covers dealerships/garages that opt-in (and bad garages don’t for obvious reasons); an added complication is that HM Government runs this ‘OFT approved code’ scheme and is reliant on the subscriptions from it
+ the Trading Standards recommended scheme ‘Buy With Confidence’ merely covers customer service issues (not any measurable quality workmanship that should underpins the business).

Even worse, few motorists realise this or the risk they run when choosing any garage.

FOXY would like all car mechanics to be accredited

Why is it that gas fitters, plumbers and electricians need to be qualified to practise their trade but mechanics don’t? Yet they can repair safety issues such as the brakes on our cars.

The perfect solution is the Institute of the Motor Industry’s ATA accreditation scheme where mechanics are assessed, sign an ethical commitment and have to do it all over again three years later. Regardless of whether they are dealership or garage employees, all mechanics should be required to take this test before working on our cars.

And what a shame WSTS is unable to publish the names of the offending garages here. When we’ve asked about this in the past Trading Standards have said ‘we can’t tell you for legal reasons…’ which is a cop out we feel – knowing how many vulnerable women are prey to the unscrupulous and/or incompetent garage staff out there.

West Sussex garage survey details

West Sussex County Council’s Press Release PR4996 confirms that a selection of garages were targeted on this occasion following complaints from members of the public. This is worrying in itself because it indicates a history of shoddy workmanship rather than a one-off mistake which can be forgiven. A test car was prepared beforehand by Trading Standards and then taken to each garage for a service and pre MOT check.

Examples of rip-off garage behaviour this time include
+ an oil filter which was charged for but not changed
+ a tyre was said to be damaged when it wasn’t
+ a part of an exhaust was said to need replacing when it wasn’t faulty
+ an engine was overfilled with oil (which can be as costly as too little oil)
+ extra work was done and charged for without permission
+ low tyre pressures were not checked/topped up (with potential safety implications here).

Formal action is now being considered by Trading Standards against four of the garages.

Christine Field, County Council Cabinet Member for Public Protection, said: “Motorists need to be able to trust their garages won’t exploit them, as most people are unlikely to be able to check the claims for themselves. In the present economic climate, people are feeling the pinch, and need to be able to rely on work being done competently.”

We wholeheartedly agree Christine but the only way we’ll ever see this is through industry regulation. In the meantime, the best solution is for female motorists to join FOXY Lady Drivers Club so we can identify, monitor and share the details of the best garages together. In this way women drivers can steer clear of the rest (and tell their menfolk of course).

To find out more about this subject read FOXY’s Good Garage Guide.

To find out which garages have signed the FOXY Promise ‘to never overcharge, patronise or sell women services they don’t need’ in West Sussex please visit the FOXY Choice website and its female friendly garage network.

To tell us about good, bad or indifferent garages/dealerships in West Sussex please leave your female garage feedback here.

If you have a problem with a garage, you can contact the marvellous Citizens Advice Consumer Helpline on 08454 040506. But even they won’t know the inside story here and what the many logos and competing quality schemes actually need. For informed advice, information, assistance and support female motorists can also contact FOXY Lady Drivers Club (FOXY as in shrewd, canny and discerning which is what women need to be when choosing a garage)…

We’re also a not for profit and 100% independent company which means we really are doing it all for the motorist. If you’d like to know more, read what the Daily Telegraph said about us (and Mandy, a Scottish widow in particular) and this very issue.

FOXY

A FEMALE FRIENDLY motor industry resolution

Is August too early for a New Year resolution to make 2012 a FEMALE FRIENDLY year in the UK motor industry?

I look at lots of motor industry websites, read lots of marketing blurb, see lots of job ads and industry news but it is still VERY rare to find a female focus despite the importance of the increasingly independent female pound.

So I’d like to suggest that the UK motor industry makes a start to a more female friendly agenda by making 2012 a FEMALE FRIENDLY year in the motor industry. There’s just about enough time to plan a campaign, given the willingness and a resource to do the job.

We all know the motor industry should be a more female friendly one already and there is a compelling business case to make it so; to boost sales by marketing to women-as-women (not men) intended to increase their loyalty and referrals through female-oriented communications and independent information about their best choices…

To do this would require an industry commitment from all key players to the following tactical activities and more…

  • To iron out the 80:20 male:female workforce imbalance by recruiting more female staff, starting at the top of organisations
  • To provide female friendly workplaces for women employees
  • To market cars more creatively to women, using segmented female feedback as a tool
  • To market independent advice (and why total independence matters to do with quality…) about garage standards to women
  • To train male employees about the importance of the female purse and how they can gain her trust and business when it comes to shopping for new cars, garage services, motor insurance and car finance
  • To understand what busy women look for when shopping online
  • To remember that women are different when it comes to customer service levels and amenities.

Question   Isn’t this what the motor industry should be doing in any case? So why isn’t it?

Answer 1    Because some businesses think equality means providing women with services and standards designed by men for men.

Answer 2    Possibly because many men like the industry as it is.

Answer 3    Because many men at the top of organisations can’t see how to recruit women without  falling foul of equality legislation… coupled with the fact that new female recruits are less likely to have the motor industry experience that men do (thus perpetuating the imbalance of course…)

Answer 4     Or they haven’t spotted that female staff don’t fancy a job in what they perceive to be a male dominated motor industry… coupled with the fact they need to advertise outside the industry to reach women of course

Answer 5    Or that the few female stalwarts who have made it to the top of organisations have got there by thinking more ‘male’ than ‘female’ en route which other women may be less willing to, given more female friendly industry choices

Come on RMI, SMMT, SMTA and IMI. The business case for being FEMALE FRIENDLY in the UK motor industry is clear and whilst nothing short of a total cultural makeover is needed to do the job properly this has to start from somewhere and should surely start sooner rather than later…

And given a resource FOXY will happily play a key part in any FEMALE FRIENDLY business agenda in 2012.

What about a coordinated approach guys to all round mutual gain?

FOXY

Why women ignore retail motor industry careers

Thousands of female university students are ignoring careers in the automotive industry according to a recent Autocar survey.

A tiny 3.5% of female university students interviewed would consider a career in the automotive industry although an encouraging 35% said they might do, possibly in an attempt to please their interviewer…

However that still leaves nearly 2 out of 3 females who aren’t interested in a career in the UK automotive industry compared to the majority of male university students who are (61%).

I am not surprised. The main reason why there are so few women in the UK retail motor industry is to do with its perceived image in female minds.

Whilst much has been done by the IMI in particular to encourage women into engineering roles and to train them to move up the ladder, little has been done to address the overly blokey attitude of the 80%+ male workers in this industry. This blinkered and often offensive attitude, that we all know exists, needs to change in line with female needs and expectations of a modern business today.

Why would any woman want to fight her way through an industry that can be so offensive (if you listen) and with such a poor record of females reaching senior management or Board positions.

If this image is to change, the UK motor industry needs businesses with more females at Board and senior management levels. Of course the women that have made it to the top already are very special and have proved it can be done but to get there they have had to be resilient and focused to cope (and turn a blind eye) with the testosterone and patronising behaviour so typical of this industry. Not all females can be that bothered…

And it should be said that this image is unfair and damaging to the many genuinely female friendly businesses we know exist…

The sadness is that few men recognise this image and successful females forget that few females are as focused or as fortunate as them.  In my experience the industry seems to think it is non-PC to favour females and seems to prefer to educate the customer in her dealings with the industry rather than the other way round.

I see it differently. Looking at garages and dealerships for starters, the industry is dysfunctional as it exists with such a male bias; we all kid ourselves if we think women (the gender spenders after all) want to be treated like men.

So something must be done to bring our motor industry up to date and to restore a more healthy female:male gender balance. The business case is clear –  women want and expect more than men from automotive employers and the retail motor industry businesses we deal with. Trying to understand us would be a good idea…

I suggest we

  • put more oomph into the IMI’s Automotive Careers Champion network with a dedicated marketing campaign for young women that doesn’t make it seem as if we should be technically-literate
  • investigate new channels to explain to young females how exciting a motor industry career in marketing, sales and personnel can be
  • encourage more female NEDs from outside the industry; tasked to make individual businesses (manufacturers, dealer groups, trade associations and individual businesses) more female friendly from the top down
  • encourage businesses to recruit and invest in more (of the right) female staff ie let’s have less of the ‘experience needed’ self perpetuating gender adverts when the likes of a simple systems training course would have the right female up to speed in little time and a fresh insight as a bonus

In short there is a need to train employers in the motor industry how to be MORE FEMALE FRIENDLY businesses and employers.

Let’s see how the two female judges in the 2011 Autocar-Courland Next Generation Award go about encouraging female automotive talent this year. As the pre-launch survey confirms women lack confidence in their dealings with the motor industry and need mentoring and encouragement. Otherwise they go to employers and into industries where they clearly feel more at home.

Which is totally understandable but a great loss of potential talent for our industry in many instances.

FOXY