Autoglass achieves excellence through national collaboration

Citation

Branson, S. (2011), "Autoglass achieves excellence through national collaboration", Strategic HR Review, Vol. 10 No. 4. https://doi.org/10.1108/shr.2011.37210daa.007

Autoglass achieves excellence through national collaboration

Article Type: HR at work From: Strategic HR Review, Volume 10, Issue 4

Short case studies and research papers that demonstrate best practice in HR

Autoglass is a vehicle glass repair and replacement specialist that is owned by Belron, a worldwide specialist in the market. In the UK, the company serves more than 1.5 million motorists each year, operating a 24/7 service, 365 days a year. To meet customers’ needs, the company operates through a network of 101 branches located across the UK and a team of mobile technicians that can visit customers at their home or work. The company has a strong focus on its customer service with ambitions to be one of the UK’s top service providers. Its customer satisfaction scores indicate that it is well on the road to achieving this, which is largely due to the priority and emphasis placed on the training and development of its staff across all disciplines in the business.

Autoglass operates a multi-level approach to addressing the training needs of its staff, which are typically split into the three categories of call center operators, technicians and managers. All members of staff, regardless of the position in which they join the business, are provided with ethics and values training. This focuses on the company’s philosophy, brand values and customer service commitment. Autoglass is currently developing an e-learning setup for this module, which will allow employees to understand the company’s positioning and business structure and to gain an operations overview prior to starting, as they will be able to complete it in their own time.

A tiered training program

The company has set out its training strategy in five levels since 2010. The first stage is mandatory training, which must be completed by all staff to comply with company standards and legislation that impacts the business. This training has to be done before moving on to the next level and covers essentials such as an introduction to the Data Protection Act, which is vital for all call center staff to know, and health and safety policies and systems for branch managers.

The second level is performance development, which is training that covers key areas of knowledge or skills to enable staff to perform effectively in their role. This is selected depending on the individual’s development needs but typically covers NVQ customer service qualifications for customer advisers in the branches and performance management, coaching, disciplinary and grievance procedures for branch managers. From this step, the company then offers behavioral development which is training covering essential behavior that enhances the way an employee carries out their role. Again, this is selected based on the individual’s needs and is focused on providing them with the necessary skills to enable them to do their job better. For example, some call center staff may require further training on how to deal with difficult customers, and branch managers may need to focus on leadership styles and how to gain personal effectiveness.

The final two levels of the training process focus on recognition and career development, with the latter particularly pertinent for those in managerial positions. This focuses on external qualifications and benchmarking to demonstrate that an employee has reached a certain level within their role. Further training or other support, such as secondments or work shadowing, can then be provided to help the individual progress towards their next role.

Ensuring technicians are up to the job

Autoglass’s technicians need to be highly competent and correctly skilled in their roles. The company’s approach is to ensure that a technician is completely trained to stringent standards before being let out on the road as a mobile engineer. This is because a windscreen accounts for 30 percent of a vehicle’s structural safety so it is vital that it’s fitted by a fully trained professional.

Steve Tellwright, HR technical services manager, explains: “Our strategy is to teach, assess, teach, assess, teach and assess. Basically, we do not conduct an intense introduction course for new starters as we find they have to consume so much information and it’s difficult for them to retain it all. So instead we take a staged approach through three, one-week courses spread across three months covering the three disciplines of windscreen replacement, body glass and repair. Between each course, the technician works supervised within a branch and is given the opportunity to hone the skill they have just learnt.”

After completing the course, the technician is then deemed qualified to work out in the field on their own. However, they are continuously measured on productivity and quality through job rates and customer feedback to ensure the technician continues to perform to the standard set. Tellwright adds: “Once a technician has been in the role for about 18 months, we will then look at their development in relation to reaching the ATA (Automotive Technician Accreditation) industry accreditation. We expect every technician to reach at least level two of the standard within two years of being in the role.”

Setting industry standards

Autoglass was instrumental in the introduction of the ATA accreditation scheme into the industry at a time when there was no existing enforced standard or legal requirement for qualifications. With no benchmarking system in place or any guarantee of the skills or experience of a technician, competency between fitters could vary greatly – not only compromising quality, but also safety.

With in excess of 4,500 different types of vehicle models on today’s roads it is essential that Autoglass’s technicians are equipped with the knowledge they need to tackle any model of vehicle safely and efficiently. In 2004, the company approached the Institute of the Motor Industry (IMI) and Thatcham, the UK’s leading motor research center, to initiate the development of an industry-wide, voluntary accreditation scheme for autoglazing.

After two years of development the scheme was introduced, which helped Autoglass to raise standards among its own workforce, leading to increased customer satisfaction for its customers’ policy holders, enabling the company to develop the skills of its technicians to ensure that they are able do their job efficiently and safely, while providing an efficient, structured platform on which to base an employee reward and retention scheme.

The ATA Autoglazing scheme is broken down into three different levels of competency dependent on knowledge, skills and experience and tests the skills and knowledge needed at different points in a technician’s career. By investing in this accreditation, Autoglass has been able to raise the standard of workmanship throughout it technical workforce and, as a result, it is regularly seeing customer satisfaction ratings for excellent/good service hit an average of 91 percent. Autoglass also linked the accreditation framework to its technicians’ pay structure, which has been vital in ensuring that the company continues to keep its employees motivated and rewarded for their achievements.

A pro-active training team

Aside from a dedicated training center for technicians and a dedicated team of 30 technical trainers, non-technical training requirements are dealt with by an eight-strong team that covers management, skills development and the contact center. As well as the major investment the company made in 2002 in its National Skills Center, which is accredited by Thatcham, Autoglass also sets aside budget for other initiatives and external training programs.

Employees are actively encouraged to participate in development courses as the company openly promotes opportunities through the intranet and publishes a training brochure and regularly updated calendar allowing staff to readily view what is available and relevant to their position. The training team also goes out and about visiting managers to talk about their teams’ needs and any requirements they have. Every member of staff is encouraged to have a development plan, which helps to identify their progressive training needs. The company constantly evaluates the effectiveness of its courses, through measurement of the impact on the business as well as feedback from course attendees and managers.

Keeping at the forefront

Over the last few years, the training department has started to implement more e-learning courses so staff can train at their own pace in their own time. In addition, there has been a shift in focus to sales and customer service ability, recognizing that it’s not just about people being able to do the fundamentals of the job, but also delivering excellent service – all part of Autoglass’s dedication to become one of the UK’s top service providers.

In addition, the company takes a forward-thinking approach for the industry when it comes to its managers and takes leadership training very seriously. All senior managers are measured on their leadership style and the climate they create for their teams. This is a philosophy driven by Belron and it is compulsory for all senior managers to attend a course six months after joining the company. They are then measured every year through feedback from their teams and offered coaches, which can be top-performing managers, to support them if needed.

Autoglass has won numerous awards for its training and development approach including most recently beating off competition from 23 organizations to be honored with a regional training award for the East of England, at the National Training Awards 2010. This accolade reflects outstanding commitment to training, learning and development in the workplace.

Sue BransonBased at Autoglass.

About the author

Sue Branson is learning and development manager for Belron UK Limited, owner of the Autoglass brand, with responsibility for all non-technical learning and training activities, including leadership and management development. Her background was in operational roles in retail banking before moving into training, where she has worked in other industries including communications/technology and automotive. She can be contacted at: sue.branson@autoglass.co.uk