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Experience is everything

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This article was published 28/11/2019 (2109 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

For over 55 years Birchwood has been a familiar name associated with selling cars and trucks in Winnipeg.

In fact, you’d be hard pressed not to notice Birchwood in the city with its 23 dealerships and operations and 1,200 employees. This includes people working in auto-body shops as well as financing.

But as the company (a Manitoba Top Employer three years in a row) looks toward 2020, there’s major growth on the horizon and some significant changes not readily seen as you drive up to their door.

“We’ve refreshed our vision, our mission and our values,” says MaryAnn Kempe, Birchwood’s chief human resources officer. “Now known simply as ’Birchwood,’ our new slogan, ‘Experience is everything,’ captures the heart of Birchwood culture. We believe our value is the experience we offer — with our customers and with our team members.”

In May 2020 Birchwood will open a new standalone Lexus dealership in the south end of Winnipeg. Currently, Lexus and Toyota share the same location at Pointe West Auto Park.

Looking further ahead, Birchwood will build a dealership for Volkswagen on Regent Avenue by December 2020. This represents a new brand in the company’s portfolio of products.

Prestigious brand Jaguar Land Rover is also on the move with a new standalone dealership to open November 2020. Volvo will be a standalone dealership inside the Pointe West Autopark.

Kempe says while opening new dealerships does expand the company’s brand awareness, it also means recruiting and training new employees, something Birchwood has continuously improved upon throughout its history.

“Every new employee at Birchwood starts their first day with onboarding. We spend the day sharing our values and connecting their work to our customers — this is an opportunity to connect with our new team and hear from them,” says Kempe.

The average age of the company’s workforce is 35 with the largest group employed as sales consultants. Kempe says Birchwood employees are also very reflective of Winnipeg’s diversity with more than 10 different ethnic communities and languages represented.

Sometimes this can make for challenges in communication.

“We did notice that some of our team members were really struggling with English, so we brought in ESL (English as a Second Language) training for all of our employees,” she says.

That training was fully paid for by Birchwood with members of employees’ families also eligible to learn.

Other training includes skills upgrades and consideration for an employee’s future within the company.

“Every year we do sessions with employees to show them where they can grow, including conversations to seek input and work with them on career mapping,” says Kempe.

Birchwood also works hard to attract more women to join its team. Currently, women make up only a quarter of its workforce. Kempe says some of the initiatives to attract women include talking to students at high schools and post-secondary campuses.

They also support scholarship programs in high schools and have a robust professional intern program that has been bringing in students for more than 20 years. Kempe says this effort is paying off with more women coming to them as co-op students.

Last year the company also launched a maternity and parental leave top-up for wages in order to encourage female employees to see the industry as an employer of choice.

All these changes and initiatives have presented company president Steve Chipman with a unique opportunity to thank employees.

Kempe says, “When Birchwood went through its rebranding Steve Chipman gave every employee $25 to invest in any charity of their choice.” A lot of team members pooled the money together so their donations could go farther, she adds.

Kempe says it’s a move that reflects the company’s values. “I really believe people come to work at Birchwood because of our connection and commitment to our community — we really try to understand what matters to them,” she says.

“We also have fun. Such as in December, when we hold our annual Birchwood Bucks auction and our annual Christmas parties, one for the children of our team members and another for the adults,” says Kempe.

Birchwood Bucks is an evening where employees who work with customers get to use company credits they’ve earned throughout a period of time to bid on gifts at a gala auction where managers do the serving.