For the Boyd Group, hiring and retaining employees can often be a matter of literal dollars and cents. In the highly competitive auto repair industry, the company recognized the need to stand out among other employers. As the parent corporation for Gerber Collison & Glass, Glass America, and Gerber National Claim Services, the Boyd Group must support 10,000+ employees at more than 800 locations in North America.

To start, they established three pillars of employee wellness to guide their HR strategy: physical, financial, and emotional. The Boyd Group honed in on emotional wellness as a means of driving immediate, tangible results for its employees. “We determined emotional wellness was an area we could impact quickly and, by doing so, bring real value and peace of mind to our employees,” says Jami Emmons, the Boyd Group’s Vice President of Total Rewards. “We want to create a culture and total rewards package that can help minimize the number of people who will go to a different employer for a dollar or two an hour raise. We always say we want to WOW our customers. We want to WOW our employees as well.”

An aging industry

Attracting and retaining employees has never been more important – and won’t get any easier. The collision repair industry, like many, is facing a labor shortage. Recent studies show nearly 70% of employees are 50 or older. As baby boomers continue to retire, an added strain will be placed on the industry to recruit younger employees, in particular women.

Emmons emphasizes the recruiting challenges that the organization faces. “There are only a few big players in our market, so the competition for technicians, estimators, and even general managers is very intense. We've spent a lot of time in the past year or so really thinking about what kind of extra benefits we need so every employee can be at their best while working.”

The Boyd Group was intent on supporting the emotional wellness of its employees, but doing so meant combatting the work-life dilemma so many employees struggle with. However, a new solution soon emerged.

The Benefits of Back-Up Care

While a leader in a male-centric industry, the Boyd Group recognizes the importance of catering to all caregivers. Emmons explains, “While statistically we’re only about 20% female, women play a major role in our workforce. The stereotype in our industry is that it’s all men, but we do employ a lot of highly skilled women who need these resources. Furthermore, when we ask our employees, ‘What drives you?’ many of them, regardless of gender, emphasize wanting to provide for their families. We knew we needed to offer benefits that take family and the needs of all our caregivers into account.”

The data backs up this approach – our 2023 Modern Family Index report found that 52% of working fathers and 45% of working mothers wish their employer would do more to support their child care needs. That need is particularly relevant for a company that is required to perform front line work. Emmons recalls one employee’s experience that underscored the main problem Boyd’s working parents faced:

“I remember the exact moment when we first started thinking about back-up care. We got a phone call from our regional vice president, who said one of their estimators couldn't come in to work that day because she didn’t have daycare. Her mom had COVID so her usual care provider was suddenly unavailable. She ended up having to quit because her child care needs weren’t met. And this was not the first time something like that had happened.”

Back-up care was the ideal solution because it was applicable at scale, serving the Boyd Group’s dispersed workforce across the country. Not wanting to lose any more talented employees to a preventable work-life dilemma, the Boyd Group included 15 days of back-up care per employee in their new benefits package. These days give Boyd Group workers reliable, trusted, and high-quality care options for their child, elderly relative, or even pet, if their primary source of care falls through.

How back-up care fared

The early feedback from employees has been positive. “Knowing that your kids, your parents, even your pets are being taken care of by someone you trust removes a major stressor from your life. A big reason why we decided to partner with Bright Horizons to help implement these benefits is because of their reputation and longevity in the industry. Our people do not want to give their children over to someone who doesn’t have an outstanding reputation and a history of quality care.” says Emmons. “Back-up care really allows our employees to have that peace of mind and be able to focus on work while they’re at work, and family while they’re at home. It has become the cornerstone of our emotional wellness plan." Speaking of the impact of back-up care on retention, Emmons notes, “One of the general managers told me that when someone is considering leaving the shop, the first thing he does is talk to them about our benefits and how they compare to our competitors.”

Providing back-up care has given the Boyd Group a major selling point in their pitch to potential recruits, as well as a unique value proposition to entice current talent to stay. And while they’re well on their way to creating a benefits package that provides real value to their workforce, they’re only just getting started according to Emmons: “We haven’t added every benefit we need just yet, but back-up care is a very positive step forward. People are now recognizing that we’re a leading benefits provider in our industry.”