When integrating new employees, it helps to have a good understanding of human nature, says Kim McMahon, co-owner of McMahon’s Best-One Tire.
She’s testing that theory again as McMahon’s Best-One Tire, which is based in Fort Wayne, Ind., on-boards 65 employees who previously worked for three tire stores the company purchased earlier this month.
The outlets – two Best-One of Lima stores and one Best-One of Bryan location – are based in western Ohio and are the latest additions to the McMahon’s Best-One Tire network, which now encompasses 17 outlets.
Kim – who runs McMahon’s Best-One Tire with her partners, Bubba McMahon, and Randy Geyer – says assimilating new employees is often the most challenging aspect of any business acquisition.
Establishing “trust on both sides” is paramount, she explains.
When a business changes hands, “a lot of employees feel like, ‘What just happened? Yesterday I worked for my old company. Today I’m working for a new company.’ Some longer-term employees (might) think, ‘How could the previous owner do this to me?’ It can be really personal. And that’s a difficult thing to break through.”
A proven process
It’s important to follow a well-defined process when on-boarding new associates, according to Kim.
“The first thing we do is get some of our employees into the new locations,” she says. “We make a real effort to have (established) employees spend time at our new stores. It works two ways. We can see how they do things. ‘What’s your process for inspections? How do you price your tires?’ We’re gathering information. But we’re also letting new employees get to know how we do things – how we dress, how we talk, the whole package. That’s going to be your starting point for everybody.”
McMahon’s Best-One Tire, for the first time, had the opportunity to begin this exercise several weeks before the dealership acquired Best-One of Lima and Best-One of Bryan. “The former owners told their employees a couple of weeks before the actual takeover date,” says Kim. “So we had a couple of weeks to go in there and meet everybody and let them get comfortable with us. They sat down with our HR person and went through their (new) benefits."
Meeting with employees ahead of the transaction date allowed McMahon's Best-One Tire to "get a feel for people and what their jobs are and how they do things. And I think when employees see that the new owners are here and want to make things better and do good things ... it makes a difference. We want to make sure we we’re treating people with the kindness they deserve.”
Employee empowerment
Over the years, McMahon’s Best-One Tire has provided new employees with more than what they previously enjoyed, including better wages, a superior benefits package, equipment upgrades and in many cases, more freedom to make executive decisions.
“Some people get excited about new opportunities and new ways of doing things,” says Kim. “And I think a lot of people get excited about being empowered to make decisions and to have a say in how their store’s being run. If you’re running a store, you should know what’s best for it. If you think you need to hire somebody, it’s up to you to make that decision.
"We are a high-trust organization. Some people’s minds are blown by that. The vast majority of people – when you give them the opportunity to make a decision and they know it’s OK to make a bad decision... that they’re not going to get fired for making a bad decision,” they embrace it.
“We (also) want to make sure they have whatever they need to do their jobs in the most efficient way possible. If you have equipment that’s breaking down or isn’t up to standards, that’s not OK with us. Even as something as simple as a computer ... I had one employee say to me, ‘Do you think you can get me a new computer? This one’s 12 years old.’”
'Consistency is huge’
McMahon’s Best-One Tire goes into every acquisition with the intention of retaining all employees. However, not every newly acquired employee reacts with the same enthusiasm. Some can be resistant to change, says Kim.
“We want people who understand and buy into our culture. And it isn’t for everybody. Some people want things to be the way they used to be. They don’t want to change."
In a situation like that, "you may lose people along the way and that’s OK. The first few times we went through this, we said, ‘We have to keep everybody happy.’ But now we’ve gotten to the point where we know our process works, our culture works (and we know new employees) are going to be better for it. The people who can go along with that and give us the opportunity find that it’s a better situation that they were in before.”
Customers also benefit from employee retention, says Kim.
“People like to go in and see the same faces they’ve known over the years. Customers want to make sure they’re still going to get the same level of service – or better – than they’re used to. Consistency is huge.”
