McLEAN, Va. -

The more a dealership asks a sales consultant to work on the weekends, the more likely that these individuals are to pursue other opportunities and leave stores with significant staff turnover.

That’s one of the conclusions from the 2012 NADA Dealership Workforce Study, launched last year by NADA University, the education and training arm of the National Automobile Dealers Association in partnership with DeltaTrends.

The study showed that the dealership sales consultant turnover rate came in at 72 percent when the individual had to work four weekends per months. This salesperson earned an average compensation of $58,922.

The turnover rate dropped and the average compensation earned rose when dealerships asked salespeople to work three weekends per month. The rate dipped to 62 percent while compensation earned ticked up to $59,100.

Furthermore, if dealerships asked sales consultants to work only two weekends monthly, the turnover rate decreased to 50 percent while average compensation moved up to $60,400.

Association officials highlighted these results in hopes of drumming up more dealership interest for this year’s NADA Dealership Workforce Study.

The deadline for NADA and ATD dealer members to participate in the next annual survey is June 30 at www.nadaworkforcestudy.com.

“Participating dealerships will receive an individualized report comparing their compensation, benefits, retention and turnover to aggregated data from their peers,” NADA said.

NADA Says OSHA Targeting Dealerships

In other news, NADA indicated that the Occupational Safety and Health Administration is targeting automotive repair and maintenance businesses, including franchised dealerships, through a Region 8 Local Emphasis Program.

Association officials indicated this focused inspection activity, scheduled for through at least Sept. 30, stems from five complaints OSHA Region 8 received in FY 2010, all of which resulted in citations.

OSHA’s Region 8 is based from an office in Denver and has a presence in Colorado, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah and Wyoming.

However, NADA is urging dealerships nationwide to review the inspection directive and their health and safety compliance.

Officials added that dealerships with specific questions regarding their compliance should contact NADA Regulatory Affairs at regulatoryaffairs@nada.org or their state or local dealer association.

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