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Could you take us through your career, from where it all began to where you are now in LSH Auto Australia?
Charles McComb, Head of Human Resources, LSH Auto Australia
While studying to attend law school, I was introduced to human resources while working for Morrison and Foerster LLP, a Tokyo-based law firm, when I decided to forego law and pursue a career in human resources. I completed masters in human resources from UWA and was subsequently hired by the Mercedes-Benz Group in Western Australia where I managed the HR function for 11 years. I was then approached by Hong Kong based Lei Shing Hong Pty Ltd (LSH), the world’s largest Mercedes-Benz retail group to establish and implement the HR function for their Australian entities.
LSH is a major international conglomerate, with automotive as its main pillar. For the past seven years, I've been building their HR presence here within Australia for their automotive, property and credit divisions.
Could you elaborate on how digitalization and new technologies are influencing the development of novel HR policies?
It’s been a huge learning curve in relation to digitalization for our industry. Automotive HR is still in its infancy in comparison to professional services that have a significantly larger HR presence. Many of those firms utilize software tools, such as SAP, which house all of their digital platforms under a single umbrella.
We, on the other hand, acquired our businesses directly from the manufacturer, which utilized Mercedes-Benz specific systems and support platforms. Due to our commitment to maintain the “status quo” we grew our digitalization slowly to keep things simple and familiar. With a focus on alignment, our digital journey has been small steps over time.
As part of this growth, we’ve implemented an onboarding platform, which digitizes the entire onboarding journey. By digitalizing our onboarding, we’ve been able to accomplish 2 goals; streamlining our onboarding process and creating a greater experience for our new employees who are able to take a journey through our history, our brand and our values.
Another reason our digital journey has slowly evolved is due to the lack of platforms that support the automotive industry. We rely on several standalone systems which do not speak to one another. What complicates the matter further, systems such as SAP don’t fit our needs thus it would be like putting a round peg into a square hole. However, due to our cautious approach we’ve had the ability to pivot, manage the twists and turns that usually occur in these journeys and rethink our needs with a focus on solutions particular to us.
“By digitalizing our onboarding, we’ve been able to accomplish 2 goals; streamlining our onboarding process and creating a greater experience for our new employees who are able to take a journey through our history, our brand and our values.”
As an HR Team we try to prioritize alignment and synergy across our Group. Operating in three separate markets; Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne we take inroads where we can whether that be through leveraging DocuSign or integration of our payroll and operating systems into our DMS. We tend to lean on automotive specific systems since they better cater to our specific needs and industry.
Regarding influencing of our policies, the priority has always been solution first and policy second. At the moment we’re looking at expanding our reach to the broader stakeholder with digitized learning and development, future leaders programs, e-learning, and so on. Altogether, digitalization has been a very interesting journey for us.
What would you say is one of the biggest challenges you face amidst the digitalization process?
The biggest hurdle we've faced has been with our active internal engagement, roughly 1/3 of our active employees are not utilizing our systems, this group is predominantly our blue-collar staff. The feedback is a reluctance to share personal information or sign on to a digital journey that could make their lives so much easier. Because of this, we dedicate a tremendous amount of time to educate our active employees prior to any roll-out. While many are happy to jump into the 21st century, for a fair few, it is crucial we walk them through the journey first, this has limited our expansion into the digital space.
How has it been to manage four generations of workforce entering the market space together with different mentalities and perspectives on life?
Challenging. We’re seeing less longevity in roles, many aren’t looking for long-term employment or are looking for a perfect fit and are willing to chop and change employment every couple years or even less. We, LSH focus on providing a career. We welcome people who have a desire to build a career in automotive and we truly believe we offer the best environment to accomplish that, this is what my Team strive towards, and it will continue be our main goal.
Regarding recruitment, we’ve become more diligent, recruiting the wrong person can have a negative impact on our working environment and culture. We’ve initiated internship programs and fixed-term contracts to determine “fit” prior to offering permanent employment.
While we’ve always utilized technical apprentices in our workshops we’ve noted a much smaller number of younger people looking at the trades industries as a viable career. While we’re fortunate to represent a formidable automotive brand in time, at the current rate of new apprentices coming into the industry many dealership groups will struggle finding qualified technicians. This will be exacerbated by the move to electrified vehicles and a lack of technicians to service them.
Do you have any words of advice for your peers or industry readers in the market space right now?
Be adaptable. I believe, more than ever, being adaptable within the HR space is crucial for success. We constantly look “outside the box” for solutions to try and stay one step ahead and be as progressive as possible. In addition, when building an HR team, surround yourself with people who provide skills and experience that you don’t have. Each one of my managers are incredibly gifted and excel in an area I do not. I constantly encourage my team to support one another, to collaborate. By focusing on building a team environment we focus on working together and not against each other and each bring something different to the table. We learn from each other and make each other better, which makes the services we provide better for the organization.
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