Human Capital

This week as a lender rep has been a new experience for me. We have had to shut down a dealer group with 5 franchises and a 4 building autoplex. They have been unable to meet their obligations with their lenders, the state, and their customers so they have decided to surrender their assets to our company and begin the liquidation process.

The process is a massive undertaking that has required many people from our company working in collaberation to protect our assets. We have had to set up security and block off entrances so that we maintain control of who/what comes in and who/what goes out.

Part of that process included allowing former employees to come into the dealership to recover their personal belongings. One thing that we had to do is make sure that they were not taking anything that was not theirs.

I had to manage this process in the service shop for one of the stores. Service techs were coming in to recover their tools from the building. I was not aware that the service techs have to provide their own tools to use while working on vehicles. In talking to some of the service techs, I learned that these tools were significant value ranging anywhere from $15k-$40k depending on the toolbox, the number of tools, and the specialization of those tools. So, these tools are an integral part of these people's livelihoods.

There was some bitterness that you could sense from the service techs as they had to gather their tools and make arrangement to ge them transported out. The logistics of moving these tools were another problem to deal with. They are in big heavy toolboxes that required trailers and several people to get them loaded on. However, most of these people remained pretty positive throughout the process and had agood outlook despite a tough economic situation.

The process I have been involved in with regards to this dealership is just one of the many signs of the times. Unfortunately, there are more people looking for work today than there was a week ago with regards to the people that were at this dealership. There a lot of aspects to look at when dealing with these situations but there is a human element besides just the business ramifications. Having to deal with that as well, can sometimes make it more difficult than anticipated.