00:00:00
Speaker 1: You're listening to a Sharesies podcast. Turner's Automotive Group is one of New Zealand's largest used vehicle retailers with more than 700 employees across the country. When CEO Todd Hunter joined us on Shared Lunch a couple of weeks back, we asked what Turner's is doing to keep its people engaged in the business. His answer was give them opportunity to own part of it. Around 70% of Turner's staff are now shareholders through an employee share scheme run with Sharesies. Here's how it works. and why Todd thinks more listed companies should be doing the same.
00:00:33
Speaker 2: People love Tina, they love Liam, and they feel a lot of pride here, but what else are they getting out of it?
00:00:38
Speaker 3: Yeah, so we have very high engagement levels, but what has really supercharged that is an employee share scheme, which we run through Sharesies, and people get $ 2, 000 worth of shares for $ 1, 000, and they can pay that back in an interest-free loan over three years. And so the people who've been involved with that now kind of, if you've been involved with over four years, you'd own sort of 1400 odd shares, probably got $ 12, 000 worth of value for about $ 4, 000. Like it's been an amazing story. And we have now 70% of our staff as shareholders in the business, which I just, I'm so proud of. And I think it's such a cool thing that the people who are working here get to share in the benefits of a share price going up and the profits in the business, they get dividends and Are.
00:01:28
Speaker 2: They asking you hard questions if there's any movement the other way?
00:01:31
Speaker 3: They absolutely do. Yeah, 100%.
00:01:34
Speaker 2: And themselves some robberies of hard questions too.
00:01:36
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's right. I mean, they certainly take a keen interest in it, which is great. I love that level of ownership.
00:01:43
Speaker 2: I mean, working for a living is great, but being an owner adds an extra dimension of stress, but also of opportunity, right? Do you think that's quite a, it's a bit of an unlock for a lot of businesses?
00:01:53
Speaker 3: I think it's a great thing. And I think more listed businesses should be doing. I do not understand why more don't do it. It's an IRD approved scheme. All of the structures and the mechanics are there to roll out. It's very simple and straightforward. And I just think it's such a good thing to be able to offer people who work in your business an opportunity to participate over and above being just an employee. And for us, we can measure engagement by non-participants and participants, and the participants track a little bit higher than those who aren't in it. And so, yeah, I think it's a really good thing.
00:02:31
Speaker 2: I guess anyone can run a share scheme, can't they? So what's particular to the way that you're doing it?
00:02:34
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think the great thing about partnering with Sharesies on that is, obviously, more than a million New Zealanders have a Sharesies account. A lot of our team do, but those employee shares, they can see them in their Sharesies account. So although the shares may not be vested, they can see that they own them. They can see the share price growing. They can see the value that's accumulating to them. The dividends are paid into their SharesEase account. So it's a really easy, invisible way for those people to participate and see how their wealth may be accumulating. I think it's a really good thing.
00:03:08
Speaker 2: You know, every car's got a dashboard.
00:03:10
Speaker 3: That's right.
00:03:11
Speaker 2: Your investment should have a dashboard.
00:03:12
Speaker 3: Yeah, and it's sort of like, We have this simple formula in this business. It's like provide a great employee experience means they can provide a great customer experience and the combination of those two things provide a great shareholder experience. And this business is a people business. We rely on our people doing a great job for our customers. And I kind of feel like our job as leaders in this business is to make sure that we're doing our utmost to give them the best opportunity to do that. And an employee share scheme I think is a big part of that.
Speaker 1: You're listening to a Sharesies podcast. Turner's Automotive Group is one of New Zealand's largest used vehicle retailers with more than 700 employees across the country. When CEO Todd Hunter joined us on Shared Lunch a couple of weeks back, we asked what Turner's is doing to keep its people engaged in the business. His answer was give them opportunity to own part of it. Around 70% of Turner's staff are now shareholders through an employee share scheme run with Sharesies. Here's how it works. and why Todd thinks more listed companies should be doing the same.
00:00:33
Speaker 2: People love Tina, they love Liam, and they feel a lot of pride here, but what else are they getting out of it?
00:00:38
Speaker 3: Yeah, so we have very high engagement levels, but what has really supercharged that is an employee share scheme, which we run through Sharesies, and people get $ 2, 000 worth of shares for $ 1, 000, and they can pay that back in an interest-free loan over three years. And so the people who've been involved with that now kind of, if you've been involved with over four years, you'd own sort of 1400 odd shares, probably got $ 12, 000 worth of value for about $ 4, 000. Like it's been an amazing story. And we have now 70% of our staff as shareholders in the business, which I just, I'm so proud of. And I think it's such a cool thing that the people who are working here get to share in the benefits of a share price going up and the profits in the business, they get dividends and Are.
00:01:28
Speaker 2: They asking you hard questions if there's any movement the other way?
00:01:31
Speaker 3: They absolutely do. Yeah, 100%.
00:01:34
Speaker 2: And themselves some robberies of hard questions too.
00:01:36
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's right. I mean, they certainly take a keen interest in it, which is great. I love that level of ownership.
00:01:43
Speaker 2: I mean, working for a living is great, but being an owner adds an extra dimension of stress, but also of opportunity, right? Do you think that's quite a, it's a bit of an unlock for a lot of businesses?
00:01:53
Speaker 3: I think it's a great thing. And I think more listed businesses should be doing. I do not understand why more don't do it. It's an IRD approved scheme. All of the structures and the mechanics are there to roll out. It's very simple and straightforward. And I just think it's such a good thing to be able to offer people who work in your business an opportunity to participate over and above being just an employee. And for us, we can measure engagement by non-participants and participants, and the participants track a little bit higher than those who aren't in it. And so, yeah, I think it's a really good thing.
00:02:31
Speaker 2: I guess anyone can run a share scheme, can't they? So what's particular to the way that you're doing it?
00:02:34
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think the great thing about partnering with Sharesies on that is, obviously, more than a million New Zealanders have a Sharesies account. A lot of our team do, but those employee shares, they can see them in their Sharesies account. So although the shares may not be vested, they can see that they own them. They can see the share price growing. They can see the value that's accumulating to them. The dividends are paid into their SharesEase account. So it's a really easy, invisible way for those people to participate and see how their wealth may be accumulating. I think it's a really good thing.
00:03:08
Speaker 2: You know, every car's got a dashboard.
00:03:10
Speaker 3: That's right.
00:03:11
Speaker 2: Your investment should have a dashboard.
00:03:12
Speaker 3: Yeah, and it's sort of like, We have this simple formula in this business. It's like provide a great employee experience means they can provide a great customer experience and the combination of those two things provide a great shareholder experience. And this business is a people business. We rely on our people doing a great job for our customers. And I kind of feel like our job as leaders in this business is to make sure that we're doing our utmost to give them the best opportunity to do that. And an employee share scheme I think is a big part of that.
