1 Thing We’re Talking About: Houston dealerships commended for hiring female service advisers

Beck & Masten Buick-GMC North and Beck & Masten Buick-GMC South have been recognized for their commitment to hiring female service advisers.

The WomenInTheServiceLane award, presented by online service and parts forum the Ted Ings Fixed Ops Roundtable, recognized the Houston stores for having women fill half of the adviser roles. Group Fixed Operations Director Mike Hoeller, North Service Director Lee Velazquez, South Fixed Operations Director Vennie Trevino and South Service Manager Hannah Wilson were commended for advocating for the hiring of more women.

The quarterly award is given to service departments that have women making up at least 40 percent of the service advisers.

“Far too many dealership service leaders use the excuse of ‘always hiring the best person for the job’ as a cover for hiring those who look like them — usually males,” said Roger Conant, who established the award program. “That’s unconscious bias, and it has resulted in only 20 percent of the service advisers nationally being women. But those dynamics are a total mismatch for the gender balance makeup of dealer service centers because half of their customers are female.”