Part 6 of 14: The Employee–Customer–Profit Connection
In this article, you'll learn:
- What separates dealerships that live their culture from those that only talk about it
- How visible, consistent leadership drives employee loyalty at scale
- Why measuring culture is the key to making it a competitive advantage
Tim Bergstrom knows all 2,500 of his employees by name.¹
That's not a marketing claim or an exaggeration. It's an operational commitment that illustrates everything about how Bergstrom Automotive approaches employee experience.
The results speak for themselves: 95% employee recommendation rate on Glassdoor.² Named the #1 dealership group to work for in the United States by Automotive News in 2025, with 12 consecutive years on the Best Dealerships list.² A retention rate that makes the industry average look like a crisis.
What Bergstrom has built in Wisconsin proves that employee-first culture isn't just slogans on a wall. It's daily practice, consistently executed, at genuine scale.
Culture as Operational Commitment
Plenty of companies say "employees are family." Bergstrom actually operates that way.
Tim Bergstrom uses short video messages to stay connected across all 40+ locations.¹ When walking through stores, he records quick updates—under 90 seconds—to share insights, reinforce values, or recognize great work. "That 90 seconds I spent on the video," he explains, "impacted a greater amount than if I just did one-to-one." Employees see leadership present and engaged, not distant and abstract.
During COVID furloughs, Bergstrom maintained full health insurance for employees who weren't working.³ That decision cost money. It also demonstrated that "family" wasn't just a word used when convenient.
New employees receive two weeks of PTO from day one, not after a year of proving themselves.³ The company runs a profit-sharing program that lets employees participate in the success they help create.
These aren't extraordinary measures in industries where talent is truly valued. In automotive retail, they stand out as almost radical.
What Makes It Work
The obvious question: how does a CEO of 2,500 employees know everyone's name?
The answer reveals the deeper philosophy. Bergstrom has built visibility and connection into how the organization operates. It's not accidental familiarity—it's intentional practice.
The video messages create consistent touchpoints. Store visits prioritize genuine interaction, not ceremonial walk-throughs. The culture rewards knowing people, understanding their situations, celebrating their achievements.
Bergstrom extends that same philosophy to business information. The company shares financial data openly with team members, something that surprises leaders who join from outside. "We're all one team, we're in this together," Tim explains. "So why not share the data and help everybody understand?"¹ Transparency reinforces that "family" means partnership, not just sentiment.
Employees notice. They feel seen. They understand that leadership isn't just managing metrics from a distance but actually paying attention to the people creating those metrics.
That sense of being known and valued changes behavior. Employees who feel invisible tend to become transactional, doing the minimum required, watching the clock, keeping options open. Employees who feel recognized invest more of themselves, stay longer, deliver better customer experiences.
The Proof in the Numbers
Bergstrom's approach delivers results that would seem impossible if you accepted industry norms as inevitable.
Their 95% recommendation rate means nearly every employee would tell a friend to come work there. Compare that to Glassdoor's industry average, where barely half of automotive retail employees would recommend their workplaces.
The twelve consecutive years on Automotive News' Best Dealerships list—culminating in the #1 ranking in 2025—isn't a fluke or a single good year. It's sustained performance that demonstrates consistency of execution.
And critically, Bergstrom measures this systematically. Like Penske, they conduct annual employee engagement surveys through ESi-Q.⁶ They don't assume culture is working—they verify it with data and track trends over time.
JM Family: A Different Model, Same Principles
Bergstrom isn't alone in proving that genuine culture scales.
JM Family Enterprises—including Southeast Toyota Distributors, the world's largest independent Toyota distributor—earned Fortune 100 Best Companies to Work For recognition for 24 consecutive years through 2022.⁴ Ninety percent of associates say it's a great place to work.
Their approach looks different from Bergstrom's but shares the same foundation: treating employee experience as a strategic priority deserving real investment.
JM Family built a $100 million Vehicle Processing Center designed with employee feedback shaping key decisions.⁵ They operate onsite wellness centers and fitness facilities. They've created education assistance programs that help employees develop careers, not just fill jobs.
The result is an organization where six consecutive years of Best Workplaces for Millennials recognition demonstrates they've figured out what the next generation of talent actually needs.⁴
The Gap Between Saying and Doing
What separates Bergstrom and JM Family from average performers isn't resources. Plenty of well-capitalized organizations have mediocre employee experience.
The gap is commitment.
Most companies say culture matters. Few allocate the time, attention, and resources that would make it true. They launch initiatives, celebrate announcements, then move on to other priorities. The programs exist on paper while daily reality drifts toward whatever's easiest.
Bergstrom's video updates require actual ongoing effort. JM Family's employee-influenced facility design required actually listening and then actually acting. These aren't one-time investments—they're ongoing commitments that require sustained attention.
That sustained attention is exactly what most organizations struggle to maintain. It's easier to implement a program than to ensure it works. It's easier to announce values than to live them consistently.
Culture is Measurable
Here's the insight that changes everything: the commitment that seems intangible is actually quantifiable.
Bergstrom and JM Family don't just believe their cultures are working. They measure employee experience systematically. They track engagement over time. They know which parts of the organization are thriving and which need attention.
This transforms culture from a vague aspiration into a manageable outcome. You can set targets, identify gaps, test interventions, and verify whether changes produce results.
The dealers who claim to care about culture but can't quantify it are operating on faith. The dealers who measure are operating on evidence.
Which approach is more likely to produce sustained results?
Culture is measurable—here's how to start. ESi-Q powers annual employee engagement surveys for Bergstrom Automotive and other industry leaders who understand that what gets measured gets managed. Learn how systematic measurement can transform your approach to workforce stability.
About The Author
Cathy Palochko has spent her career in learning and development almost exclusively in automotive, including senior leadership roles in training and development for multi-franchise dealer groups and extensive experience on the agency side supporting OEMs.
Frequently Asked Questions
What makes Bergstrom Automotive's culture different?
Bergstrom operates on the principle that "employees are family" as an operational commitment, not just a slogan. CEO Tim Bergstrom knows all 2,500 employees by name, records short video messages to stay connected across 40+ locations, shares financial data transparently with team members, and backed this philosophy with action by maintaining full health insurance during COVID furloughs when employees weren't working.
What is Bergstrom Automotive's employee recommendation rate?
Bergstrom achieves a 95% employee recommendation rate on Glassdoor and was named the #1 dealership group to work for in the United States by Automotive News in 2025, with 12 consecutive years on the Best Dealerships list.
How do you build employee-first culture at scale?
Both Bergstrom (2,500 employees across 40+ dealerships) and JM Family Enterprises (Fortune 100 Best Companies recognition) demonstrate that culture scales through consistent daily practices, systematic measurement, and genuine investment in employee wellbeing, not through programs alone.
How do you measure dealership culture?
Culture becomes measurable through systematic employee engagement surveys that track recommendation rates, engagement levels, and specific factors driving satisfaction or turnover. Bergstrom and other top performers conduct annual surveys through ESi-Q to verify their culture initiatives are actually working.
Footnotes:
¹ Tim Bergstrom, "Engaging One's Team Through Digital Tools to Execute a Culture of Guest Service," St. Norbert College CEO Breakfast Series (2017); Insight on Business, "Driving Loyalty" (2014)
² Glassdoor, Bergstrom Automotive; Automotive News Best Dealerships to Work For
³ Bergstrom Automotive COVID-19 response; company benefits documentation
⁴ Fortune 100 Best Companies to Work For; JM Family Enterprises data
⁵ JM Family Enterprises $100M Vehicle Processing Center investment
⁶ ESi-Q client relationship
