When the coronavirus hit in March and dealer Jeff Elhart had to temporarily lay off 72 staffers, he made it his mission to try to alleviate any anxiety or mental distress those employees — or any community members — might be feeling.
As he let employees go, Elhart apologized to each person and said, “What’s most important is your mental well-being.”
Then the west Michigan dealer set about providing resources he thought would help employees, customers — really, anyone — cope with the strain of the pandemic.
“Everybody during COVID experienced some level of anxiety,” Elhart told Automotive News.
The layoffs at Elhart Auto Group in Holland, Mich., came on March 24, after Michigan’s shutdown order severely restricted dealership operations. During the two weeks that followed, Elhart emailed his 118 employees and more than 23,000 customers a video each workday that addressed the 10 steps of grieving. The video series, based on topics from the book Good Grief, also was posted on YouTube.
“For most of these employees, this was their first and only time they have experienced the loss of their job and being laid off,” Elhart wrote in an email. “They were going to question their self-esteem, their worthiness, their confidence and more.”
Many who received the videos responded with requests for additional information and resources to help them through the experience, he said.
Elhart was positioned to help after experiencing a traumatic loss in his family.
In 2015, he adopted a program called Be Nice at his dealerships in honor of his brother, Wayne Elhart, who died by suicide in March of that year.
Be Nice — from the words notice, invite, challenge and empower — was created by the Mental Health Foundation of West Michigan; Elhart is now on the organization’s board of directors. The program has been used in schools, businesses and faith communities in Michigan, and the foundation’s goal is to take it national by 2023.
The experience of losing Wayne to suicide inspired Jeff Elhart to try to help others facing mental health struggles. The brothers were partners in the dealership group until 2010 when Jeff bought out Wayne so he could retire. The pair experienced the termination of their Chrysler and Dodge franchises in 2009 during the Great Recession.
The reason for Elhart’s mission was cemented in the summer of 2016 with the discovery of a note from Wayne asking his family to help fight mental illness and depression.
“It was great to see the letter, and I was happy that we were well on our way of starting to honor his wishes,” Elhart said.
At Elhart Auto, a dealership campus representing GMC, Hyundai, Genesis, Nissan and Kia, every employee is required to complete Be Nice training. The group sold 2,500 new and used vehicles in 2019.
Monthly staff meetings are held to discuss how people are using the program’s strategy and to encourage and hold employees accountable for noticing the behavioral changes of those around them.
“Once you bring it to the workplace, it’s amazing how employees open up and tell their own stories,” Elhart said.
The book Good Grief by Granger Westberg helped Elhart grieve in a healthy way after his brother’s death.
Each video in the series released in March and April uses the book to discuss a stage of grief. Stages include shock, loneliness, physical symptoms of distress, guilt, anger and hope.
“If at any time during our current generation we had to learn how to deal with our current mental well-being, now is that time, dealing with the COVID,” Elhart said.
Elhart donated nearly 100 of the books to customers and employees who reached out with questions or to seek help for themselves or family members.
The dealership group’s showrooms reopened April 13, initially just to customers with appointments. All 72 of Elhart’s laid-off employees are now back at work, having returned between mid-April and mid-June.
“We need to learn from this experience and do what we do best as business owners and business leaders,” Elhart said. “And that’s put something in place to handle it.”