BY NICOLE NELSON

Brittney, Christal, Hope Ann, Jaclyn, Jennifer, Michelle, Sheena, Silvana . . . and Jimmy.
These predominantly feminine forenames represent the faces that personify management at Valet Car Wash’s nine tunnel locations. Distinctively, all but one of the Canadian car wash and express detailing locations are run and operated by women.

Valet Car Wash Owner Mike Black said his exceptionally female-dominated management team was developed by design over the course of the chain’s 30-year history. In fact, the original Cambridge, Ontario, location’s first employee just so happened to be a female hire.

“I was new to the business and I wasn’t really sure what I would need,” Black said of the location that, at the time, measured up as the largest car wash in Canada with 20,000 square feet under one roof. “I hired a female for that administration and HR position and then it just went from there. We then ended up hiring a female site operations manager, and what I found was that women just seem to be very well-suited to our industry.”

For Black, he’s seen his female team members have a more natural aptitude for management skills. Benefits run the gamut from employee training to operational diagnostics.

“I have found that women are really good at those types of details,” Black said, “and so it has just evolved over the years.”

In addition to managerial roles, Valet Car Wash’s overall female employee composition equates to a whopping 70% of the floor.

“Years ago, I was at an International Carwash Association seminar and a speaker said that if you can position your business to be female-friendly, you will do much better than if it’s just male-friendly. This I know, as males will go to a female-friendly facility, but it’s hard to get females to go to a male-friendly facility.”

With an overwhelmingly woman-dominated workforce, Valet Car Wash continues to increase its female friendliness factor.

“Once women started to see other women at our facilities, it prompted them then to perhaps apply, or recommend their daughter or sister, because there were so many females working,” Black said.

In addition to changing company culture in a good way, Black said female hires have proven to be good investments over the years.

“I have found out just how dedicated women are to the job, not to mention resourceful and very good at customer service,” Black said, noting that female hires have paid off in dividends, with women in current Valet Car Wash managerial roles averaging 18 years on the job.

The collective expertise of Valet’s female-dominated management is then passed down to a new generation of young, first-time employees who tend to thrive under their nurturing style of training and direction.

“We have taken on the Millennials and we are finding that the young employees need even more guidance and stewardship than any of our past generations,” Black said. “Our female managers tend to take a personal interest in employees, which goes a long way.”

While there are a number of female-friendly upsides, Black admits there can be downsides as well.

“There are male customers that, when they have issues, may not think a female is knowledgeable enough,” Black said. “But our team is pretty quick at putting them into place.”

While only anecdotal, Black believes the female employee base has, in turn, shifted the dynamics of the customer base.

“I don’t know that there are any hard facts out there, but we do have a lot of female customers,” Black said. “But I think the more important aspect is that our company culture tends to attract more female workers.

Black realizes his women-centric business model “has been a bit of an anomaly,” although he has recently noticed more of a female presence on car wash operator social media sites and other marketing formats.

“There seems to be more and more females getting into the industry, which is great to see,” Black said.