Case Study

Metal Supermarkets: Reducing turnover and hiring the most suitable candidates without bias

Founded in 1985, Metal Supermarkets has become the world’s largest small-quantity metal supplier with a franchise network of over 100 brick-and-mortar locations across Canada, the United States, and the United Kingdom. As a franchise-centric brand, maintaining profitable partnerships between the organization and its franchisees is a at the core of Metal Supermarkets’ business model, and has contributed to building a global reputation of “The Convenience Store for Metal”.

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Metal Supermarkets

Employees

201-500

Industry

Distribution

Country

Canada

Solution

Behaviour (PPA)

Aptitude (GIA)

The Challenge

Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Stephen Schober, and Franchise Support Coordinator, Diane Goldsmith, were looking to establish a proactive solution to improve employee development, strengthen franchise relations and upgrade current recruitment procedures to obtain better-suited new hires. Following several positive testimonials by a previous operations director with experience using Thomas’ assessments, the company decided to explore how Thomas International would help them address these three key challenges.

The Solution

With over five years of successful collaboration between Stephen, Diane and their Thomas consultant, Metal Supermarkets has effectively introduced Thomas’ PPA and GIA tools into all segments of their organization, from executives within the corporate network to franchise owners and their local teams. Stephen describes his appreciation for “the quality of the reports, the consistency of the support and maturity of the process and product”, which has allowed managers and human resource teams to interpret Thomas’ reports with ease and accuracy.

PPA assessments have facilitated an unparalleled level of personal insight for Metal Supermarkets’ employees, helping management to understand their teams on a higher level, while also finding ways to improve personal performance. Diane recalls, “I had one of the franchise managers come to me saying ‘I think there’s something wrong with me as a manager, can you do a PPA assessment for me? I want to see what’s going on. They wanted some insight into themselves and the ones that use it love it”.

Thomas International’s PPA and GIA assessments have encouraged more profitable partnerships with our franchisees.

Diane Goldsmith

Franchise Support Coordinator

Stephen describes the acceptance of Thomas tools within the company as a “slow burn”, introducing the PPA and GIA tools during their annual conferences so franchisees could experience the accuracy of PPA and GIA assessment results. Since integrating assessments into management training, Stephen asserts that “having managers and the senior team thinking and discussing the concepts of dominance, influence, steadiness, compliance, and how different positions should have different mixes”, has improved the way they approach new challenges.

Metal Supermarkets’ head office continues to distribute assessments throughout their network as a way for franchisees to easily upgrade the recruitment process and “get a better idea of who they’re hiring ahead of time. It is easy to be skeptical of what is written on resumes” says Diane. Even after a candidate is hired, management is strongly encouraged to keep assessment results on file as a tool to better understand how to best communicate and manage an employee in the future, as well as check compatibility amongst teams.

The Results

When asked if Stephen would recommend Thomas International to others, he replies, “yes, we have, and we do, we’re recommending to all our franchisees, and I’ve also recommended Thomas to the recruiting firm we’ve used when hiring for more senior positions”. In order for Metal Supermarkets to maintain a profitable business model they prioritize franchisee relations, and Thomas International’s PPA and GIA assessments have encouraged more “profitable partnerships with our franchisees” says Stephen. Franchisees especially maintain a strong sense of independence, so their decision to utilize psychometric assessments is due to their confidence in the product and the value it continues to add to their business.

Implementing assessments as a part of the recruitment process has also helped Metal Supermarkets reduce turnover and save money, with Diane noting “it costs a lot of money to hire people so it’s valuable to get a more qualified hire and have them for the long run”. Learning what behavioral traits align best with company culture and each position’s specific needs have improved the organization’s ability to hire the most suitable candidate without bias. With the assistance of an incredible Thomas consultant and insightful client support services, Metal Supermarkets continues to be a Thomas International advocate, implementing our tools as a way of strengthening their already impressive core values.

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