The expert in auto glass is Safelite. The company has been assisting people to resume safe driving since 1947. They don’t take lightly the task of repairing and replacing the glass and recalibrating our vehicle’s cutting-edge safety systems. However, they are more than just a glass firm.
The company’s staff goes above and beyond, pushing the envelope to come up with novel methods. They aim to surprise customers with happiness every day. The company gives its employees the tools they need to make a difference, provide remarkable service, and act morally. Safelite is aware that its employees enable the goal. This idea serves as the foundation of their culture.
There were no recent news stories about layoffs at Safelite. Let us know more about the business in this article.
DiscontinuedNews is impartial and independent, and every day, we create distinctive, world-class programs, news, and content that inform, educate and entertain millions of people worldwide.
About the company
Based in Columbus, Ohio, Safelite Group, Inc. is an American business. It offers services for automobile glass repair, replacement, and calibration.
In 1947, Bud Glassman and Art Lankin founded Safelite in a Wichita, Kansas, junkyard. The business changed over time with the addition of Safelite Solutions. It offers a third-party claims management service to major insurance and fleet companies. Along with that, the service AutoGlass is a national supplier of wholesale car glass goods, installation tools, and materials.
Belron, the largest auto glass company in the world with operations in over 32 countries, purchased Safelite in 2007. Due to the company’s 1997 bankruptcy filing, J.P. Morgan & Co. had previously controlled Safelite before Belron acquired it.
Safelite has agreements with 17 of the top 20 insurers in the United States as of 2020. Late in 2021, Thomas Feeney transitioned from CEO to a management position with Belron North America. Renee Castillo was named president and CEO.
The annual revenue of Safelite AutoGlass is $2.3 billion. The important financial metrics of Safelite AutoGlass are:
- Safelite AutoGlass employs 15,000 people and has an earnings-per-employee ratio of $153,333.
- The highest-ever revenue for Safelite AutoGlass was $2.3 billion in 2022.
The firm is made up of three main business divisions, including:
1. Automotive glass fulfillment services, known commercially as Safelite AutoGlass
2. Service AutoGlass, a wholesale company
3. Safelite Solutions, a provider of claims-management services
Safelite AutoGlass has a presence in all 50 states. This top vehicle glass service and calibration business in the country has extensive acquisition expertise.
Safelite Layoffs in 2020
On March 20, 2020, Safelite President and CEO Tom Feeney announced significant company adjustments as a result of COVID-19’s impact on the auto glass sector. Feeney claims that the corporation has undergone unmatched change as a result of unusual occurrences.
According to the letter, Safelite’s business was down 55% at that time, and it predicts a greater fall. Safelite has made many adjustments as a result of COVID-19. It includes delaying top leaders’ salaries and a portion of their bonuses for 2019. Feeney claimed that Belron was treating all of the organization’s leaders in the same way.
“Across our business, we’ve made announcements about job cuts and layoffs. We cut nearly 1,000 roles throughout our organization. It’s because there was a great deal of uncertainty about how long this crisis would last, as well as an important reduction in workload and staffing requirements, Feeney claimed. “We also placed about 1,000 employees on leave for 120 days. These furloughs are being implemented to prevent as many layoffs as possible. This was also to guarantee that our employees continue to have access to healthcare during this crucial period.”
All affected employees are eligible for unemployment benefits. Safelite guarantees that it will pay their health insurance for the period of their leave.
The CEO of Safelite restored sales to pre-pandemic levels in 2020
In 2020, Feeney informed reporters that business decreased “like somebody turned off a light switch.” As the amount of driving Americans does affect Safelite’s business of repairing windshields, company revenues had fallen by 45% by the first week of April.
The company’s creative “keep your base intact” solution to the problem is what makes its tale stand out. Feeney focused on cutting expenses to offset the decline in sales. Furloughs, as opposed to layoffs, were used to make sure that all of his 17,000 employees were still employed and available for work when business picked up.
Feeney was able to handle the demand rapidly. This was done by increasing service representatives’ and technicians’ part-time hours. The competitors implemented massive layoffs and ran out of supplies. But Safelite maintained a workforce. It made employees available and on call, as well as windshields that were ready to be delivered. Customers are choosing Safelite because their competitors are unable to fill open positions to regain lost revenue quickly.
“We’re back to 95% of our 2019 volumes due to the broader rebound and our increases in market share,” according to Feeney.
Before Feeney became CEO in 2008, the old Safelite was very different from the successful, agile competitor that preyed on the worst recession in recent history to grow its market share. When Feeney joined Safelite in 1988, the windshield installer was struggling under a mountain of high-yield debt. These debts were issued by the first of two private equity firms that would own them over the next 20 years.
Still, Feeney led the growth of Safelite Solutions as a young executive. As we mentioned, it is the division that caters to insurers, fleets, and rental car firms. Safelite Solutions has since become the company’s core business.
When it came to windshields covered by insurance policies, “I helped get blanket deals with major insurers like Geico and Safeco. So they made Safelite their top supplier,” he says.
Safelite shut down a business unit!
On January 4, 2021, Safelite Autoglass informed its important clients and employees that Service Auto Glass, its wholesale division, would be closing. On Tuesday, January 5, 2021, Safelite Group intends to formally wind down the Service Auto Glass brand and its wholesale division.
“I am proud of the part that our wholesale division played in the growth of our firm. This choice will enable us to focus our resources and efforts on our core business,” according to Tom Feeney. The warehouses were planned to be used for internal distribution and to stay open.
Over the years, Safelite’s wholesale branch has faced difficulties. It was most notable when trying to sell to a customer base that it regularly competes with. “Going ahead, the same vendors we currently work with will continue to provide parts to our wholesale customers. We’ll start alerting these clients right away,” added Feeney.
Renee Cacchillo became president and CEO
Renee Cacchillo has worked in the retail and consulting sectors for more than 20 years. She joined Safelite in 2011. She has held a range of leadership positions in operations, advertising, marketing, customer experience, and technology. She received a promotion in 2019 to EVP, Chief Customer Officer. Then, in late 2021, she was named president and CEO of Safelite.
Renee collaborates with the senior leadership team. She focused on presenting Safelite as a customer-driven, people-powered company. She worked with the mission of creating unexpected happiness. She directs Safelite’s 16,000 employees to fulfill the company’s mission and business objectives. Along with that, she also improves the lives of close to 11 million clients annually.
Safelite Autoglass to Pay $45,000 to Settle Lawsuit
A settlement agreement was released on February 28, 2023, by the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). According to that, Safelite AutoGlass will pay $45,000 to resolve a sex-based discrimination claim.
A lady allegedly applied for a trainee auto glass technician position at a Safelite AutoGlass shop in Austin, Texas, as detailed in the EEOC lawsuit. It was filed in September 2022. The candidate told the store manager in the interview that she had two years of work experience as a repair technician. It involved lifting and moving heavy furniture. In spite of this knowledge, the store manager was worried about the female applicant’s capacity to move large items.
Conclusion
The press and the general public are kept informed of the most recent news at Safelite AutoGlass. They do this by issuing press releases that highlight their most recent advancements in auto glass repair. We will be sure to read about everything in their press releases. Whether it’s new sales records, the opening of brand-new Safelite AutoGlass stores, or the development of cutting-edge technology by their skilled specialists, they let us know!
The most recent acquisitions by Safelite include Ideal Auto Glass, Advanced Auto Glass, New Angle Glass, and Mark’s Mobile Glass. Besides that, Safelite acquired Pro Tech Auto Glass at the end of August 2022, Henderson Glass in July 2022, Frontier Glass in June 2022, and many more!
At the time of this writing, Safelite, the nation’s leading vehicle glass services and recalibration company, is hiring for various roles. They listed opportunities in technician, customer service, corporate, and leadership roles. There were no signs of layoffs in this company at this moment, based on the study.
