Dipasqua Enterprises

The Client

DiPasqua Enterprises is one of the largest franchisees within the SUBWAY system worldwide. They presently operate 90 plus locations in Orange, Seminole, Osceola and Marion counties in Central Florida with sales in excess of 40 million. They are a company focused on people development, store development and building financial security for everyone on the team. They maintain some of the highest average unit volumes in the chain and have received national recognition for leadership, innovative store design, and other contributions to the SUBWAY system. They are a family owned and operated business and you can learn more about their company history here.

The Solution

Wonderlic Productivity Index® (WPI®): The Wonderlic Productivity Index (WPI) is a short-form measure of personality as it relates to productive behavior in the workplace. Based upon “Big 5” research by personality experts Murray Barrick, Ph.D. and Michael Mount, Ph.D., the WPI focuses on the fundamental factors that affect success in entry-level positions. The WPI has been fine-tuned for entry-level positions. It assesses an individual’s willingness to perform productively and cooperatively on the job, and avoid engaging in counterproductive behavior.

PhonApp® and WebApp®: Wonderlic’s PhonApp/WebApp Service helps eliminate wasted time by using job-specific criteria to conveniently pre-qualify job seekers via the phone or web. Wonderlic works with recruiters to develop fully customized questionnaires using job-specific criteria that are then administered to interested job seekers responding to employment ads via the telephone or the Internet. Wonderlic also gives job seekers access to information about the client’s company, information about the specific job, job-specific questionnaires, the ability to schedule an interview automatically, and access to the system via the telephone or the Web anytime, anyplace. Responses are delivered to your private PhonApp/WebApp database on our secure server.

Turnover Decreases at DiPasqua Subway Shops

DiPasqua Enterprises has seen dramatic reductions in turnover in several of its Subway restaurants since rolling out a pilot program using Wonderlic’s WebApp, PhoneApp and Wonderlic Productivity Index (WPI) to screen potential sandwich artists. DiPasqua is a family owned and operated company based in Maitland, Florida and is one of the largest franchisee groups in the Subway system, with 83 stores in Central Florida.

“Turnover in the pilot stores has dropped 150 to 200 percent,” says Kimberly Brooks, Human Resource Manager for DiPasqua. “The tools have already paid for themselves. If we save one person at one store we recoup our investment.”

Through the pilot program, instead of applicants sending résumés directly to the corporate office, they must first complete two pre-screening tests, either online using Wonderlic’s WebApp tool, or over the phone through the PhoneApp tool. The test questions were customized for Subway based on conversations with store managers, Brooks and Tom Bowman, Director of Wonderlic Franchise Intelligence. All of the questions help DiPasqua identify candidates with the ideal traits of a sandwich artist.

“The first set of WebApp and PhoneApp questions are specific to the Subway position but are basic requirements,” notes Bowman. “Initially, we want to eliminate applicants who don’t meet the minimum qualifications for the job or those who decide the job is not right for them.”

These questions focus on issues such as minimum required experience and qualifications, ability to get to work and desire to work the required hours. If candidates pass the first set of questions, they are automatically routed to the WPI, which is a short form measure of personality traits as they relate to productive behavior for entry-level positions in the workplace.Applicant tests are automatically scored and only those who pass both sets of questions have their applications forwarded on to Brooks, who then passes them on to individual store managers. This cuts the time Brooks spends reviewing potential employees in half.

“In the pilot program, only 48 percent of initial applicants passed the tests,” she says. “That is a big time savings for us because we don’t have to waste time interviewing people who are not qualified for the job.”

Brooks is excited about the potential that the Wonderlic screening tools hold for the franchisee, and says managers are happy with the tools as well. She admits that in the past, managers were sometimes quick to hire ‘warm bodies’ when they were short-handed, but the new system gives them access to a better quality pool of candidates. “At first we met with a little resistance from managers, but since they’ve seen the results we’ve had with Wonderlic, they all have positive attitudes.”

After seeing the success of the initial rollout, DiPasqua implemented the Wonderlic hiring process in 14 more Subway stores, and Brooks anticipates rolling it out to the rest of the DiPasqua locations in the coming year if they continue to see the same reductions in turnover.