Any dealership or automotive company can put out a statement declaring, “We care about treating our employees equally.” But what means more is when companies go beyond words to sincerely invest in building up diversity, equity and inclusion strategies, industry experts say.
When it comes to DE&I, people throughout the auto industry show a willingness to explore it.
What they soon learn, however, is putting an effective DE&I strategy in place is not a one-time task.
It is a commitment that requires time, attention and money. And it’s not nearly as simple as just hiring as many women as possible.
“They take this as, ‘I need to hire more females,’ ” said Fleming Ford, chief strategy officer at dealership skills training provider Quantum5. “They hire more females, and then they say, ‘It doesn’t work out. … It doesn’t stick.’ And my point to them is, ‘What have you done to make it feel more inclusive?’ ”
Female employees simply are not going to stick around if their respective companies allow an environment where they’re not fairly compensated, their existence is questioned or they’re made to feel uncomfortable, Ford told Automotive News.
DE&I starts with examining what behaviors are tolerated in-office, she said.
There’s not one all-encompassing solution to making a workplace more inclusive.
DE&I policy is far more nuanced — and there’s a chance some industry leaders will not carve out the resources or the care needed to expound on it.
When Erikka Tiffani Wells was asked to join Volkswagen of Marion last year, she was cautious. There was no chance she would move her family from Atlanta to southern Illinois without a game plan.
But the general manager of the dealership took time during the recruiting process to tell Wells about her new community. The general manager told Wells about school options for her children and pointed out the nearest gyms, parks and day care centers in the Marion area.
It was refreshing to see that her potential boss cared so much, Wells said.
When Wells arrived at the dealership last September to work as sales manager, she realized that wasn’t something her general manager did just for her — it was a courtesy extended to all employees.
“She really understands flexibility and that every employee is different,” Wells said of her general manager. “While we have to have things in place to make sure that we have it fair, we also know that sometimes you have to give a little bit of flexibility.”
In a time when employees are resigning to seek out better jobs, companies with policies that promise a better work-life balance are more attractive, said Ted Kraybill, president of ESI Trends, a Largo, Fla., consulting firm.
Companies also are more likely to retain employees if they feel like they’re being paid what they’re worth. Employees can tell if their company appreciates them. If it doesn’t, employees may start packing.
“It’s important for us to understand environment when you think about your dealership because there’s the internal culture of how it’s going to feel when you bring these diverse candidates over,” Wells said. “Are they going to be comforted? Are they going to be welcomed? Are they going to feel a sense of belonging?”
In the era of COVID-19, inflexibility on an employer’s part has sometimes killed employees’ compulsion to keep working for them.
Outgoing National Automobile Dealers Association Chairman Paul Walser said last November that he saw the pandemic minds about employee flexibility, especially when it came to letting parents spend more time with their children.
But Laurie Foster, founding partner of dealership consultancy Foster Strategies Group, thinks dealers could’ve made more progress.
Too many employers did not let employees work from home and too few realized how parents needed to spend more time with their children, she said.
Dealers and industry leaders who are serious about putting DE&I policies in place should look for professional direction, industry leaders said.
“I applaud dealers who want to enter this arena, but it’s more complex than it looks at first blush,” Foster said. “It’s going to take guidance. You’re going to want to hire a professional that focuses on that, or at least someone that can guide you through the process.”
Implementing DE&I policies is not something that can be done overnight, nor should it be approached that way, Ford said.
It’s an initiative that needs a legitimate execution strategy that goes step-by-step from the top down.
While some improvements have been made, dealership environments still bear too much similarity to what they were 30 years ago, Foster said.
“People are like, ‘You’ve got to crush it,’ ” Foster said. “All the very masculine words about killing yourself with hours — that is still highly rewarded in this industry. We have to change what we recognize and reward, and unless a dealership entity focuses on that, then the behavioral habits will stay in place.”
It’s only natural employers want to hire the best person for a job, Wells said. That’s always the case.
But workplace diversity, she said, is not unlike dealers diversifying their inventory.
Dealers know customers are different so they appeal to them by offering vehicles with different trim levels, colors and equipment. Some people want an entry-level model. Others want a high-end model with everything on it, Wells said.
“Because we bring a diverse inventory, we also get a diverse client base,” Wells said.
That same mentality and open-mindedness can apply when hiring people, she said. Different people bring a different flavor and culture to the store — like spices to gumbo, Wells said.
“The more inventory and the more choices you have, people say, ‘Wow! There’s so many options to choose from.’
“Even with our limited inventory, we’re being very particular and intentional and deliberate about the inventory we keep, because that’s crucial to our survival,” Wells said. “Diversity is crucial to our survival.”