For years, the conversation about women in automotive has understandably focused on fairness, representation and opportunity. All three matter enormously, but there is another important part of the argument that deserves greater attention. Building a more inclusive automotive industry also makes commercial sense.
Automotive is undergoing extraordinary change. Electrification, artificial intelligence, connectivity and digitalisation are transforming vehicles, customer expectations and the skills businesses need. At the same time, employers are competing with almost every other major sector for talented people, particularly in areas such as technology, data and digital expertise.
Against that backdrop, automotive businesses cannot afford to restrict themselves, consciously or otherwise, to traditional recruitment pools or familiar career backgrounds. An industry that is changing rapidly needs people with different skills, experiences and ways of thinking if it is going to continue evolving with it.
Different perspectives can lead to better decisions
One of the commercial advantages of building more diverse teams is the range of perspectives they can bring to a business. People with different professional and personal experiences are unlikely to approach every problem in exactly the same way. They may notice different things, challenge established assumptions or ask questions that haven’t previously been considered.
That becomes particularly valuable during periods of change. Businesses inevitably develop established ways of working, and experience within a sector is hugely important. But there is also value in bringing in people who look at something the organisation has done for years and ask whether there might be another way.
This is one reason we believe automotive should be increasingly open to people joining from other industries. Transferable skills can be enormously valuable. Someone doesn’t necessarily need to have spent their entire career in automotive to become an outstanding automotive leader, marketer, finance professional, technologist or salesperson.
The range of expertise required by automotive businesses is already much broader than many people outside the industry probably realise. Alongside engineering and technical disciplines, businesses need people working across sales, marketing, finance, IT, data, claims, customer service, operations, HR and senior management. As technology continues to reshape the sector, that breadth will only increase.
Our businesses need to understand the people they serve
There is also a compelling customer argument for inclusion. Automotive serves an enormously diverse population, yet historically the people working within the industry haven’t always reflected the customers buying and using its products and services.
Women buy vehicles, run businesses, manage fleets, make financial decisions and influence household purchasing choices. It therefore makes commercial sense for women to be represented within the organisations developing products, designing services, communicating with customers and making strategic decisions.
This isn’t about suggesting that all women think or behave in the same way. They clearly don’t. The benefit of diversity is precisely the opposite. The more varied the experiences around a table, the less likely a business is to make decisions based on a narrow set of assumptions about what its customers think, need or value.
Understanding customers has always been fundamental to successful businesses. Having teams that bring a wider range of experiences to that conversation can help automotive organisations understand more of the market they are trying to serve.
Automotive is competing for talent
The talent argument is becoming equally important. The automotive industry no longer competes only with other automotive employers for many of the skills it needs. A talented data analyst, software specialist, digital marketer or AI expert can choose to build a career in numerous sectors.
That means automotive has to compete for their attention as well as their talent. If women don’t see this as an industry where their skills are relevant, where they can progress and where they could ultimately lead, we risk losing potentially outstanding people before they have even considered us.
The industry therefore needs to communicate much more effectively what a modern automotive career can look like. Someone may have little interest in how an engine works but be fascinated by artificial intelligence, customer behaviour, sustainability, technology or data. Automotive increasingly needs all of those capabilities.
For us, inclusion isn’t about putting women into roles simply because they are women. The principle should be the right person for the right job. But businesses need to make sure they aren’t unnecessarily narrowing the talent pool and that talented women know those opportunities exist in the first place.
Recruiting from a broader talent pool also creates opportunities to bring different experiences into organisations. The objective shouldn’t be diversity for the sake of achieving a particular number. It should be making sure businesses have access to the widest possible pool of capable people and aren’t unintentionally overlooking talent because of outdated perceptions of who belongs in automotive.
Recruitment alone isn’t inclusion
There is, however, an important distinction between creating a diverse workforce and creating an inclusive business. Recruiting people with different experiences achieves relatively little if they subsequently feel they have to think, behave or communicate in exactly the same way as everybody else.
Businesses get the greatest value from their people when they feel confident enough to contribute. That requires good leadership and a culture in which employees can suggest ideas, challenge assumptions and occasionally get things wrong without feeling that doing so will count against them.
It also means recognising that people are individuals. Some employees thrive with greater autonomy, while others initially need more encouragement or support. Some are naturally confident speaking in a room, while equally talented colleagues may need a manager to actively create space for their contribution. If businesses only hear from the loudest voices, they risk missing some of their best ideas.
Inclusion is a business issue
For these reasons, inclusion shouldn’t be viewed solely as an HR initiative or something addressed once a year through a corporate diversity programme. It touches recruitment, leadership, innovation, customer understanding, employee development and ultimately business performance.
Automotive has made considerable progress in increasing opportunities for women, but measuring how many women work within an organisation tells us only part of the story. We should also be asking whether businesses are accessing talent from the widest possible pool, whether different perspectives are influencing decisions and whether talented people can see opportunities to develop and progress.
Ultimately, every automotive business wants capable people, good ideas, loyal customers and leaders who can help it adapt to change. Creating an environment that attracts a wider range of people and enables them to contribute isn’t separate from achieving those objectives.
Inclusion isn’t simply about who gets a seat at the table. The commercial opportunity comes from building a business that is strong enough to listen to the different perspectives around it.
Steph Newbery, group director, and Lisa Casey, group director, Warranty Solutions Group
