ACCELERATING DIVERSITY, EQUITY AND INCLUSION

Studies show that companies with successful diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs are more innovative, competitive and profitable. Effective DEI programs also can boost employee and customer retention and enhance investor relations. But implementing such programs can be a challenge for companies as they strive to undo long-standing biases, both conscious and unconscious; retool their recruitment and hiring techniques; provide DEI training; and foster a culture of equity and inclusion. Here Cathy Gutierrez, a consulting leader in Deloitte’s Human Capital practice, explains best practices that can help companies achieve their DEI goals. In doing so, they’ll become more agile and flexible as well as more accepting of different perspectives, skills and backgrounds – prerequisites for success in today’s competitive marketplace.

Q: The COVID-19 pandemic has posed big challenges to the auto industry and how it operates. What obstacles stand in the way of the industry’s drive toward becoming more diverse and inclusive?
 

Cathy Gutierrez: The automotive industry has faced a number of seismic disruptions in the past few years, including health and supply-chain crises, economic headwinds and the electrification revolution. In various ways, all of these challenges have revealed blind spots and vulnerabilities that could impede many automotive companies’ ability to respond to disruptive change. One significant vulnerability lies within workforce culture – in particular, the lack of agility, flexibility and diversity. For decades, many automotive companies have focused on developing and promoting talent from within the organization, fostering low turnover, long tenures and familial traditions. These values can certainly be seen as well-intentioned. But traditional workforce-development strategies that have served automotive companies historically are inadequate to meet the needs of today’s competitive landscape.

As the industry quickly pivots toward electrified, connected and software-centric mobility, traditional, internally focused workforce strategies do not always address the challenges of attracting and cultivating the specialized capabilities essential to maintaining competitive viability. Where deep expertise is needed, legacy strategies have often produced generalists. And while companies have begun proactively looking outside their industry for talent relevant to their needs, when they do expand their hiring, they may struggle to foster a culture that helps navigate the tensions that sometimes develop between tenured teams and newer employees who bring diverse backgrounds, skills and perspectives.

Q: How does the way a business finds and hires employees need to change to create a more diverse workplace? What are some best practices?  
 

Gutierrez: Organizations looking to drive diversity in their workforce may be looking in the wrong places. An effective talent-pipeline strategy should align recruitment channels with diversity objectives – meet prospective employees where they are. Some companies reduce or eliminate certain educational requirements for some positions and emphasize skills-based potential rather than years of experience and/or education (where the candidate went to school, for example). Where appropriate, this sourcing approach can dramatically widen and diversify the talent pool for a company’s pipeline. By aligning core skillsets with the critical needs for each job, talent acquisition teams can challenge traditional assumptions about requirements and qualifications that may no longer be relevant to workforce needs. Another success factor for companies is rethinking the hiring process to drive workforce diversity. Also, the way a company assesses applicants should consistently align across the organization. Hiring teams should focus on de-biasing the interviewing process, which may involve several factors, including:

• Using online or automated assessment and screening tools that are bias free and optimized for consistency with the core required skills

• Implementing diverse interview slates and panels

• Providing hiring managers with unconscious-bias training

• Monitoring diversity in the recruitment funnel, looking for trends that may be creating biases that drive viable candidates out of the process

Q: Some forms of bias are obvious, but many more are unconscious. What are some notable forms of unconscious bias?
 

Gutierrez: Increasingly, organizations are examining their practices within the context of several types of unconscious bias. Here are a couple kinds of unconscious biases, along with implications for company cultures:

Affinity bias is an inherent attraction to or liking for a particular person, place or thing based on some commonality. We tend to like people who are like us. If they enjoy the same hobbies, grew up in the same area or went to the same university, for example, we’ll be more likely to have (and expect to have) a good relationship.

A good example of affinity bias that illustrates the potential impact to corporate culture is the “mini-me bias,” where we gravitate toward mentoring or grooming practitioners who remind us of ourselves.

Conformity bias is the tendency people have to behave like those around them, rather than using their own personal judgment. Conformity bias is based on our desire to fit in – to avoid being the odd person out. This means that that even if we don’t agree with something, we will conform to what the majority thinks. Conformity bias is closely related to groupthink, which is a social dynamic where maintaining group cohesiveness and solidarity is more important than speaking up, listening to new ideas or considering facts objectively. How could this bias undermine diversity and inclusion initiatives? A good example is a worker who tells an insensitive or derogatory joke and co-workers laugh along and choose not to challenge the comment for fear of garnering a negative response and upsetting the group’s cohesion.

Q: Because no process is perfect, how do you not only identify problems with your DEI programs but also correct them – more specifically, correct the actions of employees?
 

Gutierrez: Successful DEI programs clearly explain why DEI matters and why it’s important to everyone in the organization. Rather than focus on correcting employee actions, DEI should be framed as a collective journey for all employees. Organizations should provide resources that empower employees to self-reflect in response to DEI-related training and as part of their career development.

DEI programs tap into the voice of employees to help leadership teams craft, test, refine and implement initiatives and resources. Employee resource groups (ERGs) often can be highly effective in fostering inclusion and a sense of community.

Another powerful catalyst for positive, community-driven change is allyship. This is the practice of empathizing with the experiences of systemically disadvantaged groups, looking out for biases and actively using your voice and power to advance equity. Employee communities and allies often can provide centers of gravity to build guiding coalitions for leading change in support of diversity and inclusion throughout an enterprise. Because everyone can be an ally, training employees in allyship can encourage them to take meaningful action when they see behavior that undermines or contradicts the organization’s DEI mission.

Q: Today’s corporate environment involves a broader spectrum of diversity attributes. How can organizational leaders best address newer attributes, such as gender fluidity? And how can they ensure that their organizations will continue to adapt successfully to changes in our culture, communities and workforce?
 

Gutierrez: Workforce diversity and inclusion continues to evolve, bringing new questions and sometimes making DEI leaders feel like they don’t have all the answers. In an increasingly diverse professional landscape, it’s more important than ever for organizations to enable and practice effective allyship – and this includes the ability to continuously learn and adapt, both as individuals and as a collective team. Ultimately, success often hinges on practicing inclusive leadership. Inclusive leadership is driven by underlying mindsets and observable behaviors. At Deloitte, we call them Signature Traits.* Here are some key traits organizations can emphasize to foster inclusive leadership:

• Cognizance of bias, in which greater awareness of yourself leads to a greater understanding of others

• Curiosity, which means taking another perspective and keeping an open mind to develop empathy toward others

• Cultural intelligence, in which paying attention to others’ cultures leads to adaptability in cross-cultural interactions

• Collaboration, which centers on the concept that a diverse-thinking, cohesive team is greater than the sum of its parts

• Courage, which we define as the humility and vulnerability needed to create space for others to authentically contribute

• Commitment, in which leading the way involves demonstrating personal belief in the business case and holding themselves and others accountable for inclusive behaviors

Q: What should a business measure to assess its progress toward a more diverse and inclusive workplace? Is it just numbers? Or is it employee satisfaction? Turnover? What else?
 

Gutierrez: For today’s organizations, credible DEI leadership should include a commitment to program measurement based on meaningful methodology, along with a commitment to transparency in sharing both the organization’s goals and progress toward those goals. Deloitte’s 2022 DEI Transparency Report is a good example of how to make this commitment in specific terms and publicize the results.

Companies have found a number of relevant metrics to both set and measure aspirational but realistic DEI goals. These may include representation at all levels, advancement and promotion, recruitment and attrition.

It’s also important for organizations to be intentional and proactive in enhancing the visibility of diversity traits – and involving employees in that process. This can be achieved through regular self-identification campaigns, which provide employees the opportunity to articulate their identity vis-à-vis a number of different diversity attributes.

Ultimately, in order to build an equitable future, business leaders should activate the full breadth of their control and influence.

To help drive this, organizations can adopt a roadmap similar to Deloitte’s Equity Activation Model. This systems-based view shows how businesses can activate equity within and outside of their own organizations, structured around three primary spheres of influence: workforce, marketplace and society.

Q: Besides pay, what other incentives can a business provide to foster a more diverse and inclusive workplace?
 

Gutierrez: Organizations can benefit greatly when they successfully connect DEI programs to employee value propositions tied to purpose and engagement. Workers want to feel empowered to help shape their work, their training and their career paths. They also want to feel that they make a difference as team members and that their company makes an impact on the world that aligns with their own values. Effective DEI programs can help create a culture that makes these things possible for all employees.

Q: What other business benefits come from fostering a more diverse and inclusive workplace? Gutierrez:
 

In addition to promoting agile skill development and employee engagement, DEI can help accelerate innovation and enrich an organization’s purpose.

Innovating for the future of mobility will take considerable reimagining. Automotive companies should build teams that relentlessly ask the “why” and “what if” questions that challenge the status quo, then bring a multitude of perspectives and experiences to answer the “how might we do this” questions.

Of course, tomorrow’s consumers will expect innovative products. But they also will increasingly use the dollars they spend to bring about the change they want to see in the world.

In turn, purpose-driven organizations can recognize the importance of connecting a clearly defined purpose statement with their workforce strategy, as well as with their mission and vision statements. By defining their brands through people and purpose, companies can inspire confidence that their bigger picture aligns with that of their customers.

ABOUT THE PANELIST

CATHY GUTIERREZ
Automotive Practice Talent and DEI Leader, Deloitte Consulting LLP
[email protected]

Cathy is a consulting leader in Deloitte’s Human Capital practice. She has been advising and delivering human resources and talent programs from strategy to execution for more than 18 years. She has also led teams in industry, spanning most areas of human resources, including talent management, learning and development, total rewards, operations, culture, diversity and inclusion. Cathy is a graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where she received her bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering.

* See Deloitte’s publication, “The six signature traits of inclusive leadership.” ** Learn more about Deloitte’s Equity Activation Model in our publication, “The Equity Imperative.”