After racial protests, early signs of progress

Dana White was passing through St. Louis last year as unrest overtook the city.

White was relocating to Hyundai Motor America's headquarters in California for her new job as chief communications officer when George Floyd's death in Minneapolis police custody sparked large protests around the U.S.

"It was definitely sort of baptism by fire driving across the country while all of this was going on," White told Automotive News.

The movement that began in the streets of Minneapolis, St. Louis and other cities quickly spread to corporate boardrooms, challenging the auto industry to look closer at inclusiveness, equity and diversity in its ranks. Automakers responded with a slew of statements condemning racial injustice in the days after Floyd's May 25, 2020, death, and pledged to take action in their own ways.

A year later, it appears many have followed through on their words and are continuing to build on the energy that grew from the protests.

Some manufacturers formed diversity boards and fostered conversations with employees about racial iniquities in society. Others looked at how they could diversify spending in the industry's immense supply chain and donated to various groups that push for equality.

Hiring more people from underrepresented groups is only one piece; the culture within companies, manufacturers say, must be conducive to these employees' growth once they get there.

Lori Costew, Ford Motor Co.'s chief diversity officer and director of people strategy, said the automaker knew it had "employees in pain" after Floyd's murder.

She said Ford found that some workers didn't feel they belonged, which led to what the company called the most comprehensive diversity, equity and inclusion audit in its history.

Costew said scientific research has found that the brain processes exclusion in the same area as physical pain. So the lack of belonging some employees reported, she said, could negatively impact the body and hurt performance in the long run.

"We started in the U.S., leveraging all sorts of data," Costew said. "Qualitative data, quantitative data and we did a lot of deep ethnography to understand, what are the unique barriers faced by women and underrepresented employees at Ford? And then, most importantly, what are we doing about it?"

Shortly after Floyd's death, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles provided an avenue for employees to let their emotions out.

A group of direct reports to COO Mark Stewart shared their feelings in a discussion over video, with some shedding tears and turning off their webcams to compose themselves. The talk was therapeutic, and the company realized these conversations needed to take place on a broader scale, Lottie Holland, Stellantis' director of diversity, inclusion, engagement and Equal Employment Opportunity Commission compliance, said during the Rev Up 2030 automotive conference in April.

The company decided to have leaders hold similar discussions within their own teams.

"It was about creating the space [and] the time to talk about things that we've never talked about at work," Holland said. "Talk about race and privilege and inequities amongst race relative to wealth and education and health. So really taking that time and creating a safe space for people to feel comfortable with what was happening. That was really the objective."

Hyundai has put a greater focus on mentorship of lower-level employees to help workers from diverse backgrounds rise through the company.

That could accelerate a trend of increased representation among minorities and women that is reshaping the Korean automaker's upper ranks. Hyundai said 44 percent of its North America leadership team are ethnic minorities and women, up from 28 percent in 2019.

White, who was an outside hire, would like to see more workers from underrepresented groups who grew within the company move up the chain.

"You need to create feeders," she said. "We need to continue to identify people early in their careers, set them on a career path, so that they know, 'I'm just not hanging out here.' "

Hyundai has also revised its executive performance metrics to include diversity and inclusion business results, and it recently brought on Culture Brands, an African American-owned marketing agency. It marks the first time Hyundai has partnered with an agency dedicated to reaching Black buyers.

One of the first moves General Motors made during the protests last year to was to form an Inclusion Advisory Board of employees and external business leaders. Telva McGruder, GM's chief diversity, equity and inclusion officer, said the board has met four times and has had "robust" conversations about the automaker's diversity plan.

Continuing to find diverse talent is important, but McGruder said the work doesn't stop there.

"Creating a culture of inclusion is one where people will be heard from the moment they walk in the door, where their ideas will matter and will be tossed up with everyone else's ideas," McGruder said. "Where we will have equitable processes that allow employee development to happen equitably, so that with our diverse team, we become the company that's going to drive the automotive industry forward. Without that culture, the power of diversity never comes to fruition."

Dialogue between automakers and the minority dealer body has progressed in the aftermath of Floyd's death.

Damon Lester, president of the National Association of Minority Automobile Dealers, said he's noticed more communication from automakers over the past year. He hopes to also see more concrete plans from automakers on how they plan to build their rosters of minority-owned stores, which are growing but haven't fully recovered from a big drop during the Great Recession.

Lester has his sights set on getting more minority candidates their first opportunities to own dealerships.

"That's where the dialogue comes into place," he said, "because we've definitely been urging and continue to request all OEMs to come up with a financing mechanism that will assist [and] provide assistance in acquiring existing dealerships."