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But when there is so much competition for new talent, and industries such as consumer electronics that can appear more appealing, how can automotive succeed?
The simple answer is to break away from old models. You don’t find new people by always looking in the same places. But, more than that, you have to appeal to a wider spectrum of society to attract the best people. There are positive signs as OEMs work to make change.
Stellantis, the company that includes brands such as Fiat, Jeep, Vauxhall and Citroën, appointed Rebecca Seymour as head of global diversity and inclusion earlier this year. Her role is to expand the company’s approach to inclusion and bringing in new people.
Regional approach
When Seymour took the role she said: “We live in a polycultural world now. Our presence spans across six regions, from Europe to the Middle East and Asia-Pacific, from China to North and South America. Each region has different dynamics and expectations. So we have set up regional diversity and inclusion leads to create the right initiatives, content and actions for every country in which we operate.”
The approach should help to bring new people to the company who arguably wouldn’t have been attracted before.
“I think that, when we recruit talent, they want to work at Stellantis because we’re doing something that matters, because we share the same values. That’s so important for us, because we aspire to be a magnet for the best and brightest,” said Seymour.
Solving the skills gap isn’t just about changing the direction a business takes, it’s also about pushing the message that automotive is a great place to pursue a career. And that needs to start from a very early age. That’s why the likes of Ford and the IMechE have backed initiatives such as Primary Engineer that help create educational content and put engineers in front of kids, inspiring the next generation.
Debbie Chennells, Ford Fund manager at Ford of Europe, said: “As the charitable arm of the company, we want inspire young people to see the wealth of possibilities ahead of them. We simply don’t have enough young people choosing to study a STEM-related subject at higher education to support the vast number of exciting job opportunities. Showing children how fun, relevant and aspirational STEM learning can be, is what we strive to do, working with our fantastic partner, Primary Engineer.”
And Ford needs lots of fresh talent. Ford’s commitment to reaching 100% all-electric passenger vehicles by 2030 in Europe is spearheaded by a $1bn investment in EV regional manufacturing, but without talented engineers that’s a challenging target.
Role models
Thankfully Ford has a lot of inspirational people to help programmes run by organisations such as Primary Engineer. At this year’s The Autocar Great British Women in the Car Industry event, 15 Ford employees were nominated for awards. From Usha Raghavachari, innovation lab director at D-Ford, to Sarah Haslam MBE, chief engineer, software and features integration for commercial vehicles, at Ford of Europe.
The need to attract new talent affects every business, and it’s not just about saying the right thing, but making real, tangible differences.
Dr Karen Lange, board member for human resources at Bentley Motors, said: “We talk about diversity and inclusion not just because they are buzzwords, but because they are key to the future success of our business at this time of unprecedented change. Creating an environment where we can bring together fresh perspectives, celebrate diversity and ensure a true sense of inclusion and belonging for all colleagues, is one of the key elements of our strategy.”
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Content published by Professional Engineering does not necessarily represent the views of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers.