Opinion: Why our industry can’t afford for D&I to stagnate

By Stuart Price, chief people officer at Zenith

Earlier this month, Fleet News published a report from Deloitte, which stated that diversity and inclusion progress in the automotive industry has stagnated. 

The report comes at a time where there are polarising headlines on ED&I (equality, diversity and inclusion) – predominantly from world figures whose views range from believing that ED&I initiatives have become bureaucratic, to questioning their validity entirely, suggesting that they have gone too far and are restricting business or public service outcomes.   

I can confidently say that at Zenith, an inclusion remains firmly on the agenda. 

Strip away the noise, and at its simplest level, ED&I is about working in an environment that’s open minded and kind – where your difference isn’t a barrier to your success. 

It isn’t lost on me that many critics of ED&I haven’t experienced being marginalised, excluded, or discriminated against. 

If you, or someone you know has, then you’ll know the lasting impact it has on wellbeing and a person’s ability to perform at their best, and therefore, understand the meaningful difference an inclusive culture with a diverse workforce can make.

At Zenith, we’ve always had a high-performance culture – but it is balanced with being supportive and caring. 

It was one of the things which stood out to me when I joined in 2021. 

However, what also stood out was that we, as both a company and a wider industry, did not reflect the customers and communities we served, and therefore needed to evolve, and move to increase representation. 

Diversity in all its factors means better ideas, a more inclusive and supportive culture, and improved business performance – which benefits our people, customers and shareholders.

After carrying out colleague listening and customer research, inclusion and diversity – or lack thereof - was identified as one of the key areas our people wanted us to focus on. 

Since our initiative launch four years ago, we’ve proudly achieved a number of highlights, including launching six colleague-led and board-sponsored diversity and inclusion groups, which raise awareness and encourage better understanding for all our colleagues. 

We have also launched a partnership with Leeds-based neurodiversity trust, Lighthouse Futures Trust, and achieved level 1 Disability Confident status, amongst many other incredible initiatives and partnerships.  

Many organisations simply look at cultural and people metrics when validating ED&I effectiveness. 

At Zenith, we also look at our business performance to ensure this is enabling the right customer and shareholder outcomes. 

Over the period, we have continued to see our total fleet, funded fleet, and conversation to battery electric vehicles grow and we have seen measurable improvements in our customer satisfaction scores.

However, our work doesn’t stop there. The industry is reliant on us all pulling together to make a true difference. 

Change won’t happen overnight, and, as with most things that are worth fighting for, it’s not easy, particularly to change culture, mindset and ingrained behaviours. 

However, acknowledging a lack of inclusion and workplace diversity across our industry, and the broader society, is the first step, before then determining how you will change it. 

There are a host of valuable initiatives businesses can get involved with, which will help start or continue your D&I journey. 

This includes the Automotive 30% Club - an initiative which aims to achieve a better gender balance within the automotive industry by filling at least 30% of key leadership positions in the member organisations with women by 2030. 

You can partner with people who can help hold the mirror up to you on where you can improve, as we did with consultant Natasha Landers, and you can ensure your Board or Executive Committee are accountable and behind the change by getting them involved in the sponsorship of focus areas. 

For me, our biggest success has been giving our colleague a voice, listen and let them educate us – that has made the biggest difference. 

At its core, diversity and inclusion is about valuing difference, and making sure everyone feels safe and able to bring their best self to work. 

It creates a stronger culture that drives customer outcomes, innovative solutions, and business performance. 

It is about hiring the best people, educating ourselves on difference and the positive impact this has, and above all, it ensures we make the best decisions for all of our stakeholders.

We might not always get it right, but we trust in our intent, we listen, and by actively seeking to understand how we can be better, we will get to a point we can be proud of. 

For now, we are proud of the journey we are on and of the material difference we have made so far.