General Motors has become one of only two automakers to make DiversityInc’s 2020 Top 50 List, which ranks companies and corporations based on their overall corporate diversity.
DiversityInc ranks the diversity of companies using a 200-question survey that is filled out by the companies and bases their assessments on six key metrics: overall diversity, leadership accountability, talent programs, workplace practices, supplier diversity and philanthropy. GM was found to be the 30th most diverse company to apply for the Top 50 ranking and was the only American automaker to make the list. The only automaker to make the list apart from GM was Toyota, which was ranked 10th overall.
Speaking to The Detroit Free Press, GM’s global chief diversity officer, Ken Barrett, said he was “honored,” to have the company included on the list.
“We try to drive a culture of inclusion,” Barrett explained. “This is the fifth year in a row that we’ve been in the Top 50. It’s pretty competitive with 1,800 companies that actually apply for the Top 50 spots. We’d love to be #1 but just to be on the list shows we’re doing some things right but there’s certainly a lot we can continue to do.”
GM CEO Mary Barra, who is the first and currently the only female CEO of a major automaker, also celebrated the company’s performance in the diversity ranking.
“General Motors is creating a future of zero crashes, zero emissions and zero congestion with a diverse, inclusive team that brings wide-ranging perspectives and experiences to solving transportation challenges. We understand that we win together, as one team. Just like the global community we share, diversity makes GM a stronger, better company.”
GM CEO Mary Barra meets with workers in 2019
Notably, neither of GM’s crosstown Michigan rivals, Ford Motor Company and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, made the list. Honda was considered to be a noteworthy company for its diversity but did not make the Top 50.
GM has also received recognition from Diversity Inc in the past for its treatment of veteran employees, employees with disabilities and LGBT employees.
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Comments
That’s great. Hope they continue to nurture a culture of inclusivity.
Toyota at #10, No surprise there.
Good for GM but there is always room for improvement. Ford needs to get it’s act together.
I do notice people are giving thumbs down to comments praising GM for it’s hiring practices. I can’t imagine being so hateful and ignorant that you would be against having a more diverse workplace. From a purely business-oriented perspective, it’s a no brainer for GM’s employee base to better reflect it’s customer base.
Hateful? Maybe there are some of us who recognize “diversity and inclusiveness” is a polite way of saying “quotas”. A polite way of saying some of us are at a dead end because we don’t tick boxes on some list.
The 1964 Civil Rights Act was expressly designed to stop discrimination. The old job applications where they asked for religion, clubs and fraternities, and race, were made illegal. Now, we have come full circle.
I, for one, don’t like it, and if that makes me “hateful” in your eyes, so be it.
Sounds like you still pissed about it’s passage, did it mess everything you had planned?.
Detroit always had a diverse workforce before it was popular outside of California, particularly among Black Americans in the 1910s-50s.
“General Motors is creating a future of zero crashes, zero emissions and zero congestion with a diverse, inclusive team that brings wide-ranging perspectives and experiences to solving transportation challenges. We understand that we win together, as one team. Just like the global community we share, diversity makes GM a stronger, better company.”
Could we at least have one statement from GM that is not sprinkled with the “Triple Zero” or “all electric future” PRBS?
Do they still include merit in those they hire, then promote? Or, are they satisfying edicts from the Justice Department, and keeping the quota-mongers at bay?
I care not about the down-ticks I get; my questions are asked because I want to know; not to make trouble.
So if said “minority” check all the tick marks it’s no problem or still there’s something “wrong”?, what if “qualified” people don’t wanna work in a certain “areas”, is it still a “quota” problem?.
Pick the most qualified person for the job. I don’t care if they’re black, white or pink with blue hair.
This isn’t a difficult concept.
That is exactly how it should be, and it was how I based my hiring. I got good workers who were on time, and did acurate work, and met deadlines. Oh, and, they were “diverse”, if “diversity” means race or whether they had indoor or outdoor plumbing. I did not hire based on their pedigree.
Diversity Incorporated a.k.a. discriminate against Whitey Inc. now take it like a good little drone and go eat a doughnut.
Its pure racism to hire unqualified minorities in place of Caucasians. Diversity = poor quality and weakness
This country has a history of hiring highly unqualified whites and putting them in power since it’s inception. Our current President continues that tradition. Yet, we keep doing it and keep getting the same bad results. So, to say that hiring white people over minorities means you’re going to get a better quality product is as bald face a lie as it is incredibly racist.