Tesla’s leadership is 83% male and 58% white. The overall workforce comprises 79% men.
2020 highlighted the disparity in diversity across a lot of organizations. It also forced them to sit up, take notice, and take charge of bridging the diversity gap by setting diversity hiring targets, among other things.
Tesla published its first-ever diversity report on Friday, Dec. 4, 2020, finding that its leadership is predominantly male (83%) and white (58%). But this is not surprising. Most public companies have a low representation of a diverse workforce, even if they are now working toward improving it. Tesla’s first report comes long after tech giants Google and Apple started publishing their diversity reports in 2014.
On the other hand, it calls itself a majority-minority company, announcing that 60% of its workforce is made up of Black, African American, Hispanic, Latinx, Asian, Pacific Islander, Native American, Native Hawaiian, and Alaska Native communities, typically underrepresented groups in the U.S.
HR Technology News: Now Hiring D&I Leaders: LinkedIn Report Finds High Demand for Diversity Roles in Orgs
Key Findings From Tesla’s Diversity Report
Some major findings from Tesla’s diversity report on female and Black representation in the organization.
1. Women’s representation in Tesla
- Overall U.S. workforce: 21%
- Promotions: 23% – a 5% increase from last year
- Leadership: 17% of directors and vice presidents
- Recruitment: 25% of all U.S. hires
The focus on female representation in leadership has intensified in the last few years. A recent reportOpens a new window by executive search firm Heidrick & Struggles finds that women make up only 5% of chief executives globally and remain significantly underrepresented and that companies are defaulting to hiring male CEOs during the pandemic. This could be because women are planning to exit the workforce due to the pandemic and the pressures it has placed on their lives.
2. Black and African American representation
- Overall U.S. workforce: 10% of the U.S. workforce
- Promotions: 10% in 2020
- Leadership: 4% of director level and above, a 60% increase in representation since 2019
- Recruitment: 12% of new hires in 2020
Black representation in Tesla leadership is the lowest at 10% (4% of director and above) – after Hispanic employees at 22% (4% of director and above employees) and Asian at 21% (25% of director level and above employees).
More companies have come out to support their Black workforce since the Black Lives Matter movement began earlier this year. A Bloomberg Quint surveyOpens a new window found that since May 25, 2020 (the day George Floyd was killed), 87 companies in the U.S. made a statement on racial justice.
But a lot of companies are still grappling with diversity and inclusion challenges of their Black workforce. For instance, Uber reportedOpens a new window that its Black workforce representation reduced by 1.8 percentage points since its massive layoff of 6,700 employees in June this year. However, it has made effort toward representation in female leadership in its global workforce, which stands at 32.4%, up from 28% in 2019. Black leadership in the U.S. stands at 4.1%, at a similar rate with Tesla.
Tesla has announced in its report that it will continue to work toward improving Black representation in leadership in 2021 and ahead.
HR Technology News: Textio’s Latest Targets Non-Inclusive Language in Employer Branding Content
Companies Being Forced To Get Serious About Diverse Representation
After finding that diverse boards result in better corporate governance, on Dec. 1, 2020, Nasdaq, the American stock exchange, asked the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to approve new listing rulesOpens a new window for companies. These rules will require American companies listed on the stock exchange to regularly report on board diversity and have at least one female director and a member of an underrepresented minority on their boards.
Earlier this year, Goldman Sachs also assertedOpens a new window that it would take companies public only if there was at least one diverse board member.
External agents are forcing companies to sit up and note their diversity efforts, and most companies can easily meet this benchmark. The question, as always, will remain about how they can improve inclusion in the organization. Diversity is readily achievable. Inclusion, equity, and belonging are always real challenges.