Tag Archives: Car Dealer Magazine

How to encourage more women to join the Motor Industry

ack: The Society of the Irish Motor Industry’s conference for women (June 2017).
I have nothing but praise for first movers who spot an opportunity, take advantage of it quickly and follow through afterwards. The First Movers I’d particularly like to recognise here are Car Dealer Magazine, Autocar and the UK Automotive 30% Club.

The opportunity I’m talking about is the shortage of recognised female talent across the car, automotive and general motoring-related industries.

This opportunity is of equal interest to female friendly businesses that are already going that extra mile for women customers and those that recognise that being (seen as) a female friendly employer will likely improve staff retention and recruitment appeal.

When it comes to taking full advantage of either opportunity, that depends on the business strategy employed to follow this through.

The problem arises when first movers test the water here then get cold feet. This often happens to do with gender because some businesses think equality means treating men and women the same – which would be fair enough if men and women were the same. Which we aren’t of course as female perceptions of the motor industry (as customers and potential staff) confirm.

So, to address these areas, businesses need to decide their strategic recruitment plan and some are clearly doing this better than and ahead of others.

Car Dealer Magazine

Initially Car Dealer Magazine planned to get women in the industry together and see what’d happen – by organising an event at Car Dealer Expo 2015 that introduced different women and different careers to female attendees. Their first speakers included a rally driver, garage owner, Dealer Principal and finance specialist.

After these individual presentations a Q and A session revealed some dissatisfaction in female ranks. Why were scantily clad promotional girls on display at such events? Why were women a sideshow industry issue (the room was very small and away from the main stage) and why wasn’t this sort of presentation aimed at women outside the industry, not in it?

So I was interested to see if the Car Dealer Expo 2016 addressed these issues and by and large it did. Yes, the room was bigger, yes the MC was an impressive Miriam Gonzales Durantez (aka Mrs Nick Clegg) and yes Gaia Innovation MD Julia Muir brought local schoolgirls along to find out about automotive careers and yes there were many excellent issues raised again.

But the promotional girls were still there and the main company that uses them was both a sponsor of the event and a speaker in the Women In The Motor Industry session. I wrote about this at the time if you’d like to read more about this event.

This raises the interesting question of impartiality and independence in this area. Most of us run businesses not charities so we have to tread carefully and be seen to payback when accepting event sponsors that just might put the organiser at odds with key members of their audience.

Sadly I wasn’t able to attend the 2017 event due to an early diary clash so I missed the speed networking sessions with 100 local female students, sponsored by VW. But if you were there, by all means bring me up to date with your memories and thoughts about the day.

Autocar’s Great British Women in the Car Industry

Autocar’s Top 100 Great British Women Awards took a different tack, setting out to attract female engineers into car manufacturing roles by promoting a wide range of female careers and recognising high achievers in the car industry.

Their first event in 2016 was held at the SMMT offices where Linda Jackson (still the only UK/European female CEO of a car manufacturer) headed a fabulous band of female talent covering a wide range of job areas and functions.

Their Year Two event was considerably more impressive, held in plush conference facilities at Twickenham Stadium and free of charge to invitees, including lunch. Well attended, as you’d expect, local MP Sir Vince Cable delivered the opening address and Paul Geddes, CEO of Direct Line Insurance, delivered the Keynote speech.

There were two main panel debates tackling similar issues. The morning group was more attuned to the status quo I felt, but the afternoon panel was keen to see change or were already doing things differently and sharing best practice in many areas.

There was a definite focus on car manufacturers and franchised dealer groups at this event and little of interest for the independent sector.

Throughout the day I became more and more convinced that

1. Nobody knows the precise gender metrics in the automotive industry. For example how many employees are female in boardroom/senior management/middle management/car sales/aftersales/parts/engineering/design & IT roles in car manufacturers, top dealership groups, retail and other aftermarket roles. This means it’s going to be difficult to measure change until we do, or to calculate areas where the commercial need is greatest eg do we need more female engineers or more female car sales staff and so on…

2. There’s a weary school of female activists like me who want to shake up the male driven automotive industry by demanding a serious commitment (and action plan) towards diversity – one that takes effect NOW, not in 10+ years time.

3. By and large, long term female employees in the motor industry seem to think more like their male peers than other women drivers who don’t work in the motor industry.

4. Female returners to the industry, especially ones in HR functions, better understand what ‘typical mums and daughters’ think about the automotive industry and are more attuned to bridging this perception gap to recruit/retail the right female talent.

5. Some businesses are clearly working harder than others to be (seen as) female friendly from the point of view of their female customers, staff and future recruits. And this seems to be working.

6. Regardless of gender, most automotive staff seem to love cars and engines.

7. Where a potential female recruit is clearly more in tune with people and customer service than cars or has exceptional professional credentials but little love for engines or technology should she feel out of place? Perhaps she sees the industry as more about cars than people?

The UK Automotive 30% Club

So could the new UK Automotive 30% Club be an industry catalyst for change here? As mentioned at the Autocar 2016 event this started out with leading dealership groups stating an aim to have 30% of senior roles in their businesses held by women by 2030.

This is supported by the likes of the IMI, big dealer groups Vertu Motors, Lookers, Group 1 Automotive, TrustFord, Vantage Motor Group and manufacturers Toyota, Mazda, Kia and Bentley.

But is a 30% target in 13 years ambitious enough I wonder, when an aspirational target should surely be closer to 50:50? Perhaps this bar is too low to impress.

The Future

Now that such a good start has been made on so many different fronts, I wonder who will take this gender baton further to include all industry sectors I wonder?

Maybe The Society of the Irish Motor Industry is a good example (as the main image illustrates here) and possible ahead of the UK here. It held a recent conference which was attended by more than 140 women in the Irish motor industry, representing various sectors?

Certainly it’d be good to see Car Dealer Magazine adding to this by taking an active part identifying and promoting women in the motor industry within their Magazine. Maybe there’s an earning opportunity here for them to promote management job vacancies to women, within genuinely female friendly businesses?

Perhaps Autocar can make business sense of continuing a high profile Great British Women In The Car Industry annual awards ceremony funded by a wider range of sponsors and ticket sales? They might also develop this by looking at new ways to sell cars to influential women or identify car dealers which are the more female friendly ones, to drive more females to their publication.

And if The UK Automotive 30% Club would aim for a higher and more immediate target (than 30% of senior roles going to women by 2030) I feel sure that the first movers within their ranks could be encouraged to show the rest how to pick up their skirts and run to catch them up.

Sadly none of these organisations are the impartial and independent UK industry voice that’s surely needed to lead the gender equality business agenda forward for all. To do this would take a body tasked to

+ determine precisely where we are in terms of female staff numbers across the industry, by function and level

+ establish 50% as the equality target in boardrooms and senior management across the industry

+ obtain strategic buy in at boardroom level

+ manage a joined up strategic plan to move things forward

+ obtain annual statistics to measure/monitor gender levels

+ publish anonymised best practice benchmark statistics during early stages, to encourage progress.

Clearly an associated start has been made by the Government whereby UK companies with 250 or more employees, to include the big car dealer groups, are required to publish a gender pay gap report before April 2018. This should put the spotlight on associated gender employment areas.

Finally I don’t think we can get away with just considering female recruitment options for much longer. It’s time for action. The diversity job needs tackling now and the female business case is compelling for women as customers, existing employees and future recruits.

I’d welcome any constructive thoughts about who can afford to do this via my email info@foxyladydrivers.com or via my @FOXYSteph Twitter account.

Steph Savill

#QueenOf Motoring For Women, The Royal Connection, 2017

Steph Savill Consultancy Services

Bring on a BIG GENDER DEBATE in the motor industry

The Women in the Motor Industry session at Silverstone #CDX16
The Women in the Motor Industry session at Silverstone #CDX16

I attended Car Dealer Expo (CDX16) at Silverstone last month and decided to write up about the Women in the Motor Industry session based on progress made.

The 2016 panel included professional stunt driver and event manager Annalese Ferrari; founder of the UK Automotive 30% Club Julia Muir; Head of Sales at GardX Amanda Massey and freelance motorsport journalist Georgie Shaw.

Great speakers all, this session was professionally and sympathetically hosted by Miriam Gonzalez Durantez who didn’t seem at all hampered by her self-declared lack of knowledge about the behind the scenes workings of the macho car industry!

The Women In The Motor Industry session was the first of its kind in 2015 when that female panel of four talked about their careers in garages, dealerships, finance and motor sports. But for me the really interesting part was the Question Time that followed.

The ongoing promotional girls divide

Of particular note in 2015 was the shared disapproval of the use of pretty promotional girls employed by Gardx in skin tight clothing. I recall one individual describing how totally offended she’d been by them on arrival at Silverstone that she nearly didn’t attend the conference. Just imagine this issue offending female customers who did walk away and took their business elsewhere?

A senior representative of that business (GardX) was at the 2015 session and stuck up for the rights of these women to wear what they had to, ie what GardX provided, to earn a crust. And of course we must assume that GardX does this for the gratification of men – albeit a decreasing fan club in today’s business arena.

I fall into the uncomfortable camp here, preferring a more feminine and less overtly sexy uniform (I suggested retro-style Goodwood-like frocks to GardX afterwards in an email exchange) as more elegant and less likely to offend influential female customers in future. So I was interested to see and hear whether this topic had been addressed by GardX or would be mentioned again in 2016.

GardX promotional girls at Silverstone #CDX16
GardX promotional girls at Silverstone #CDX16

Not just mentioned but top of the bill, with Amanda Massey from GardX on the 2016 Women in the Motor Industry panel, quick to defend the company’s promotional females on the day, as in the photograph.

And whilst I am sure the majority of the female audience felt as uncomfortable as I did about this, clearly the audience thought it would have been rude to challenge a role model speaker on this occasion – and what good might this have done anyway after raising this at #CDX15?

Gender differences in the automotive industry

Other issues discussed in the Women In The Motor Industry session at #CDX16 included

* The image of the motor industry in female minds and who/which industry body should be responsible for the defence/protection of this much maligned image? This matter was also discussed by the guys on a central stage session during the day – shame these discussions couldn’t be joined up?

* The critical influence of parents (especially Mums’) re: female careers. Few of whom see the motor industry as either female friendly or a professional career destination compared to many others…

* The tendency for women to lack confidence (or be too honest?) when applying for new job roles. Compared to overly confident males with less ability who apply and succeed because stronger female candidates didn’t challenge them.

* The reality that not all females who work in the motor industry are petrolheads or mechanically inclined (or should be expected to be).

Of particular note was an inspirational contribution from an upbeat Lucy Burnford who, like me wasn’t a motor industry person, but whose innovative car passport idea has been acquired, adopted and enhanced by The AA. Good on her.

I should also mention Julia Muir’s good work to encourage more females into key leadership roles.

The other contribution I particularly liked was from a female whose name I missed again but with whom I totally identified. She wanted to be known for her professional skills (she was a marketer/communicator like me) and not just for being a woman in the motor industry.

A BIG GENDER DEBATE

I’ll now leave you with a further observation that I believe is relevant based on my gender studies in this marvellous, mysterious and murky motor industry. It’s simply that the main gender difference I find is that most men think the motor industry is about cars and engines. Whereas most females, including me, think it’s about the people.

And we’re both right of course, but the industry has yet to get this balance right in business.

So what I suggest is a BIG GENDER DEBATE to get all these issues aired, addressed and sorted in future.

* One where we all LISTEN to each other, LEARN and CHANGE where necessary.

* One where both genders can express their honest views and experiences, be heard and feel appreciated for their equal contribution within this industry.

Not one where the men are seen to tolerate token gender equality by letting little women have their say in a sideroom, before continuing with the status quo, because certain CEOs think ‘it ain’t broke…’

* One where we all understand and accept that equality doesn’t mean men and women think the same or want to be treated the same – either as staff or customers.

* One that recognises that women are now the dominant car and garage services’ shoppers and we say ‘the motor industry IS broke for us…’

* One that has the strategic objective to attract more of the most talented women into the car industry, for otherwise we are recruiting from just 50% of the talent pool, whilst other industries cherry-pick this female talent ahead of us.

* One where we learn respect for each other from the Boardroom to the workshop floor, in showrooms, parts departments and independent garages. Sadly mutual respect isn’t always there; we also need to instil that respect for our industry in all motorists. But that’s a different story…

In the absence of a BIG GENDER DEBATE as yet (which I’m happy to organise, subject to a suitable sponsor), engagement initiatives like #CDX16, organised in the main by Car Dealer Features Editor Sophie Williamson-Stothert, are each in their way such an important step forward with a view to a healthier and more diverse automotive industry in future.

So let me end by thanking the many insightful men and women here who are helping the retail motor industry move from its shameful 2% of female employees stance, towards a healthier business future, one step at a time…

We are all determined to get there and the industry will thank us when we do!

FOXY

PS: Please see my Steph Savill website stephsavill.co.uk for details of my consultancy services in this area, including public speaking.