Vitesco Technologies is a leading international developer and manufacturer of state-of-the-art powertrain technologies for sustainable mobility. The company is based in Regensburg, Germany with about 38,000 employees at around 50 locations worldwide, and achieved sales of €9.1 billion in 2022.

Challenge

In 2020, the company outlined four pillars in their DE&I strategy:

• Listening and Learning
• Developing and Retaining Talent
• Instilling Accountability
• Being Role Models

With so many employees spanning several continents, it was clear that setting and co-ordinating a global diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) strategy that delivers on Vitesco Technologies’ core four pillars would require sensitivity, strategy, patience and support.

Florencia (Flora) Stanfield joined the company as its first-ever Chief Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Officer in July 2021, and further defined what those pillars were going to entail.

For example, Listening and Learning was defined as:

• Generating overall awareness and educating on diversity topics.
• Listening to the voice of underrepresented communities

Each pillar was then assigned tangible actions in support, such as Unconscious Bias training, Inclusive Leadership training and enhanced top-down, bottom-up communications under Listening and Learning.

In various forums, Flora outlined the importance of DE&I for the organisation and its people:

“We know that diversity of thought at all levels improves our decision-making, increases our innovation potential and creates a culture where people want to come, stay, and grow.”

– Florencia Stanfield, Chief Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Officer, Vitesco Technologies

The report also outlined the business case for DE&I, such as organisations being 2x more likely to exceed financial targets and 6x more likely to show innovative and agile behaviours.

Solution

In Flora’s first three months with Vitesco Technologies, she spent more than 100 hours in conversation with individuals at all levels and regions of the world from North America and Europe to Asia – to truly understand the organisation, its stakeholders, and its DEI maturity.

To deliver the company’s global strategy, Flora defined internal initiatives, the first of which addressed working at the top, with senior leaders, to help them understand and own their role in the creation of a new company and a new culture – that what they did, said and celebrated, created the patterns of behaviors others would replicate and consider “the way to be successful at Vitesco”.

After establishing an intentional top-down approach, the next step was to build a bottom-up one by creating a culture of inclusion that enabled people to find safe places and opportunities to speak up and be heard. That is how employee resource groups (ERGs) were formed. Starting with 4, the company has now 9 of them, with 2 more in the pipeline. As part of the strategy Flora also decided to bring in external partners, to validate the direction and provide objective expertise.

Vitesco Technologies engaged with Pearn Kandola to support global DEI strategy and delivery. Working with Senior Partner and Co-founder Binna Kandola, they produced a global vision for the company’s DEI journey.

To ensure the hundreds of leaders in individual countries aligned with what the company means by DEI and culture, Pearn Kandola also supported Vitesco Technologies to guide local strategy and deliver programmes internationally.

Works delivered by Pearn Kandola include:

• 1:1 conversations with 21 executive leaders, reporting to the Board
• Unconscious bias and Inclusive Leadership training for 600+ people leaders
• Providing guidance on DEI best practice
• Development of an Inclusive Hiring Guidebook
• Bespoke, localised unconscious bias training with culture-specific language, challenges and examples

Results

As Flora herself states of DEI: “It’s a journey, not a destination.”

While Pearn Kandola continues to deliver programmes for Vitesco Technologies, results have already been seen.

In 2022, Vitesco Technologies conducted its first global survey, including all employee populations. The results show that DE&I was one of the most appreciated aspects of the company for employees, fostering a sense of belonging.

It’s no surprise, given some of Vitesco Technologies’ DE&I achievements for 2023, (YTD):

• 7,000+ attendees to ERG related events (3x increase since 2022)
• ~3,500 ERG members
• ~90 events led by ERGs and sites
• 2,300+ participants in DE&I Council activities
• 200+ ERG leaders, council members and DE&I focal points worldwide
• 1,200+ people trained in Unconscious Bias and Inclusive Leadership

Over 4,000 individuals (over a 10th of the entire organisation) have already become a part of the new DEI eco-system, and 1:1 conversations have been instrumental in engaging stakeholders and proving to be a catalyst for progress.

We look forward to continuing to work with Vitesco Technologies to support their global and local strategies for an inclusive culture. And we are proud of the external recognition their great work has been receiving from markets and associations:

• Vitesco Technologies was named a LinkedIn Top 50 Employer 2023 in the US
• Glassdoor Score of 4.0
• 19 Women of Colour in STEM Awardees 2023
• Flora featured as Top Leader in the HR Industry 2023 September edition of HR Tech Outlook Magazine
• CAIDA Impact Award for Inclusive Leadership and Inclusive Cultures
• Listed among the Top 5 DEI Offices in North America by Manage HR Magazine
• Everton Swearing becomes BEYA Award winner (with 3 other awardees in different categories)
• Shortlisted as Reuters2023 D.R.I.V.E. nominees in automotive excellence, recognising Vitesco Technologies’ DE&I commitment

“Pearn Kandola has been pivotal in helping us define our cultural transformation framework, and supporting us with interventions at the top and with leaders. Binna and team have helped us not just talk to leaders and have conversations with them, but trigger something in them, an emotional reaction and the urge for action, the need for change. Pearn Kandola has been instrumental in that – talking to them about what it meant to be part of the out-group vs. the in-group. Binna helped design these conversations that tore down the roles, and made it personal to the people making decisions.”

– Florencia Stanfield, Chief Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Officer, Vitesco Technologies

If you’re looking to achieve similar objectives to Vitesco Technologies, then please contact us for support on your DEI Strategy and programmes.