A team of mobility experts at InterMobility have produced a ‘5-building blocks’ toolkit for mobility companies to improve diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) in the workspace.
The transport and mobility sector suffers from a distinct lack of diversity with 84% of the workforce currently male, and comprising older individuals with 35% close to retirement age (between 50-64 years old).
The white paper took six months to complete with research gathered from an online survey with one hundred participants from diverse mobility companies in Europe, alongside fifty expert interviews.
One recommendation for mobility companies is having your board of leaders “on board” which Intermobility said is a prerequisite to the success of a large DEI campaign. Showing board members support the campaign in their daily communication is a “strong signal” for the employees but also to the outside world that this is a matter taken seriously and where the company is keen on investing. “I could not have grown in tech without the support of the top management and it’s a key aspect of a strategy’s success,” says one of the respondents, a CEO in a Slovakian company.
A second recommendation is to allocate resources specifically for DEI initiatives. This could include funding for training, workshops, and events focused on DEI, mentoring programmes, and community partnerships, as well as forming a dedicated DEI committee responsible for driving initiatives, assessing progress, and advocating for diverse perspectives.
Other recommendations include raising awareness through training on topics such as unconscious bias and harassment prevention, and allocating a yearly budget to tackle DEI.
François Hoehlinger, Co-founder of Intermobility, told Zag Daily: “Inclusion and diversity is a formidable growth driver but remains a must-have that is not yet properly handled by companies in transportation and mobility. Resources, commitment and education are the keys to a success that will necessarily shape the winners of tomorrow.
“Resources are at the core of a long-lasting and efficient top-down strategy, including financial support but also a dedicated workforce. Commitment is the courage from the top management to acknowledge inclusion and diversity as a legitimate topic to address, and understand that recruitment and retention of the new generations will have diversity at its core. Finally, educate every employee and mobility user, so that equal companies make equal means of transportation.”
