Name: Ford is auditing 188,000 employees: What it's asking
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Ford is auditing 188,000 employees: What it's asking

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Detroit Free Press Ford Motor Co. is currently "auditing" an estimated 188,000 salaried&nbsp;and hourly employees worldwide to see where the 117-year-old company stands on&nbsp;workplace attitudes about&nbsp;diversity.The effort&nbsp;involves employees from the factory floor to executive suites in an aggressive attempt to address institutional bias and issues&nbsp;that may hinder employee performance, company officials confirmed to&nbsp;the Free Press."I believe the audit is very necessary because I think if you would ask different people at different levels they have a different perspective of where we stand," said Linda Cash, 58, an industrial engineer who went from being a plant manager of the&nbsp;Michigan Assembly&nbsp;Plant in Wayne to becoming Ford's&nbsp;top female Black executive two years ago as vice president, quality and new model launch&nbsp;program.Cash, who has been with Ford more than three decades, plays a key role in the audit.&nbsp;CEO JIm Hackett is leading the&nbsp;initiative.Their efforts&nbsp;come&nbsp;on the heels of the May 25 death of 46-year-old for allegedly using a counterfeit $20 bill and protests in cities throughout the U.S., including Detroit.For its audit, Ford is surveying its employees about race and equity overall, with a goal of determining&nbsp;what the company can do to drive diversity and equity and make Ford a better workplace for everyone.The so-called audit will be done through a combination of online and in-person exchanges. A question, for example, might ask for behaviors and attitudes that are company strengths or company weaknesses.This effort is just beginning now, and taking shape. The goal for Ford is to have answers in coming months, and share the results with employees. Feedback allows the company to establish a baseline and help determine what needs to be done to get better."I believe these times will go down in history as the real change, that’s what I call it, the real change," Cash told the Free Press.&nbsp;"There’s been so much, so much, so much. And what I believe over the last several decades is there’s been an attempt, and sometimes a quiet attempt. But for me, this is the loudest&nbsp;the voice of racial injustice has ever been. And so I believe we will classify this time in our lives as the time when we made the real change. That’s really what I’m looking for."Bill Ford Jr., Ford executive chairman, who called for social justice during a news conference in the days following the Floyd death. In addition, the&nbsp; to their employees"I think finally the truth is out. Sometimes we really have a problem with social media, but I think in this case, boy has it made it crystal clear what’s happening out there," Cash said."More than ever, I think it’s actually helped to raise the awareness, to heighten everyone’s sensitivity to what really is going on and how tragic it is and how we actually need to, once and for all ...&nbsp;change the way we deal with all the diversity among us," she said."We don’t need to have separate perspectives. We need to have the actual truth," she said. "So when you get back the audit, everyone will be very clear — this is where we are as a company. There’s no guessing. There’s no ‘I know a little bit in my space.’ There’s no&nbsp; 'Last year, I looked at something and it said this.’ We just have to stop and get ourselves together and say, 'Hey, everybody, here is where we stand now, what do we want to do about it?'"Cash, who oversees all aspects of getting new vehicles launched on time and meeting quality standards, works with every aspect of the company — from engineering and manufacturing to suppliers.She is also executive sponsor of the Ford African Ancestry Network, which represents an estimated 700 salaried workers who have signed up as part of the employee resource&nbsp;group and up to 1,000&nbsp;voices overall, she said. Prior to that, she led the company's initiative that involved mentoring women in manufacturing.Ford has 11&nbsp;employee resource groups meant to build support for specific affinities&nbsp;including Asian employees, Hispanic employees, gay and transgender employees. Services include counseling for workers directly affected by racial trauma or anxiety.She is a mentor, a coach and these times create unique pressures, Cash said.&nbsp;"I will say to you that the pressure reliever, though, is that the whole company is engaged," she&nbsp;said. "I would imagine it would be worse if I were trying to climb that hill alone. But, for sure, what we have more now than ever&nbsp;is everybody listening, everybody talking, everybody raising their hand to know more and to help."Ford's board of directors has 13 members: nine white males,&nbsp;two white females, one Black male, and one Hispanic female.In the U.S., three of the company's 37 officers are Black in addition to Cash:&nbsp;In addition, there are four additional top-tier Black directors:Some employees are pressuring Cash to move quickly, she said."I believe it’s necessary to take the time so that we know exactly what we’re trying to fix," Cash&nbsp;said,&nbsp;noting she's already seeing a positive impact."I believe the conversations that we’ve had over the last two&nbsp;or three&nbsp;weeks have already started to move and improve the experience in the workplace."While the whole workforce is involved, Ford decided it "had to start somewhere" and saw "the biggest gaps" with Black employees. Still, sustainable change benefits everyone, Cash emphasized."It’s the conversation, it’s the data, it’s looking at things to say, 'Here’s all the things you do, but are they targeted and are they actually going to move us?'&nbsp;" she said. "As you know, certainly from listening to all the announcements from the various companies, you can get busy doing things — busy busy busy — doing things and saying things. But when you put all that together, have you done the right thing for your employees and your company to move yourselves forward?"More:More:More:Earlier this month, , which Ford has sponsored for years, to discuss his commitment to workplace equity and providing Black female employees opportunities to rise in the company."In an effort to impose structural change in the corporation, Ford is doing an audit to get a sense of the work life experience their Black female employees face," says an Essence website headline dated July 5.Hackett said during the interview that acknowledging inequity is important and honest discussions with Black female employees is essential:&nbsp;This is hard work, said Cash, the daughter of a teacher's aide and a union material handler at Hercules chemical. She loved math and science so much&nbsp;her parents sent her to nearby Georgia Tech.After she worked&nbsp;in a plant in Georgia, Ford brought her to Detroit."I worked hard and I worked hard to be excellent," Cash said. "I want employees to recognize that&nbsp;if you have the desire and you put in the work, it’s possible."Ford is leading the way in a critical area motivated by these volatile times, said Melissa Bradley, a business professor at Georgetown University."Corporate America is beginning to take note and explore the internal changes needed to promote an anti-racist work environment," she said. "Fortunately most corporations have started the journey. However it is important to note that you can’t change what you can’t measure."Audits, Bradley said, help institutionalize change and "sustain an anti-racist culture."Many companies throughout the U.S. currently require diversity and sensitivity and inclusion training to tackle serious issues such as unconscious bias – which may involve actions such as making assignments to workers based on assumptions because they are married or parents or gay or Black.Trainings may, for example,&nbsp;include reminders that married employees deserve merit increases as much as single parents or that parents are committed to their job even though they have a child’s play to attend.In many situations nationally, these improvements may be driven by the legal team trying to avoid litigation based on claims on harassment or racism. But the Ford audit is motivated by the George Floyd death and a crescendo of discussion about civil rights and understanding.Fact is, "business as usual" simply can't continue,&nbsp;&nbsp;June 16."In just a few days, countless companies that don't talk about racism publicly have spoken out to condemn racism in their own institutions," Hecht wrote. "On this critical issue, neither consumers nor employees are looking for vague platitudes about change; they want to see companies committing to action within their own walls. Achieving racial equity in the workplace will be one of the most important issues that companies will tackle in the coming decade."After interviewing nearly two dozen executives of Fortune 500 companies, he determined that while most executives "affirmed that racial equity was an obvious business imperative," the path to reach the goal was "less obvious" and&nbsp;leaders felt "ill-equipped, even afraid, to act."&nbsp;Hecht, whose&nbsp;nonprofit organization Living Cities&nbsp;focuses on closing income gaps in America, confessed to being challenged by his own staff. He pointed to a tendency to dismiss personal experiences as "too emotional" and not realize that racial violence in the news can paralyze workers with anxiety when affirming&nbsp;discussion is discouraged.&nbsp;"People need the ability to work with the dignity of having ... their life experience valued," Hecht wrote. "Only then will companies be able to recruit and retain the thriving, diverse workforce that leaders and customers want — and need. ..."More:More:In the U.S., Ford said Wednesday:

Detroit Free Press Ford Motor Co. is currently "auditing" an estimated 188,000 salaried&nbsp;and hourly employees worldwide to see where the 117-year-old company stands on&nbsp;workplace attitudes about&nbsp;diversity.The effort&nbsp;involves employees from the factory floor to executive suites in an aggressive attempt to address institutional bias and issues&nbsp;that may hinder employee performance, company officials confirmed to&nbsp;the Free Press."I believe the audit is very necessary because I think if you would ask different people at different levels they have a different...

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Phoebe Wall Howard

The Detroit Free Press is the largest daily newspaper in Detroit, Michigan, US. The Sunday edition is titled the Sunday Free Press. It is sometimes referred to as the Freep (reflected in the paper's web address, www.freep.com). It primarily serves Wayne, Oakland, Macomb, Livingston, Washtenaw, and Monroe counties.  The Free Press is also the largest city newspaper owned by Gannett, which also publishes USA Today. The Free Press has received ten Pulitzer Prizes and four Emmy Awards. Its motto is "On Guard for 189 Years".

Ford is auditing 188,000 employees: What it's asking

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