Toyota Named A Top 50 Company For Diversity

By Author: Doug Clark
Total Articles: 5
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There are many ways to measure a company such as an automaker's status and success. Companies can be measured by profits, units sold, and number of employees. A different way to measure companies are by viewing their management and personnel to ascertain the degree of diversity in the company.

DiversityInc is an organization that promotes and celebrates diversity in businesses and organizations. DiversityInc bills itself as the leader in online diversity publications. They also have a magazine published five times a year whose subscribers are C-suites companies with over 5,000 employees. It was started in 1998 as an online publication but received a print version in 2002. The main part of DiversityInc is their annual Top 50 Companies for Diversity. This year Toyota Motor North America was the only automaker to make the list.

The Top 50 Companies for Diversity competition receives participation from over 1,000 companies this year. A vote that was open to all magazine subscribers decided the competition. Companies from similar industries compete against one another. The companies are graded on four categories: talent ...
... pipeline, equitable talent development, CEO/leadership commitment, and supplier diversity. Talent pipeline involves ways for companies to ensure that talent from members of underrepresented groups is reflected in the higher positions of the companies. This area has subcategories that address levels of diversity in a company's workforce, recruitment, and diameter of existing talent structures. Equitable talent development refers to the level of efficiency a company is at developing their talent that stems from underrepresented groups. This category also includes diversity in employee resource groups which are composed of groups which are deemed critical to the organization, mentoring, fairness, and philanthropy. The CEO/leadership commitment grade reflects the level of competency companies' leaders show with developing and providing cultural and diversity initiatives. This category will also assess each company for evidence of diversity in the areas of accountability for results, personal communication, and visibility. Supplier diversity grades diversity in accountability, support, and in terms of spend with companies owned by people from underrepresented groups.

Toyota Motor North America, a holding company of the Toyota automaker, placed 38th in the Top 50 Companies for Diversity list. This standing was an increase of ten spots from their standing on the previous year's list. Toyota is praised for its efforts in promoting a diverse workplace, this was also seen when it was given DiversityInc's Top Company for Employee Engagement in October 2013. The Toyota diversity connection can be seen in the company's increased leadership involvement in diversity initiatives by having its leading executives be cross-cultural mentors and sponsor employee resource groups. They have an external diversity council that holds quarterly meetings to establish certain metrics and goals. The company holds succession planning that encourages diversity by addressing women, African Americans, Latinos/Hispanics, Asians, and Native Americans. It has earned the engagement of employees with programs such as on-site childcare.

Toyota is a country of Japanese origins with a significant North American presence. They came to the United States in 1957 and now have ten plants in the United States that produce more than a million vehicles a year. The company was established in 1937 with the name of Toyota Motor Co. Ltd, it was led by Risaburo Toyada as president and Kiichiro Toyada as vice president. The company's unique name is derived from the last name of its founders the Toyada family, the name was slightly changed to Toyota because that name is written in eight strokes, which is considered a lucky number in Japan (Toyota, 2014).

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