ment, investing time, energy and money in developing the company’s people personally and professionally.
“As a leader my success is based upon having great mentors and a support base that has been willing to share knowledge and experiences with me,” she said. “Be- ing open to change, ideas and develop- ing and mentoring others have been key to my success. Challenges that I have overcome include maintaining a delicate balance of filling the roles of mother, wife, and professional, while embodying leader- ship and courage.”
Wicker is confident that Chrysler Group's leadership commitment to a diverse and inclusive workforce will be a big factor in the new hiring campaign.
"Chrysler Group's diversity council has been in existence for more than a decade,” she said. “Its members report directly to the CEO.
...Chrysler Group also has more than a hundred ways to support work-life optimization; everything from tutoring for kids to daycare and elder care.” For the finer things of company work life, count on lactation rooms, hair care and nail care, an on-site masseuse, a pharmacy, a health clinic and a head- quarters gymnasium, she adds for good measure.
“The company has won a place on Work- ing Mother magazine's "best companies" list for 14 consecutive years. In some years it was the only automotive company to receive such recognition.
“Chrysler is hiring again, especially in engineering (disciplines in automotive- related fields), manufacturing and corporate staff positions,” Wicker assures. “My greatest challenge is to manage the accelerating pace of the company's talent acquisition needs, as the company and its products continue to succeed in the marketplace.”
by Lango Deen,
ldeen@ccgmag.com www.womenofcolor.net WOMENOFCOLOR | SPRING 2011 13
TAKEAWAY FACTS FROM CHRYSLER‘S TALENT
ACQUISITION SOLUTIONS • Chrysler Group recruits from professional networking organizations and attends diversity conferences such as the National Black MBA, the Society of Women Engineers, the Black Engineer of the Year Awards STEM Conference, and more.
• The company’s university relations program includes Historically Black Colleges and Universities and Hispanic- and Native American- serving institutions, especially the ones with curricula that support the company’s business needs. Chrysler Group’s university relations program includes executive sponsors and a captain as well as cross-functional teams that hit campuses for Career Days and other placement-office activities.
• New hires learn about Chrysler Group’s diversity values through a comprehensive orientation program. Experts present the strategy, intent and philosophy of an inclusive culture. A corporate diversity statement signed by the CEO and the company’s entire senior leadership team hangs in every Chrysler facility.
• Six employee resource groups: African American, Hispanic, Native American, LGBT, Asian networks and the Women’s Forum, work with the council. There also is a military veterans forum and management forums.
• Employee resource groups (ERGs) pre-date Chrysler Group’s Diversity Council. In fact, the African American group has been in existence for more than twenty years. They started out as a club, bringing together common experiences and constituencies. Chrysler’s employee resource groups are now catalysts and conduits for business objectives. They dip into product evaluation, marketing and advertising programs, and some put on monthly celebrations.
• Each employee resource group has a mentoring program. Some ERGs boast more than forty mentor/ mentee pairs. Last year Wicker mentored two employees, one from the African American ERG and the other from the Women’s Forum.
• Community outreach and volunteerism also flourish at Chrysler Group. The ERGs secure goods and donations for needy families and Habitat for Humanity.
• Company engineers participate in FIRST Robotics, and are engaged with many universities. They've sponsored work with Great Minds in STEM (formerly HENAAC) and other engineering competitions.
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