Five notable automotive industry companies are matched up today: Ford, General Motors, Honda, Toyota and Tesla. Four old school carmakers and one disruptor. But we’re not interested in the fossil fuels vs. electric debate here – that battle will continue in our streets for a while to come as the entrenched established companies try to hold their ground against the would-be electric revolution. Today we want to know about their company cultures: How satisfied are employees working for big auto companies? Comparably takes a deep dive into its employee-submitted data on these car manufacturers to see how they treat their employees, from the designers to the people on the assembly line.
COMPANY CULTURE
It’s not often we have a three-way tie in the very first category, but as far as Culture scores go, Ford, Tesla and Toyota all tied with a score of 68. And just one point behind those three sit GM and Honda, both at 67.
Ford: “We need to bring the product closer to the employees through test driving. More money is needed for team events and Christmas party.”
GM: “Work with getting employees earned time off, so we can have a life outside of General Motors. Plus, then maybe less employees would be on sick leave.”
Honda: “Hierarchichal and very stressful. Associates have job security and they treat the 2 lower levels as disposable.”
Tesla: “We all work to the bone, but it is awesome because we are changing the world.”
Toyota: “I rarely have any complaints about my environment. The work itself is boring, tedious, and repetitive, but we manage to have fun in other ways via office competitions, giveaways, prizes, fun meetings, etc.”
CEO
Elon Musk, one of the world’s most famous (not to mention unpredictable) rock star CEOs wins the chief exec standoff, beating out GM’s Mary Barra by three percentage points. Toyota’s Akio Toyoda, Ford’s James Hackett, and Honda’s Takahiro Hachigo aren’t far behind, keeping this contest very close in the early going.
Ford: “I think our CEO is a intellectual who knows nothing about how to make a car or truck. He is delusional but well intended.”
GM: “She’s a great CEO, very good at bringing new products to market quickly. Needs to improve on holding vendors accountable for quality of the parts.”
Honda: “We like him. Generally, he is in a class of his own. Very approachable and treats everyone with respect and friendly familiarity.”
Tesla: “Leadership is transparent and keeps employees inspired and focused on the mission at hand.”
Toyota: “Overall good leadership, company does well to follow their core principles of respect for people and kaizen.”
COMPENSATION
After tying for Culture, Ford now takes a category of its own with Compensation. GM lags just three percentage points behind Ford, with Honda and Toyota nearly tied for third place. Here, Tesla falls to dead last.
Ford: “I’m paid very fairly and gotten regular raises over the years.”
GM: “The wage is fine. But give us the bonus when they close a plant, just like the CEO gets!”
Honda: “There are huge pay gaps between managers and even coworkers who are at the same level as I am or lower, but since they are male make more.”
Tesla: “We get enough hours at a great pay rate.”
Toyota: “Jobs with the exact same title and in the same industry pay on average 20 – 30% more.”
PERKS & BENEFITS
GM takes one, for it’s well-appreciated Benefits plan. The runner-up is Ford, six points behind GM. The other three companies all rate ‘C’-level Perks & Benefits scores, with Tesla and Toyota tied for last place.
Ford: “I love my benefits; the medical insurance is excellent, and the other offered benefits like life insurance, Health Savings Account, 401K, etc. are all great as well.”
GM: “GM offers progressive benefits like paternity leave and double RSP matching.”
Honda: “Benefits are fairly cheap and we are paid hourly plus time and a half on overtime.”
Tesla: “Excellent benefits that include stock bonuses, 401K savings plans, parental leave and a ton of other discounts (gym memberships, cell phone, entertainment, etc.)”
Toyota: “The benefits outweigh the mediocre pay scale. The vehicle benefit can’t be understated.”
DIVERSITY
Ford takes a third win, this time in the Diversity category. All five of the companies landed in the ‘B’ range for this category, with Toyota, Honda, and Tesla all vying for second place.
Ford: “There is tremendous diversity at Ford Motor Company, more so than any other company for which I’ve worked.”
GM: “Not enough women in the workforce. GM is not diverse enough.”
Honda: “It’s a great place for cultural diversity and they are very PC when it comes to treating all associates equal.”
Toyota: “Lots of diversity outside of the main office.”
OUTLOOK
And here, in Outlook, it’s Tesla for the win. The car company of the future beat Toyota and Honda by two points, with GM and Ford fighting for scraps (at least in this category.)
Ford: “IT is the fastest growing segment of Ford at the moment. The only difficulty I can see is trying to keep up with what consumers want in a vehicle.”
GM: “Their SUV’s are growing at a rate they can’t handle or maintain, while cars plants go virtually unused. You can only duct tape and crazy glue industrial car building machinery for so long.”
Honda: “Honda is a household brand and despite the awfully stressful working conditions it will be around for a long time.”
Tesla: “Everyone is on the same page, and we all try our best to bring this world to a better place.”
Toyota: “If we got paid better, we would definitely be more productive and it would be less of a issue when it comes to working and trying to stay at that one company.”
And that gives us a tie for today’s look at the company cultures of five big automotive companies: The winners are Tesla and Ford. Tesla tied for Culture, and took the awards for CEO and Outlook. Ford also tied for Culture, and went on to win for Compensation and Diversity. Runners-up are Toyota and GM who each tied with one (for Culture and Perks & Benefits, respectively.) Honda came in last, but nobody embarrassed themselves in today’s competition.
