Tesla’s first-ever diversity report shows White, male leadership

Tesla Inc. released its first report on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion via a blog post late Friday, statistics that Silicon Valley tech companies and banks on Wall Street have been sharing for years.

Though the report showcases a heavy presence of minorities in its U.S. workforce, it highlights a lack of diversity with a predominantly male and White leadership team, and it offers a peek into a relatively opaque structure without an organizational chart on its website that just lists four male executives as its only leadership.

“I’m thrilled to finally see it,” Kristin Hull, the founder and chief executive of Nia Impact Capital, a social impact fund based in Oakland, that invests in Tesla, said in a phone call Saturday. “It’s a step in the right direction. We need to know more about where Tesla is heading, and I’d like more granularity and to see targets and more specific goals set, particularly for company culture.”

Black and African American employees represent 10% of Tesla’s U. S. workforce but just 4% of managers at the level of director and above, according to the report.

“We know that our numbers do not represent the deep talent pools of Black and African American talent that exist in the U. S. at every level — from high school graduates to professionals,” Tesla said in the report. “Many of our programs in 2021 will focus on increasing Black and African American representation, especially in leadership, while continuing the upward trend in new hires and promotions.”

Latino employees form 22% of the U. S. workforce, and also just 4% of its management at the director level and above. However, Asian employees make up 21% of its U.S. workers and 25% of its senior management — skewing the ratio with two out of three minorities at the leadership level. In terms of gender, women represent 21% of Tesla’s U. S. workforce and 17% of directors and vice presidents.

“We are taking active steps to increase our outreach to women and build an inclusive culture that supports their development and retention,” Tesla said. “Increasing women’s representation at all levels, especially in leadership, is a top priority in 2021.”

Tesla, which is headquartered in Palo Alto is known for its clean energy mission, sleek electric cars, fast-moving engineering culture and Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk. The stock has rallied more than 600% this year, buoyed in part by a widely anticipated decision by S&P and Dow Jones indices to include Tesla in the benchmark as of Dec. 21.

Tesla has faced high profile allegations of racial discrimination in recent years at its Fremont plant, where roughly 10,000 people work. The company has more than 60,000 employees globally and is hiring for numerous positions as it expands its global footprint and builds factories in Austin, Texas, and Berlin. In the U.S., Tesla operates an auto plant in Fremont, a battery plant near Reno, Nevada, and a solar facility in Buffalo, New York.