Autoliv Australia

Autoliv Australia, a seatbelt and airbag manufacturer outside of Melbourne, has been dedicated to keeping its workforce safe and well. Producing quality products is paramount in the auto-safety industry and dependent on workmanship. And for the past six consecutive years, Autoliv Australia has been named Global Supplier of the Year by Holden Motors, based on quality, service and delivery - a testament to exceptional teamwork. 

Quick Facts

Industry:
Manufacturer - predominantly female

Number of employees: 553

Male/Female: 166/387

Status: 
Waived for two years
Employer of Choice for Women

With a core business driver of zero defects, Autoliv's CEO, Robert Franklin, drives the close and caring relationship with staff. Every day, no matter how busy he is, he makes a point of going down to the production area and walking along the lines, talking to people one at a time. This has created a very open environment for employees.

What did they analyse? 

• Recruitment statistics, promotion, transfer and termination statistics 

• Information from individual career development and training plans 

• Employee Opinion survey results 

• Information from the Enterprise Agreement consultation 

• Information from consultation with staff via focus groups, weekly team meetings and one-on-one meetings with the managing director 

• Consultation with pregnant staff members 

What did their analysis show? 

• Lack of available females in the labour market who have technical-based competencies. 

• Low turnover limits the organisation's ability to provide promotional opportunities - most promotions have been created by organisational growth. 

• Staff are happy with training opportunities and access, including generous career development training for women.

Recruitment and Selection Issue:

• Need to attract females with technical-based competencies. 

Actions taken 

• Broadened selection pool by using competency-based recruitment process. 

• Behavioral-based interviewing and training for all managers. 

• Ensured there is at least one woman on the panel for each management position. 

• Briefed the recruitment agency and asked that they submit recruitment policies and methodology. 

• Encouraged female engineers to apply for positions by implementing industry-based learning for engineering students, by attending industry information briefings and university, and through asking the recruitment agency to consider the best possible female candidates. 

Outcomes 

• Autoliv has five female engineers out of an engineering staff of 40, which is greater than industry representation in the mechanical engineering field.

If you would like to find out more about Autoliv Australia and what actions they took to address their issues, please download the text file here.