Automotive employee engagement survey

Attracting employees when talent competition is fierce

The automotive industry is experiencing a tremendous amount of change. At the center of this evolution are the men and women that design, build, sell, and service the vehicles that enable the future of consumer mobility. In an environment characterized by a relentless pursuit of innovation and efficiency, automotive employees are having to adapt to a wide range of emerging trends, including software-defined vehicles, electrification, artificial intelligence, and an evolving regulatory and trade landscape.

As automotive companies work to keep pace with the amount of change happening around them, fundamental human capital considerations remain, including the need to create and nurture a strong company culture rooted in purpose and belonging. This contributes to a company’s ability to attract and retain the best employees at a time when competition for talent is fierce. At the same time, new skills and collaborative processes are needed to align with the proliferation of artificial intelligence to unlock efficiencies across the enterprise.

To help uncover areas for improvement and drive a conversation with stakeholders across the automotive value chain, we have developed this inaugural US automotive employee engagement study. To support the study, we collaborated with Automotive News to field an online survey in April 2025, capturing the opinions of more than 300 individuals working in a variety of roles across the US automotive industry.

We have organized this report into three sections, presenting data-driven insights on the experience, culture, and sense of belonging among the people that keep the automotive sector moving forward.

Theme 1: Experience and company culture

Enhance company culture by having senior leaders invest time in professional development to build soft skills that resonate with employees.

Employees surveyed consider company culture to be very important, but only a third feel their organization is effective in attracting the top talent. Although respondents indicated that organizations are equipping them with the necessary tools and training, there remains room for improvement in areas like mentorship and sponsorship. Senior leaders can contribute to building and nurturing a strong company culture by focusing on interpersonal skills.

Theme 2: Creating a sense of purpose

Establish a sense of purpose among employees through an investment to develop strong leadership for the future.

Employees feel issues such as the poor perception of the industry, lack of work-life balance, and existing organizational cultural norms are the top reasons causing people to leave the industry. In our survey, only half of respondents said they would choose to stay in the automotive industry if they were starting their career today, down from 65% in 2020. Supporting a culture of innovation and autonomy in decision-making, while helping employees understand how their work contributes to purposeful goals (e.g., increasing access to mobility via self-driving technology), may address some of these issues and could improve employee retention.
 

Theme 3: Belonging and adapting to change

Assist employees in adapting to changes to reinforce their sense of belonging within the company.

Most employees feel a sense of loyalty to their company, with 75% of respondents preferring to stay either in their present role or in a different role at their present company. However, less than one-third feel fully ready to adapt to changes occurring in the industry and are looking to better understand new technologies and company priorities such as the transformative impact of AI and software-defined vehicles.