Dr. Sukhmani Pal, DEI & Wellness Lead at CARS24, explains how embedding equity and wellness into its high-growth DNA drives business resilience and trust
At CARS24, growth is non-negotiable. The question is how we grow, and it shows up as very real pressure on two fronts: people who run our hubs and people who build our product. If we ignore how they are hired, treated and supported, the growth story doesn’t hold for long.
Equitable people-practices stay core to growth when they are tied to three hard questions we keep coming back to:
- Who gets in? (who we open the door to, especially women and underrepresented talent)
- Who stays and moves up? (who we retain and promote, not just who we hire)
- Who feels safe enough to tell us the truth? (about customers, risk, and what’s breaking on the floor)
That’s where DEI and wellness plug in. We are tightening hiring hygiene for critical roles, putting basic non-negotiables around dignity and safety in hubs, and making mental health support and counselling easy to access instead of a last resort.
If a “people” idea doesn’t help us hire better, retain the right talent, or keep our people healthy enough to serve customers well, we either reshape it or don’t do it. That is how equitable practices stay part of how CARS24 grows, not a slide we visit once a year.
From Internal Safety to External Trust
CARS24 lives and dies on trust: “Is this car as described? Is this price fair? Will they stand by what they said?”
When people inside CARS24 feel safe to speak up, flag issues early, and even disagree with data, our customers experience that as fewer surprises and more honesty at a hub during an inspection or on a call.
Bringing more women into frontline and support roles, listening to their lived experiences, and fixing small frictions (language, facilities, processes) changes how women sellers and first-time buyers experience us.
On top of that, our wellness team runs regular interventions and counselling so people are not running on empty. When employees feel supported in their mental health, they show up with more patience, empathy and clarity, all of which customers feel.
An inclusive and well-supported culture inside quietly becomes a more human, reliable brand outside.
Dismantling the “No Time for Fairness” Myth
The biggest unseen barrier is the quiet belief that “we don’t have time for fairness right now”. In a high-growth environment, it’s very easy to justify exceptions: one more shortcut hire, one more informal promotion, one more unsafe shift pattern “just this once”. Over time, those exceptions become the culture.
We dismantle that by creating fast, simple defaults instead of heavy policies: one common scorecard for key roles, inclusive corporate communications, a non-negotiable POSH and grievance flow and a simple checklist for hub safety. Leaders still move fast, but they move inside a frame that is fair and repeatable. When fairness is the default, not the exception, culture becomes more resilient on its own.
The Ultimate Metric: Felt Inclusion Beyond the Numbers
Beyond diversity ratios, the question we care about most is: “Would you recommend CARS24 as a workplace to a woman you care about?”
We ask versions of this in our internal listening and cut the answers by role and band. When more Autonauts (People that work at Cars24), especially women, say “yes” and we see that move alongside lower attrition in critical roles and better performance outcomes, it tells us inclusion isn’t just an idea on a slide.
It’s being felt in real careers and in the way we run the business.
