Saw an interview today where Jim Hackett said his goal is to not have cuts at Ford during this pandemic. I think if he pulls it off, he will redeem himself at CEO as other car manufacturers have already had cuts. What do you think?
7 replies (most recent on top)
They know they can’t cut a lot of jobs right now because they will quickly be admonished by the White House. But Ford definitely will be reducing headcount because they were in trouble prior to Covid now their footprint is completely unsustainable. Don’t touch that dial people.
DEFINE... 'MAKE IT THRU'...
Calling BS on “No Cuts”, the only reason big Jim would defer cuts at this time is avoid f—ing up the ability to get government assistance if required. As soon as it passes, the pink slips will come out.
Sure he can cut, but is that wise? We just went through SRD. Not only did that wipe out a bunch of competency, but it also put a lot of people in jobs they are clueless about. So, you can cut more, but the work still needs to get done. Do you keep the clueless around and hope they figure out their jobs or do you cut more and have people take on 3x the work? Not sure which is the less harmful choice, but this is definitely worse than 2008. In 2008, while you took on 3x the work, at least the work was defined. In 2020, not so much. There are only so many people left in the company who know how to do their jobs well. SRD wrecked the company; the pandemic has amplified the problems.
Many people at Ford have been there for decades. Some have good long standing relationships. This has built up an ideal that they are a family and can’t let each other go. However, simple economics are forcing some tough decisions. How can they continue like this pretending that the environment supports their ideal situation? Somethings gotta give..
That usually means cuts are imminent. First denial, and then a few weeks later the bad news will come out.
How can ford survive without them??
Has he met any other goals, other than lining his own pockets?