Given that this was a company where most people actually enjoyed working, it's strange how quickly it became a toxic place from which everyone is looking for a way out and few still care if they will be laid off or not. How did they manage to turn a decent workplace into a mediocre one where hardly anyone is still satisfied?
13 replies (most recent on top)
Adding to the toxicity are the upcoming PEPs. Everyone knows the PEPs are being used to terminate the last of the older pension eligible employees unless they are part of the ' friends & family plan ' ( which the Design studios are horrifically guilty off, IMO, the Lincoln designers responsible for the concept atrocity should all be PEPd and terminated ) as well whoever managers want to eliminate that have challenged their ( poor ) decisions.
Every director part of Next should be PEPd and terminated; Ford could have been profitable if not for the billions wasted by Next.
Chuga chuga who knew this was bills last gift to the "D" before declaring chapter 11. This way the familia can save face by avoiding merger. Hey ruin all products so you can rely on the real estate part of the pie. Meanwhile the ford foundation keeps sailing along on its liberal merily way.
They kept pushing employees to move faster, get things done quicker. As a result, they lost the employees that dotted the "i"'s, and crossed the "t"'s. They crammed everyone in buildings that all looked generic and cold, eliminated office space, and took away a sense of belonging. Stop treating people like cattle! Because eventually mad cow disease will be upon us.
I’ll say the quiet part out loud. We have a fairly significant LL+ population that hails from a certain part of the world that is very used to hierarchy. You try to speak up, they argue and talk over you/shut you down. For a company as “woke” as Ford, they do nothing to try to train these leaders for appropriate communication and interactions with NA and other global team members, contributing greatly to the toxic environment.
@bsa FLV and his clown show, having traveled to Palo Alto in order to earn airline and hotel miles for their family vacations, should be addressing PEPs for all of them that aren’t terminated for lack of performance in the interest cost cutting.
@OP. Ford was already a mediocre workplace before the "furniture guy" turned it into a cesspool. There were already silos and fiefdoms inside the company, but the fear of losing the jobs made everybody form new ones.
Managers didn't have any clue then, nor now, but at least the specialists were recognized by becoming a technical LL6. When the C suite got rid off the older employees with higher salaries and pensions, the main target were those technical specialists holding the LL6s denominations. In other words, the most knowledgeable people in the company.
What did the C suite, in their infinite wisdom, make with those salaries? Well, hire more useless VPs and other executives from other companies. As everyone knows, companies are like pyramids, with workers being the base, and upper management the top. Well, when you reduce the base and increase the size on the top, it is question of time before it topples. No wonder the company is failing!
I remember when FORD E opened up their offices at Fairlane Town Center they put paper up over the walls because they didn't want anybody to see what secret project they were working on. Meanwhile, they halled in all these espresso, cappuccino coffee machines to cater to them and they were the biggest drain on the company I've ever seen. We're eliminating ice vehicles and we're just gonna go eat vehicles the worst and stupidest statement bill FORD ever allowed any company official to make sure stupidity you guys are going down I feel sorry for all you GSR's, but everybody else you freaking deserve it
Of course it's toxic. Leaders have either created silos around their empires or lie and backstab each other; they're all pi---d knowing promotions will never happen from within. Great example, the id--ts brought in from Renault. Renault!? Louis-Victor accomplished nothing with Mobilize, no profits, no products that had any impact and now has wasted billions of $$$$$$ at FMC. Canopy?! Laughed at CES and now they're all in Palo Alto regrouping to save their a$$ while throwing whoever they can under the so-called bus. A Lo can't execute a vehicle, is incapable of any aesthetic direction. The Lincoln concept is a poor copy of what Cadillac has already shown. He sits there like a lump of cr-p while DF gives aesthetic direction turning ever vehicle into Tesla copies.
All the talk of transformation is more rhetoric - we've heard it all before and nothing moves forward. GSRs are held accountable for fails instead of the LL4/3/2s that directed them. Farley is useless, shareholders and investors know he's a fake - Ford srtock goes nowhere, while other OEMs increase. Ford loses billions while other OEMs reap billions in profits. And you wonder why and how the environment is toxic. Attempt to sit through a so-called workshop with D(umb)Ford - talk about kool-aid drinking, theyre priority is creating awful videos showing how happy they are instead of solving any problems since as one of their leaders say " we don't solution." If Bill Ford is serious on saving his legacy, start by terminating half the LL4/3/2s. Hold them accountable. Guaranteed, the environment will change for the better.
They cut many of the best employees in April/August of 2022. Once that occurred, everyone reassessed because if _____ could be cut, they could be next.
Couple that with outsourcing of important supporting positions, executive leaders who mention potential future cuts to the media, and a leadership team that cannot tell employees there are no layoffs planned soon… it’s not a surprise that people have given up hope.
I remember when Team Edison (what eventually became Model e) was first established. I thought it sounded awesome and that it would be fun to work in a Corktown loft. I quickly learned that the original staff had essentially 'picked themselves and their coworker friends' to be on this new cool team. I then realized that it was the last hoorah of the 'Old Ford' mentality. (At that time, there was a big push to eliminate 'Old Ford' mentality throughout the organization).
It ended up being a huge echo chamber of LL6s. The vast majority of which had zero leadership experience (never had direct reports). And they would compete to repeat whatever the 'senior leader' had just said. I never heard an original thought from anyone below that senior-most leader in any meeting or throughout the organization.
If you are working there now and enjoy it - I sincerely say, 'good for you. But don't ever assume or believe that you're 'safe' from layoff. I was a GSR member of Model e - in good standing I should mention - and was let go last August. I'll always believe it was a combination of decades worth of salary growth along with not being part of the echo chamber & not kissing the right 'you know whats' of leadership...
Man.... I'll never forget watching an LL6 and an LL5 both dance around a direct question from the LL4 because they could only parrot back sound bites and had no idea how to think for themselves.
I assure everyone, Model e is the strongest section of 'Old Ford' alive and well at FoMoCo today...
Ignore the last id--t. Model E is as toxic as it gets. Mo--ns in leadership positions that back stab their peers and throw their GSRs under the bus. There is no sense of team, no One Ford. It is every man for yourself. There is an LL6 over there in CV that is a jerk to everyone and kisses up to his superiors. No one can stand his shaggy headed, fat jerk routine.
Model e currently is not running in a toxic manner nor will it with current leadership. I advise to consider activities in Model e if you feel this way.
Fear is a horrible thing. Unfortunately when you pair fear of layoffs with fear of change you get a very fast path to toxicity. Farley spouting off to keep shareholders happy doesn't help that either.
There are definitelt pockets around here that are better than others, but that's all based on leadership in that area. Good leaders will shield you from the toxicity and create an environment that doesn't lead to people being at each other's throats.