Thread regarding Ford layoffs

@2clf+1mUAY9cP Bozeman caught on pretty quickly.

Jim Hacket and Jim Farley

Ren and Stimpy

I know a lot of people (GSR to LL4) who retired last year and took the lump sum.

Common theme is they don’t have faith in Fords future or it’s leadership.

So sad that the company I once loved has been destroyed by leadership incompetence and woke behaviors.

More attrition

Dave Bozeman is leaving Ford, he was named CEO of C.H. Robinson Worldwide Inc.
Bozeman is vice president of the Ford customer services division and enthusiast brands

In July 2022 Ford hired Dave Bozeman, a former Amazon.com Inc., Caterpillar Inc. and Harley-Davidson Inc. executive.

Lasted less than a year

@1tew+1mUAY9cP Exactly! I used to work in fast paced environments, generally with knowledgeable people. I got the chance to be at Ford, and TBH, the team where I was at the beginning was awesome. It had only one deadwood (pushed in by an LL5) and a d-mb manager. Even the manager relied 100% on the team leader, which was a very capable and organized person.

We used to do our projects, and help other teams. Always looking for ways to improve the processes and quality in the company. I even seriously consider retiring at Ford, since it was such a great position.

Then came what is a bane at this company: reorgs. While the first ones didn't touch our team, just changes in middle management and whom our LL6 reported, another LL6 started hiring outsiders to create our "internal competition" in order to displace us. In the next reorg, under Hackett, we're disbanded and part of our team ended under that LL6 (Now an LL5). We had more deadwoods now in the team, more workload, and a political animal as a manager.

This guy would support an idea now, and 2 hours later would scratch it because some upper manager didn't like it. Really hard to work with someone changing directions faster than a weathervane, and it was rare the day he actually wrote his instructions in an email. He preferred to come to our desks and TELL us what he wanted. That way, it was hard to prove his mistakes. BTW, we had to be careful also because he'd push anyone under the bus.

Projects were not delivered in time, and were extended. When we could not even deliver the projects by the extended deadlines, the manager would report it as completed, and we spent weeks after "completion" still working in the projects. The "technical debt" and the list of incomplete projects kept growing, while all the reports were green.

The SRD in 2019 came, and it made a huge mess. The only good thing was that our LL6 was promoted, and we got an actual competent LL6. Still, things were hectic, and management expected us to work extra hours for free. Some of my teammates worked 60/70 hours weekly, to deliver the projects in time. While my LL6 was trying to tackle the technical debt issues, the reality was we had too many deadwoods, and projects were assigned to the team based on size. That means more delays in delivering the projects.

Since other teams were in the same or worse situation, any task involving dependencies on another team would duplicate or triplicate the time to accomplish it. Worse if it was dependent on any of the jobs outsourced, and that's why a simple project now takes a year to accomplish.

The worst example so far was a "simple fix", but the actual team was let go, and the responsibility outsourced to another country. I personally went to the initial meeting and told them the steps and what was needed to do. I was invited to all the follow-up meetings (once a month). Second meeting, nothing was done, I repeated again the steps. On the third meeting, I was just fed up with Ford, the stupidity of the managers and the world, and sat quietly until the end.

The meetings repeated again, and again, always saying the same things, identifying the same blockers and issues, and nothing was done. I was living in a crude poor English version of "Groundhog Day" one hour every month, but I sat quietly. After one year, a middle manager that was attending the last couple of meetings exploded. The team leader humbly accepted they didn't know how to solve it, and that they needed help. The task came back to Dearborn, and it was solved.

I had fairly low expectations from Ford as an employer. I had a fast paced highly technical career in startup type companies, after ten years I needed to slow down and spend more time with the wife and kids. Enter Ford. Man what an adjustment. A week long project morphs into a multi-year project at Ford. You learn to have side projects just for your own amusement and sanity. Go with the flow and bank easy money was my mantra.

Now pass the scissors please, time to move onto early retirement.

Last November the iRS rate tables was a gift to Ford, incentivizing 1000 people to retire without any incentives or packages or thanks from ford.

This years rates are even higher so it might be a factor once again.

@1ydb+1mUAY9cP Nothing you wrote there matches my experience at Ford. Turnover started to increase before vaccines and the driving factor behind most leaving is the terrible management (poorly thought out layoffs, no decrease in bureaucracy despite reduced headcounts, unclear future direction).

In my opinion the turning point in employee moral was when Joe Hinrichs was shown the door.

What @1pkd+1mUAY9cP is saying is true.
A data point that is missing is that the stick rate for some career paths is much lower, which makes the stats look better than they actually are. The stick rate for “softer” skill jobs - admins, management, legal and such are high. The stick rate for technical jobs is abysmal. The interns and FCGs provided candid feedback on why they are not choosing Ford / leaving Ford. But Ford leadership chooses not to correct the problem, as they are the problem.

Once upon a time only the LL6 who were drawn to mentorship took the time to set up positions for interns and FCGs that would be beneficial for both Ford and the interns/FCGs. You see it takes a lot of effort to do correctly and one’s heart must be in the correct place.
Then Ford leadership said hey we need more youngsters, let’s add a task to every LL Performance Review for attracting and retaining youngsters. Suddenly loads of LL6 were applying to create intern and FCG positions, for the sole purpose of claiming on their PR that they had interns/FCGs. The quality of the intern and FCG experiences rapidly degraded as the LL6s had zero interest in mentoring and providing a good experience for the youngsters. But hey the statistics reported by leadership all look grand, and fakers got promoted cuz they had created intern/FCG positions.

There were some LL6 who had long term successful intern & FCG programs - near 100% return on investment. Ford leadership took intern & FCG positions away from the successful LL6 and distributed them to all the LL6 who were just wanting to pad their PR. Ford leadership wisdom at its finest.

Soylent green….is….is PEOPLE!!!!!!!!!!

What kind of rock does OP live under. The attrition rate at Ford is terrible nowadays, and had been for awhile.

Before I was SIRPed last year, I was asked by a former manager to help his team - he led a team responsible for summer internship program for Model E.

What I found shocked me - used to be 3 out of 4 interns refused offers of employment when they finished school; used to be the exact opposite number (3 out of 4 accepted). Moreover of recent college graduates new hires ( all of them, not just prior Ford interns) less than 50% stay around 5 years or longer….again it used to be Ford could could on over 70% sticking around more than 5 years.

This is just bader than bad, and is but one reason why the company is circling the drain, I have another job now fully remote , so in retrospect it seems like it may have been something good that happened to me.

A lot of people are retiring as well, even early retirement, if they can.

It's not hard to figure this out people. The mass walk away (resignation) campaign coincidence occurred around when the vaccines were launched. Between people retiring, and accelerated retiring because of the nonsense, make no mistake...

The great resignation campaign they claimed, was the great death and injured campaign. Millions were removed from the workforce, and just because you may not see it in your life, doesn't mean it isn't happening. Most people know a few effed up people, along with a few dead people. Caretakers for the injured, are nothing more than remove pieces from the job chessboard as well. You can not claim, that millions upon millions just magically became rich overnight, or that the systems money have driven them along all this time. Their funds would have run out, including their savings.

I heard directly from top level OEM people that they simply don't have enough bodies. They're utilizing their entire floor of staff to get cross talent jobs completed. The words I heard by their own mouth, was that the were down 55+ designers, and numerous engineers in the department he controls. There's a reason why there's a sign across every business of the world claiming they are hiring.

You can choose to cover your eyes and put your head in the sand. It's much easier to realize what is occurring, and to react accordingly. They are removing people from physically being able to work, and the corporations worldwide, will downsize due to it.

What you are seeing is new. It's not a recession where so many people are left on the wayside. It's a contraction, where so many people are unable to be part of the workforce. Unfortunately, their lives will become significantly difficult going forward.

@ljf+1mUAY9cP Not true, there are not enough workers, and after Ford and GM get rid of those "old folks", the competition for the younger ones will only increase. More and more boomers will retire, and there are not the numbers to replace them. https://www.uschamber.com/workforce/understanding-americas-labor-shortage

I have seen far more people leave in the past 2 years than the previous 5. it used to be a major event when someone was leaving and now it's just another going away party.

The really bad part is most of what we're losing is younger folks. Ford is looking more and more like some of my other employers with employees consistently leaving at 3-5 years. Not good.

I’m not sure that is true. I hear of people leaving all the time. I’d like to see the data.

A lot of disgruntled folks are close to retirement and want to ensure they get the maximum benefit from their pension. Thry can't do that if they leave early.

For others, the job market isn't the greatest with crosstown rivals in Michigan also on hiring freezes and offering separation pacakges. People still need an income to support themselves until something better comes along.

Show me the incentive and I will show you the outcome...

• Charlie Munger

It's not surprising at all really. Ford pays relatively well and the Job market is heading back towards employers having more power since all the layoffs everyone has done recently.

I also think some people are generally risk averse. They'll hold on to a what they think is a sure thing - even if it is a bad thing.

I was that way. If I hadn't been let go last August I would still be there and still be holding on. SIRP ended up being the best thing that ever happened to me. I am so much happier at my new job.

But it is worse now than ever before at Ford. I think Ford will lean very heavily into this new PEP method of forcing people out.

Anybody still at Ford:

1. If you are unhappy in any way, start looking for a new job. Find something you like and then weight out the pros and cons of staying and hoping for a severance package

2. Even if you are happy, try to determine how likely you are to be let go. Remember, nobody is truly safe in any department (E or Blue). Sadly, who you know will help you more than what you know. And again, start looking for another job.

3. To those that choose to hold on and hope for the best. I say good luck.

No. People are holding out for the firings and the separation packages. Last year attrition was high up to August 22nd, and then people felt d-mb for leaving before they got let go with severance.