Ford Motor Co. asked salaried employees in some departments on Monday to work remotely this week so that people being laid off on Tuesday and Wednesday will be notified in private, company spokesman T.R. Reid told the Detroit Free Press.
Supervisors informed specific teams throughout the automotive business groups and functions that support them, particularly engineering, that they will have individual meetings over the next day or two to determine employment status, he said.
“Functions in different parts of the business had small group meetings, not one large town hall,” Reid said. “They were alerted that we’d be making some staffing changes consistent with what we’ve been talking about for the last two years — and what we’ll continue to do going forward. The different priorities and ambitions of the company within the Ford+ plan has implications for the skills you need, the way you employ them and, ultimately, in how you’re staffed.”
The meetings in certain areas of expertise informed salaried employees that changes would be made and carried out this week, Reid said. “People affected would be contacted individually and briefed on the changes and implications.”
All team meetings involving employees in the affected layoff areas had concluded by 3:15 p.m. on Monday, Reid said. The automaker is cutting salaried positions in the U.S. and Canada, he confirmed.
Reid declined to provide the number of salaried positions cut or severance package information.
The Free Press was the first to report that Ford planned to cut a minimum of several hundred salaried employees in North America as soon as Monday. Previously, the Free Press reported that contract workers were laid off first.
“We’ll continue to hire people. We’ll continue to move people who have been here a long time, to different roles in some cases,” Reid said. “Then where we need to adjust in terms of the number of people we have and the types of jobs that they do, we’ll do that too. We’re going to do that persistently over time. … The primary objective is the business is more focused, it’s faster moving, it’s more accountable, and, yes, reduces costs in the process.”
He emphasized: “This will be fundamental to how we run the business over time. We’re going to manage the needs of the business in real time, over time.”
Ford and its competitors are spending billions of dollars as the industry is moving from gasoline-powered vehicles to electric vehicles. Meanwhile, steady hiring and departures have become a part of the overall landscape.
In February, Ford CEO Jim Farley talked publicly about the need to trim engineering.
“I think probably it takes us 25% more engineers to do the same work statements as our competitors,” Farley told host Jason Stein in an exclusive interview for an episode of “Cars & Culture” on SiriusXM. “I can’t afford to be 25% inefficient.”
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Contact Phoebe Wall Howard: 313-618-1034 or phoward@freepress.com. Follow her on Twitter @phoebesaid.