Non-manufacturing salaried workers at the Detroit Three are not returning to their office jobs anytime soon.
At Ford, the majority of U.S. non-manufacturing employees won’t return to the office before September, a Ford spokesman told the Free Press Thursday.
That’s pushed back from Ford’s previous plan to bring them back in July.
In GM’s case, there will be no single “set date” for a return to workplaces. GM is in no hurry to rush workers back to their offices given that working remotely is working well in most cases. GM said the timing and the number of salaried workers who return to workplaces will vary due to local guidelines, business needs and the implementation of GM’s return-to-the-workplace safety protocols, a GM spokesman told the Free Press.
At Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, most salaried workers who can work from home will continue to do so, but a small number of FCA employees in the testing area have returned to their work site.
“Our cadence of welcoming employees back to their workspace will take place slowly and responsibly, as we bring people back in deliberate waves through the summer,” said FCA spokeswoman Shawn Morgan.
In March, as the coronavirus pandemic proliferated, the Detroit Three ordered that all employees whose jobs could be done remotely do so. The companies idled all North American factories later that month, but have brought most of the hourly workforce back and resumed production starting on May 18.
No plan yet
Ford has not made a step-by-step plan to bring back those employees who are presently working remotely, said Ford spokesman T.R. Reid.
Instead, it is working to distinguish between the jobs that can be done remotely and those that cannot.
Ford will prioritize the return of workers who cannot work well remotely first, and allow those who can to continue to do so, Read said. Prioritization is due in part to the high demand for personal protective equipment needed to safely bring people back to onsite work, Reid said.
“If we don’t have to bring people back right away and can devote physical resources to making the workplace safe – we’re going to make that decision every time,” Reid said. “Which is what we’ve been doing.”
Ford is studying, too, how to prepare its various offices for workers to be socially distanced on the job. That might entail extensive remodeling, and some workers may need to empty their desks for office redesigns, he said.
“Nobody’s coming back to do that yet,” Reid said. “There isn’t a plan yet. That’s part of what we’re working through … how they’ll be remodeled and in what order.”
So far here is where Ford stands on returning its workforce to the job.
- In May, Ford brought back about 12,000 non-manufacturing people in North America who could not work remotely. They included vehicle testing and design.
- To date, Ford has more than 100,000 employees back onsite globally.
- At end of first quarter, Ford had 188,000 employees worldwide.
‘Business … dictates timetable’
At GM, remote working, in many cases, is “going very well,” said GM spokesman David Caldwell. So there will be no set date for its non-manufacturing employees to return to the workplace, Caldwell said.
“We don’t have a single set point or set date,” Caldwell said. “Obviously, there are regional differences and the Warren Technical Center, for example, has many different types of staffs so the business needs will dictate the timetables.”
For GM North America non-manufacturing salaried employees, the return to workplace will be gradual, done in a phased process with the top priority being safety for employees and visitors to GM’s facilities.
The week of May 18, GM brought back “a small number” of white-collar workers to their offices at GM’s Technical Center in Warren, as the Free Press first reported.
The employees started trickling back around the same time GM brought back some 12,000 hourly workers to many of its North American factories. FCA and Ford also recalled factory workers that week.
GM’s “phased” approach means that a staff or facility will return in steps – a small percentage of workers at first, implementing safety protocols, Caldwell said.
“As that proves successful, it would move to further phases and higher percentage of workers on a gradual basis,” Caldwell said.
GM has 48,000 employees in the United States, of whom about 5,000 work at GM’s headquarters in the Detroit Renaissance Center, and 20,000 work at the Tech Center.
As the Free Press previously reported, GM’s return-to-office plans are being rolled out in four phases.
- Phase one started May 18. It includes employees who have to be on-site to do their jobs. Those employees can work in the office for a limited amount of hours each week.
- Phase two allows employees who are more effective by coming into the office, to start coming in again for a limited time each week. GM has not committed to a date to launch phase two.
- Phase three applies to those workers who can do their job remotely. They will be the last to return to the office. Again, no given date.
- Phase four is the resumption of normal operations, the date to be determined.
More: How GM plans to bring white-collar employees back into workforce
GM will also apply many of the safety protocols it has put in place at its factories to office workers. Likewise, there will be some office reconfiguration or social distancing enforcement for white-collar workers.
GM’s safety playbook notes: “We will provide recommended workstation seating patterns to help encourage physical distancing. Traditional cubicles already provide a six-foot (two meter) distance between coworkers, while compressed cubicles should be selected by staggering to maintain six feet of distance between coworkers.”
More: GM to take worker samples on site, Ford sets up health referrals for COVID-19 tests
FCA’s welcome-back plan
FCA said it brought back some white-collar workers after rolling out enhanced cleaning and sanitizing processes throughout its offices. It’s also educating employees through training and a specially-designed welcome back package, Morgan said.
“FCA is continuing to work diligently to implement the safety measures across its North American operations that will reassure our employees of their health and well-being in their workplace,” Morgan said.
FCA’s protocols are aligned with CDC and WHO recommendations. Those include confirming the daily wellness of workers and temperature monitoring, redesigning work stations to maintain proper social distancing, expanding the cleaning protocols at all locations and making in mandatory to wear face masks, Morgan said.
“It is important that our employees feel confident that all precautions have been taken to ensure our facilities are safe, secure and sanitized when they return to their workspace,” Morgan said.
Eric Lawrence contributed to this report. Contact Jamie L. LaReau at 313-222-2149 or jlareau@freepress.com. Follow her on Twitter @jlareauan. Sign up for our autos newsletter.
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