I am fine with my job. Happiness is up to you only you can make yourself happy not your job at Ford itself. I have worked for fine people so far at Ford and I am in IT. If you don't like your job you can quit and find work elsewhere. Even now with the pandemic and the possibility of getting laid off I am not going to be angry about it if I do get laid off. I have skills I can bounce back, just concerning right now since not much hiring in general is going on. I have left the state and was in a completely unrelated career, came back to Michigan because of Family to be honest.
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@1xdk+14V2yNF5 I am there. Only difference is i moved to another group and had a bright outlook. Now I have come to the conclusion the company is uniformly bad. Sure they are good at making shiny red apples, but the minute you bite in it is rotten to the core. Oh well I gave it a shot and sometimes the shoe does not fit. It's too bad, I really had good hopes when I started at the company and those have been stomped and dug out of the cleats with a stick. Experienced SIRP and SRD, not looking forward to the next acronym for "get out."
Others have said this in the past. Your LL6 and LL5 make or break your Ford experience.
I worked hard, accomplished much, loved the job for twelve years. Then retirements and reorg
changed the LL6 thru LL4. Over night it became the job from hell. GSRs were serially targeted for bullying until they quit or early retired. The better the GSR the more severe the bullying. GSRs piled on to the bullying in an attempt to not be the next target.
Why did I stay for four years and endure the bullying? Because I thought another reorg would solve the problem. Leadership change every 2 or 3 years was common. The reorg never came. The LL6 blocked all my transfers. HR was useless. I moved on.
My spouse is still at Ford. Three years after I quit the LL5 retired, replaced with hand picked successor. The LL6 still in same position. I should of quit sooner. One never knows the future.
The biggest problem at Ford is that they do not address the problem leaders. They are more likely to be promoted than fired.
There is a big world of opportunities out there. If you are stuck in a bad spot at Ford, find another company where you will be appreciated and treated well.
All I will say is there is also a great life and opportunities outside of automotive like Ford and GM. I left this industry after many years to work for a software company. WFH, occassional travel, great company culture where you are treated nicely - no more culture of 2 tier system of lease cars and no cars. Not sure if this will be applicable for folks who are into everything automotive but worked for me. Sometimes, when you live in Motor City you think the automotive is the whole world but what you realize is there is big world out there where there are other things besides building cars and you might even enjoy them. At the end of the day nobody is forced to remain where they are at especially if you are very unhappy at what you do. I am not saying it is easy to quit but if you put your mind to it and take a different outlook, it can happen.
@pfi My story sounds like yours. I left Michigan in '98 after military service and getting my degree. Same story - no jobs locally. I promised to never come back but after 20 years moving state to state for new job after new job - companies love hitting the IT department for layoffs first - an ailing parent prompted me to return. I had planned on staying in Michigan and bought my first home. I joined Ford and after 2 years, SRDd. (I was the last one hired on my team so I figured that was the reason but who knows.) Once again, I had to relocate, now living in my 6th state since getting my degree in IT.
@fmk+14V2yNF5
I was born and raised here, have family here. To support my family I have lived out of state and for a short time overseas. I'm over 62 and know all the excuses. Just find another career that makes you happy and one that you can support your family! Good Luck!
@fmk+14V2yNF5 people can leave whenever they want to but it's SE Michigan and job availability which s—s. People have families, roots, etc. and it's hard to move on. All we have in terms of a mass employer is automotive. Go to another OEM, they s— just as bad if not worse. FCA is a joke. GM will go under again, give it time. You go work for Toyota, be prepared for your biggest achievement to be your body heat keeping the building warm (you just do what Japan tells you to do; it's a charity job). Same setup at Hyundai/Kia. You go to a supplier, it's cut throat. Most of the vendors i have dealt with are miserable, most tier 1s (except Bosch) are on the brink. Aside from that there is nothing else in this state. Without auto, we wouldn't be much different than West Virginia. So is there griping about Ford?Sure. But if you grew up here, you are stuck, and I think that's where the animosity comes from. Michigan does not offer enough mass employment choices when it comes to making a living wage, thus why attracting talent to this region is difficult. The weather is sh– too.
To continue my post from below (about being happy as GSR 8), I wanted to state my experience at Ford since most are bad on this site. I loved working at Ford for over 30 years. Sure, there were some stressfull times during launches/etc, but I'd say that I never had a bad LL6 or LL5. One bad chief, that is it.
I never complained about working there - and the years went by fast. My son had an internship there but ended up working elsewhere. I'd still like to see him work there (I left in Nov '18 on the PRP deal) - perhaps things have gotten much worse now....
Please someone explain to me. If you are that miserable on the job, consistently overpassed for promotions, disrespected by your People Leader at what ever level, distain for the executive level, why do you stick around? We have just went though 10 years of unprecedent economic growth. Lots of opportunity out there.I've been working at Ford off and on since 1991, total of 19yrs. Some good years, some not so good, but I always had the free will to leave. If I was as unhappy as some of the people who post on this blog I would have found a new job (career) long ago.
I'm sure there are better places to work than Ford. I would like to know what others think.
I'm ready for the negativity to begin! :)
You bet - make a 6 figure salary with a comfortable level of work. Best way to play the game is to remain a GSR 8 - decent money and a great worklife balance, as long as your ego is mature and you can handle the disrespect from LL6/LL5. Some folks need to fight for the prestigious management job.
LL6 and above end up in the work prison, leading to horrible homelife and ultimately divorce. They love to talk about their lease cars though!
This formula worked perfectly for my 30+ years at Ford - and I'm living in the same neighborhood with LL6/LL5!
Sure - if your one of the “chosen” ones and get opportunities for growth and advancement.
The rest of usput in the time and perform high, but never get anywhere because of office politics. Am I happy? Nope. Ford doesn’t provide growth unless you are a kiss - - -
The Ford Motor Co. seems to employ the meanest people possible. There is absolutely no room for nice guys. It should not be and does not have to be like that, but it seems to be the way the Ford Motor Co. wants to run their business. Totally unprofessional in every way. When to leave the environment, you are not the same person you were going in !
If you can’t tell the answer is “No,” you might be lacking in reading comprehension.
Why don’t you (the person who wrote the post) please just out source a firm to poll the company about their degree of happiness with their employer?
I've noticed these stupid one liner questions . Must be some doof HR. Go away.
Why do you want to know? Are you writing paper for your freshman sociology class?