I’ve been with the company for over 15 years. After a few years friends and family would ask me if I plan to retire with the company and I would ALWAYS say “my career is with Ford” and I would say it with such pride. But for the last few years I have felt like this is just a job, nothing to be excited over - or to brag about. I don’t know when exactly things changed, when it went from being a career choice to just a J-O-B, but change it did.
11 replies (most recent on top)
Boy I am going to age myself.. Ford 2000...Which took place in 1995.. We went from multiple products that people really wanted.. in fact at one time Explorer made more profits than F-Series with half the volume. Expedition launched (btw that vehicle was planned under those old white guys in truck who knew their customers) in 1998. So what have we built since then that customers really want? Bronco we will know that story 2-3 years down the road,, called staying power... I have worked in many areas where I could say I would go to war with that boss.. others,,, I am surprised some of those mangers did not get the c-ap beat out of them. And yes was offered good jobs over the years but was always talked out of it for the benefits,, Yes benefits the only reason I stayed. BTW I am a white female. I brought up those Old white guys because when we made a ton of cash everybody was happy! Hourly , salary, management..
Things started going downhill shortly after Alan Mulally retired in mid-2014. The organizational politics that were somewhat under control during Alan's tenure ramped back up under Mark Fields. The only thing that kept me from leaving for a less stressful work environment was the pension plan.
I tie it back to the company decision that supervisors and managers did not need to know anything about the areas they were supervising/management. At the same time executives salaries were over-inflated and they began to think of themselves as rock-stars, and felt that every supervisor/manager should aspire to be an executive.
This had the effect of bad->horrible decisions which impacted company profitability and also demoralized the workforce.
The day employers Stopped offering PENSIONS...
was the day they Stopped being CAREERS.
:]
It's a New Age, folks!
Always invest in YOURSELF
(Not your employer)
You are right about life's full of hard choices "old timer", but I'd prefer to vent my frustrations (what you call "whining") and not keep it bottled up. I have found that after a few years, things get worse in the workplace, specially in big companies. Let's say the idea of squeezing the maximum profit with no regards at the personal costs for the employees don't sit well with me.
So I chose the freedom and challenges of being a contractor, and I have worked over 25 years in 13 different companies and 3 countries. Always looking for the better place and benefits. However, I also realize that this life is not for everyone. As I grow older, it gets harder on me and my family. Still, life is full of hard choices, right? :D
Anyway, I gave up a long time ago to have a fulfilling career, at least on the fulfilling part. I like what I do, but not always I can do it, specially with all the c-ap that management keeps piling up: Agile methodology where is not needed, huddles, User Stories, endless meetings, not needed meetings, micromanagement, management ignoring my technical advices and overruling my technical decisions, you get it, right? Sadly, other companies have the same issues, albeit sometimes with different names.
There are days that are full of meetings and I find it hard to actually do an hour of honest work. But as long as I get paid for wasting my time, I take it. I learned long time ago not to fuzz about something I don't have control over. Just make a good lemonade :D get the best money you can so you can enjoy your time outside work, and work hard on your own company.
Thanks
The way these companies prioritize profits over their employees, it has become just a job everywhere. Companies have pretty much stopped caring for their employees - I speak from experience. When you know you can no longer have a career at any company anymore, when you've just become a number and when profits start tanking a target gets put on your back for termination, why give 100%.
That famous quote from Office Space:
Peter Gibbons: The thing is, Bob, it's not that I'm lazy, it's that I just don't care.
Bob Porter: Don't... don't care?
Peter Gibbons: It's a problem of motivation, all right? Now if I work my a– off and Initech ships a few extra units, I don't see another dime; so where's the motivation? And here's something else, Bob: I have eight different bosses right now.
Bob Slydell: I beg your pardon?
Peter Gibbons: Eight bosses.
Bob Slydell: Eight?
Peter Gibbons: Eight, Bob. So that means that when I make a mistake, I have eight different people coming by to tell me about it. That's my only real motivation is not to be hassled; that, and the fear of losing my job. But you know, Bob, that will only make someone work just hard enough not to get fired.
When it became more of a job over a career, I have been lucky enough to find other positions over the course of my engineering career. Sixteen of those years have been at Ford. If you don't like what you do, make a change. Stop whining! Please no comments about how difficut that can be. I'm 62 years old and can write a book about hard life choices.
The closer you get to being in the SRD crosshairs, the more it becomes a job.
Nook card? Wasn't that Barnes & Noble, not Ford?
Loyalty to a company is a thing of the past. Back then they used to offer pensions and good benefits, things have changed.
As long as I am content with my salary and job, I”ll stay “loyal”, the minute I find something better, I am out. As simple as that
I would say around the mid-2000s.
Things really went south around 2008, along with the economy. A slew of good managers were fired and replaced with worse ones. Then, the introduction of the NOOK made everyone's life miserable. Let's not forget all the threats management made if you didn't force customers to buy that ripoff member card and the famous hacked credit card! This is when we learned not to trust the district manager who told our store manager to let leads fight it out for positions. And believe it or not, this horrible, useless woman got a promotion as Regional Manager.
I pity everyone who is still there working for the worst managers ever.