Thread regarding Ford layoffs

What I noticed over the years is that there are certain positions at Ford that are targeted for “diversity” candidates. The candidates that fill the roles are not the cream of the crop.

For example the women slotted for the diversity positions are the “cheer leader type” - bouncy smiling flirty women with minimal skills and abilities. The truly competent women are not allowed to advance. You can replace the word woman in the preceding sentences with other minority classifications and have the same truth.

The whole reason for this is so the White males who are currently in charge can remain in charge, by giving the illusion of diversity and making it known in the right circles that the individuals filling the diversity positions are not up to snuff.

For the record I am a retired LL5 white male. I saw things from the inside. I was disgusted by behaviors I observed. Inequity in pay and opportunities was standard for all the decades I was at Ford. I advised my daughters to steer clear of working at Ford.
And yes, now the older white males are being discriminated against in order to reduce payroll costs. It was a good ride, but now their leadership team has turned on them and they are disposable also.

Diversity candidate like the "inclusive" LL6 female who works in HR with no direct reports ,and has been moved around to numerous groups in HR/PD that doesn't ever work and just goes for bike rides for several hours a day numerous times a week? You mean like that kind of diversity candidate?

If what everyone here said is true, you'd think Ford would be full of diversity candidates in the management ranks, but the numbers don't seem to support that. Sure, there are some people that were likely fast-tracked due to being a minority, but white males still dominate management.

I can also say that in my engineering department, the promotions have always gone to the most qualified candidates. Our next up meetings are fair and without politics for the 10 years I have been there. Maybe other departments are driven more on the politics.

@jsaz and @9ath can confirm and am living proof. If you have an idea, thought, or say something that challenges the group think way, you are outted. All it takes is one dissenting opinion and you can kiss any chance of promotion goodbye. So for the young people that are considering a career at Ford, if you are happy to just agree to everything thrown your way (regardless of sound logic and data), you will excel greatly. For those that want to do the right thing and will use logic, science, engineering, math to get there and you aspire to be in leadership, you will be very disappointed. There are better companies out there that will offer more opportunity for you.

Many things said so far are true. One tidbit that hasn't been mentioned yet is how frequently grudges were brought into that meeting. During the discussion, the committee always asked (for each Next Up Candidate): "did anyone have any issues with the candidate." Diversity was never brought up, but old grudges always were. So no matter how good a candidate was, if just one PDC Counsel member had an issue with that candidate, the result was removal from our Next Up binders.

@9ccc having sat thru years of PDC committee meetings I can tell you that you have a very distorted view of reality.
In for example the PDC committee of LL6s judging GSRs, the LL5s will have advised the LL6 who should be getting the high marks. All of this goes on behind closed doors so that there is no record of the conversations. In addition there is horse trading going on between LL6 where they agree to vote for each other’s candidates. The net being that the political a$$holes have votes locked up before the committee meeting. The presentations of merit are all just a sham.
I have seen outstanding high contributing GSRs passed over again and again so that LLx can advance their own career by currying favor with other LLx.

There have been GSRs who find out who is on PDC committee and bring them all gifts in the weeks before committee meetings. There have been GSR who name drop and s— up to committee members.
I am guessing that is what you mean by playing ball, being willing to be an a$$hole and do the other $$holes bidding. It is funny how people justify their behaviors.

@9cc you are so far off the mark it is hilarious. You must either be from HR or you were one of the a$$holes that gamed the system. I have seen many instances that dispute the BS you are peddling.

All of you sound like angry while males blaming that were not promoted because non-white candidates. To be a FCG is the 1st criteria to be in the next up list. 2nd is to have a well connected mentor willing to push for your candidacy. 3rd the manager who has an opening must like the candidate. If the FCG has not shine with relevant projects in the first 5 years, gender or color of the skin means nothing to be in the next up list. in my 25 years ay Ford, the FCG's promoted were excellent engineers. There is no affirmative action rule in place to be promoted at Ford, if the FCG can not play ball he/she won't have a chance to be in the next up list. Honestly, all of the comments about diversity or promotion miss the mark that PDC committees do not choose incompetent FCG's for promotion, they may be place on a position that they become incompetent but for sure all of those who are in the next up list are top notch young engineers.

Diversity of thought, very low diversity at Ford.
Superficial diversity (skin and hair color), high diversity of newer hires.

Diversity in behaviors in management, very low diversity at Ford.

Ford is a culture where askholes are promoted. These being the people whose colleagues do not trust them (two faced employees, back standers, credit stealers, schmoozers, etc). These bozos then favor hiring more askholes.
This has led to culture where no one trusts anyone else. Which leads to time consuming CYA activities and the inability to retain the high performing employees that everyone trusts - these gems do not want to deal with the askholes.

The population of bozos and askholes has dramatically increased starting in the mid 1990s.
The solution is obvious fire all the askholes.

@2fbv,

Exactly. We'll have the last laugh, when those liberal self righteous types start whining about the re-distributive taxes they will get hit with.. at least I will be. I'm white male and over 55.. my career is over.

It's a huge advantage to be a brown person at Ford. They will bend over backwards to give you a leg up. Great efforts are made to promote non-whites. There are metrics. Ford is trying to spend more on non-white suppliers. You get bonus points if you're a black-owned supplier. Diversity and inclusion is the mantra. If you even begin to question the value of Ford's particular brand of diversity and inclusion then you will be swarmed and dog-piled and people will report you to upper management and demand that you be fired.

It started long before 2000 and has only gotten worse.

@1jfo,

uhmm.. ALL, ALL yes ALL, employees feel like they are treated like "low class citizens" at some point. The company is paying for work to be done... they (all companies) are not always "nice".

If you go to the corporate home page, the very 1st thing you see is diversity and ahem "inclusion". What you don't see is much about our products and services. Amazing. I know we have brand sites for that stuff but seriously, if social justice is the most important thing we do, Ford is toast.

Are you a Ford employee?
Open your eyes. Be observant.
Talk to other minorities.
Ask them if they are treated equally or like low class citizen.

I know for a fact that certain groups are excluded from promotions even though they deserve it. I heard it first hand in meetings and these conversations always included vague get out of jail free cards like "We cant exclude anybody but I want to make sure that the successful candidate is XYZ".

Absolutely infuriating.

How common ? you must be joking. That's the norm at Ford. For any promotion as long as I can remember it's the diversity candidate that matters.

it was pretty common when they laid me off because I was an old white man

If you are a "diversity candidate" you have every advantage. It is very common at Ford.

common

Diversity hiring is a huge part of all major corps but a lot of people will tell you that the best person for the job gets the job (bs imo)