The company started going downhill when it decided to put profits over people. It wasn't always like that, just ask anybody who's been here for a few decades. We used to have job security and we used to know that hard work would forward our career. Now, anybody who earns more than they deem appropriate is cut without a second thought. No wonder young people are leaving in droves. If I wasn't so close to retirement, I'd leave as well.
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In my time at Ford I have seen nothing but a steady decline. In the late 80's early 90s Ford reached its peak. The Truck products were out of this world and passenger car had the Taurus and the crown vic. But then can the t-bird and Ford 2000,, the scale started to turn. I read a previous post about Ford 2000. Tremendous drain of talent and know how. Since then it has been downhill. Ford is a one trick pony called F-Series. Allan came in and for a brief period things were looking up. Then he retired and we went right back to bad habits and instead of product focus we have things like TVM.
What Allan did anyone outside South East Michigan knew was a problem. We pay all these executives large amounts of money an not one of them did a thing to change things despite what they say. If they were so smart then why was Allan hired in the first place or the clown Hackett? It was because of poor senior management. We have nothing but bobbleheads and Yes men. For 40 years people tried to tell them how Toyota was able to make money on cars and a solid product development process and instead we have TVM, Boston Consultants, Conway. Where the he-l is the leadership in this company? I feel truly sorry for the rank and file who are good or solid workers, they will pay a price for the Lack of Vision or Leadership. If you went to War would you follow any of them? Most likely you turn the other way. My daughter will graduate with honors in EE. I told her to leave the state. Yes it would be nice to have them around but for her future it will not be in SE Michigan.
After hiring into Ford ELD, managers told me that our costs (salaries, "profits" and expenses) were paid for by Ford Motor Company using "wooden nickels". The managers were also very proud of how "profitable" ELD was.
I saw that wasn't going to last.
Profits over people has been the motto of every company for (at least) the past decade. Companies don't seem to have 3, 5 and 10 year plans anymore. All they care about is the stock price for the next quarter, and layoffs are one of the quickest ways to improve the stock price. Unfortunately this only works in the short term.
Ask yourself (or google it) and see what all these companies did with their recent tax breaks? They certainly didn't invest in their workforce. They mostly did stock buybacks to improve their company standing on Wall St. and rewarded those at the top that are destroying these companies.
Get out of auto. I was told this by a retiring director who played the system and became an LL4 shortly before retiring in 2004. I didn't listen but should have.
Good pensions are rare but they do exist. Jobs in the federal government have great pensions. Engineering positions exist in reviewing contracts with defense contractors along with other areas.
To the OP and @but+1bXcDZt5: Here is a post from a couple of weeks ago. The author was writing about Ford employees just like the two of you (you represent the phrase Rules (or Hardship in this case) for thee but not for me!)
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Ford has been forcing suppliers to take work to Mexico and China for the past 2-3 decades. Tens of thousands of people (if not hundreds of thousands of people) all lost their jobs because Ford wanting lower cost parts. Never heard you or other Ford workers say one word about these people losing their jobs (not counting the UAW). As long as you got a good paycheck and bonus, you were happy. Heck, Ford did even worse to its own employees back in 2000 when they spun off Visteon. Ford gave them an immediate 5% cost reduction in all part pricing to in Fords own words "Make them more competitive". It wasn't like the Ford masters didn't already know Visteon was a bankrupt entity right from the start. As soon as Visteon was spun off, all pensions were frozen for all employees, retiree health care was eliminated, and many, many jobs went to Mexico and China. They had headcount reductions each and every year for the first 8 years - the first year being a 15-20% reduction. I remember many of our Ford colleagues commenting that they didn't care because the bonus would be larger for us after the spin-off due to having less Ford employees and a similar profit margin each year.
What goes around, comes around, I guess. It is a pretty simplistic saying, but there is a lot of truth to it. You only care now because it is you possibly being affected now!!!! You should have thought about this the past 20+ years while they were forcing suppliers to cut. There is very little left to cut at the suppliers. Eventually Ford would turn on their own (again).
Anyway, I have no personal beef with you. I actually wish you good luck and that you won't be affected by any personnel reductions. I don't wish harm to any of our Ford colleagues. I just wish my colleagues at Ford would have cared about what the company was doing to other people the past several decades. But with few exceptions, I only have witnessed typical Ford culture of arrogance and selfishness - something I have despised for the past 25+ years working in PD. The bad culture was never just the pathetic Ford management - it has been and will be after any cuts - all of us (with very few exceptions). Anyone who isn't cut won't care (or won't care for long) about the ones who are cut. That is the historic pattern. And I was always told by our Ford colleagues that this was just business. Well, now everyone has to look in the mirror and tell themselves that this is just business (Much harder to be honest with yourself though)
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- s. - good luck finding a pension at other companies even with an engineering degree. They don't exist! Ford should have froze the pensions for all employees in 2004, not just eliminate them for new employees. This is exactly what GM did with their pension program a few years earlier. All Ford did was create a "Class" system with their own employees when they let older employees keep their pension. I'm sure their is no animosity with new employees watching the older employees do the same job for less!
Sad really sad.
Well said chasing short term profits and the executive bonus culture has been the demise of Ford.
The scene that continues to play out is
- slick talking huckster (LL*) convinces higher ups to spend tons on a half baked idea
- the huckster rises quickly building a massive staff
- the half baked idea fails typically within a 2-5 year time span
- the huckster “retires” with his golden parachute
- tons of money and time spent unwinding the massive staff and the harm done by the half baked idea
Decades ago leadership would vet the hucksters ideas with senior technical staff, and only proceed if the idea was sound. Now the first step for the hucksters is to ensure there is no senior technical staff to challenge their half baked ideas. The lunatics are in charge of the asylum.
Couple things to mention. 1. OT pay replaced with comp time that you cannot take, how many hand raisers or how much effort are you going to get out of someone? I remember when Barb "DPS6 pusher" Samardzich trickled down the grape vine "why pay them OT?" Which brings me to my next point 2. Jan 01, 2004 was the elimination of the GRP pension fund for all new hires. Barb knew in 2008 she had a captive audience with that pension, so therefore no paid OT. As time goes on and there are less employed people with pensions, the company is going to be completely unstable. Already bearing witness to it. When people get fed up with the bu-----t "the sky is the limit" at Ford, they go chase the money else where. The company was what it was in the 90s because you had people locked in for at least 30 years of their life which eliminated high turn over and promoted consistency. Sure some of them were POSs, but there were lots of good ones that remained in the hard times and when the company bounced back they were there to drive the train. Now the company nose dives, why stay when there are so many other career prospects most especially in engineering? And make no mistake, Ford is no longer the employer of choice.
On point! I say the same thing, wondering if I'll even make it to retirement. I'm close as well but fear I'm on their list of horribles. Why would they pay us a fully matured pension when they could pay us a severance at 5 cents on the dollar?