Thread regarding Ford layoffs

I doubt anyone who actually does work expects to retire from Ford.
There is scant confidence in the leadership. They spend their time patting themselves on the back and sweeping problems under the rug. I have lost count of the times teammates were yelled at for pointing out problems along with possible solutions. Managers have literally said they did not want to hear about any problems.

As the late great Colin Powell said:
“Leadership is solving problems. The day soldiers stop bringing you their problems is the day you have stopped leading them. They have either lost confidence that you can help or concluded you do not care. Either case is a failure of leadership.”

Early in my career, I believed I'd retire on my timing / terms. However, after experiencing SRD - I look back over my career and realize since the mid-1990's many have left the company, but weren't given retirement parties. In fact, I attended departing gatherings for them instead. Plus, those "events" were carefully announced as: "....so-and-so has elected to retire..." . I always thought it was a strange way to announce the event, but then in May 2019 the big boss used the very same verbiage to announce the separations! He announced numerous employees in our dept had "...elected to retire..." But the truth was -- we were SRD'd, none of us "elected" to leave. I finally realized, employees haven't had a "choice" to retire for years. So my suggestion is as you near the age of 55 and close in on your employment milestone, be ready to accept that the decision for your "retirement date" will be made for you and announced as if "you elected" to do so. Yes, that alleged bullseye on your back - is very real.

Only those people with their heads in the sand and their tails in the air being pumped with F sunshine believe they will retire from F.

I am continually amazed when people ignore the signs. There are 5 people our LL5 told LL6s to encourage to retire. For two years they have been treated badly, had their responsibilities removed and were ostracized all in the attempt to get them to voluntarily retire. Yet they did not take the VSSP and still believe they will retire from F in 5-7 years with a nice pension.
The days of the F employee deciding when they will retire is long gone for salaried workers. It is heartbreaking to watch.

No kidding about shipping all the white collar jobs to India. In the last few months it's jumped out at me that in my area is at least 2/3's over in India, and over here there are an awful lot of FCG's compared to highly experienced heads.

The Ford of the 60's was the last real innovate FORD company until the 80's and 90's. These are the employee's that sucked the company dry and will continue to suck it dry with pensions. Engineers with HUGE ego's, lazy, over paid and still wondering how the foreign companies came in and ran the table.

Expect to retire at FORD.......... nope!!!

Salaried retirements will be from India. Ford is moving salaried positions overseas. Be prepared!

Ford is definitely changed over the last 30 years
1990-2000 - Inventive, Hopeful, Family, Opportunities
2000-2010 - Decline, Fiefdoms, New Leadership, Enthusiasm
2010-2020 - Growth, Stumbles, Trophy Promotions, Inclusion, Nuance Infestation
2020 ... - Snake Oil, Leadership by Powerpoint, Phoning it in. God help you all

I do but it will be much earlier than originally planned as it is no longer the same company that I started with. Can't wait to leave!

I can honestly say this is not the same Ford I hired into so many years ago. I worked for both Good and real bad people. I guess that is common when you work for a large corporation for a long period of time. I retired last year. Took the lump sum and found another job part time out of automotive. Ford tried to recruit my daughter but my wife and myself advised against it.
Today a person fresh out of college is expected to jump at least 5x for their career. Lets face it when I hired in the benefits were the big factor. If you worked hard there was the believe you may get a bump or promotion. All I can say if you have about 18-24 months to go to hit 55 or 30 years.. you will barley make the finish line. For those in activities outside PE or ME don't fool yourself and think just because you are a TA or what ever. They will tap you on the shoulder too. You can see the jobs leaving NA going to India or Mexico. Ask yourself why? If there is so much HC then why are they staffing these new offices in both Mexico and India? Do I believe anything that Jim or Bill say? NO. That trust is gone. They talk leadership but fail to lead. Instead mislead the troops. And for you Union folks just read todays articles about Ford building these new plants in the South. Plus they may not be unionized I bet that makes you feel good right now. With the ICE engines maybe 10 years at most. those plants will close and then what? a study showed a 30-40% reduction in HC do to the EVs. So If I were just starting out at Ford. Five years top leave.

I think a better question could be".....does anyone believe they will be able to work as long as they'd like to at Ford". For many, the ways things are going, it seems like more and more and more than answer will be anywhere from "no" to "doubtful".

I never wanted to work until I was 65 like my father, not at an office job, per say. Always have had the dream of retiring for the office life, then working some other job or profession part time, maybe even in a hobby. Wanted to get at least 25 to 27 years in (I started at Ford in my 30's, had another career before joining in late 1990's) to get a decent pension, for one reason my other pension from my first career went into fed Pension Guarantee Program when that company declared bankruptcy - so that one is worth half of what it is supposed to be. Even better if I could get a 30 year pension out of Ford.

However, with seven years to go to reach 30 and with the rapid changes in the auto industry to BEV, this means the shedding of people will increase over the next 2 to 5 years, I am not hopeful at all. So I am planning on needing to find something else to do for the next 5 years so my wife and I don't have to worry so much about funds after we retire. Not even thinking I'll make it to 25 years, to be honest. Do know one thing...will be taking my pension in cash, not going to be caught short again.

I love my job at Ford. I have no intentions of going anywhere else. It’s truly been the best job and career choice for me.

The OP sounds like they have a good future as a comedian after Ford eventually walks them out the front door. Keep working on your material!

Or is everybody working on finding something else?