Wow this has been stressful. Never in my wildest dreams did I think I would have to fret over layoffs as much as I have in the last 4 years. Wonder why GM is not going through this or Stellantis.
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Naw @ 1ldi. Ford Hubris alone got them where they are at.
Ford management self-sabotages the company, they are only interested in creating a career for themselves. Anyone who has spent anytime at Ford knows Ford is their own worst enemy.
Not sure none of you remember that GM and Chrysler took the Government bailout money in 2010 and Ford did not. Too proud. Also GM and Chryer BoTH declared bankruptcy and did something cr---y to the future pension plan.
All of the above allowed them to get ahead.
That comment about the deadwood is so true. Long time, good, experienced employees are given the golden send off to hire less experienced, less trained, because they can pay them a lot less.
@1mtm+1gz4G5t3 I remember reading your previous post as well. The largest retailer in the country is a piece of cr@p. A friend of mine got in there years ago, as manager of a support team. He told me it was so bad, that he was able to improve tremendously just by organizing things a little. He streamlined some processes, people under him were catching their breaths and feeling happier, when he was let go because he was making other managers look bad.
What you say about that retailer, is very similar to what I saw at IBM (The only company that I know with a quarterly budget for severance packages). IBM went through offshoring and outsourcing, reducing NA employees count and losing its competitiveness. Ford is following in those footsteps.
Good luck to all!
It'll never be over. It'll be over if you get that 'tap' or find another job before you get that 'tap.' I speak from experience. I worked for the largest retailer in country for 10 years. I can't recall if it was in my first year or second when there were some 'superficial' layoffs. Just a handful. The folks that were let go were the bottom of the barrel performers and those that Directors held grudges against - revenge layoffs. According to the lifers, these were the 1st layoffs in 20+ years. (I have posted my/this story here before.)
The next year there were some more. Nothing to impact teams' goals or overall head count.
The 3rd year is when all he-l broke loose and it continued until I left to go to Ford, ironically, where I was part of the 2019 SRD. A certain competitor - think river in South America - blew past us as if we were sitting still. That's when the layoffs ramped up. Sometimes it's was 100's and sometimes it was dozens. It started with those making too much due to tenure, low performers and the employees that had the audacity to actually use their health benefits. (The company was self-insured and was under water every year.) Because of the stress it caused, people would break down crying at their desks (or the bathrooms). Anti-depressant use skyrocketed. Employees became the walking dead - there was no joy in coming to work. It became 'just' a job.
The company would send out e-mails, initially during the day with no information in them other then to report to a certain room at a certain time - the kiss of death. We quickly learned that on Mondays that we could go through Outlook to major room bookings so that gave us a heads-up more were coming that week and the size of the layoffs. The company figured that out after about a year and locked that down. The e-mails were eventually be changed to be sent out Wed night/Thur morning so you were OOO if you got one. It was the 1st thing you saw in the morning. (Employees were initially seeing their e-mail during the day and then calling off delaying the inevitable.)
The layoff package was quite good initially , based on your pay band and YoS and then deteriorated into finally a simple 2 weeks of pay. When the layoffs did ramp up, you were given 30 days to find another role within the company. The catch? Hiring was halted and all existing roles were frozen. There were no jobs within the company adding insult to injury.
Imagine being stressed out all week about reading that e-mail on Thursday, not getting it and having survivors guilt on Friday, relaxing on Saturday realizing you still have a job and then that stress ramping up on Sunday wondering if that target is on your back.
After about 5 years of hardcore layoffs, those that survived started getting poor performance reviews despite having stellar ones over their career. This became the company's way to have you train your team on your job responsibilities before kicking you to the curb with nothing but your memories of why you were loyal to them for the majority of your career there. Outsourcing also became more prevalent. When they did that, quality went into the $h1tter.
Those that could retire did. I know of many older workers that had to cash out their 401k's just to survive because they could not find another job.
This is what I saw and experienced. This does not mean it is the same path Ford will take and current employees will experience.
Because GM cuts deadwood and keeps the best employees
While Ford keeps and promotes deadwood and cuts their best employees, then hires more deadwood.
Reductions are coming to Sales and Marketing as well
Easy. Neither GM or Stellantis are burdened by having a Ford family member with their hands on the wheel.