It might be a year or three before it becomes clear, but RTO will cost the company its best employees who will have no problems (and some already did) finding new jobs that do not require them to go to the office for no good reason. They might want to force attrition with RTO but they don't seem to realize that those with options will leave and those without options (for a reason) will stay.
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@4okv+1kaNRhaD I disagree. The best employees are the ones always well received by all the companies, so they are the easiest to lose. RTO will push these employees to look for another job even more. It will be Ford's loss. The worst employees, the ones that cannot find another job like the one at Ford, those will stay with the company, no matter the obstacles, like RTO, imposed by the management.
I agree that no one is irreplaceable, but is all about numbers. One employee leaving can be quickly replaced. One thousand employees at the same time not so much. Ten thousand employees means bankruptcy for the company.
It is also true that many employees tend to hold information, just trying to prolong their stay in this company. It is an expected reaction to the cruel toying of our jobs by the management. Get angry if you want. I am so exhausted already that I don't care anymore.
RTO will not cost valuable employees... If people refuse to come back making over $100k, f' them, replace them with south of the border employees who actually want to work and will cost the company less. People think they're irreplaceable, but in reality they'll be forgotten in a blink of an eye and someone will replace them or absorb their responsibilities. I hope RTO thins the herd, I really do. Bunch of older Boomers who think they're entitled to something, a bunch of Gen X'ers who for whatever reason believe they're irreplaceable as well. Oh and don't forget they both love to sh*t on Millennials for everything and say they're "d-mb kids" and "know it all's"... They'll blame the younger ones and upper management for the issues the company has, but never once themselves. The upper management is "irresponsible" and "has no idea how anything works"... The younger crowd is "irresponsible, know it all's, that have no clue how anything around here actually works.." . Okay geniuses, then tell us, how does it work? Oh wait, you've fallen right into the same mindset and mentality that you claim you despise and act just like the UAW. A bunch of relics, who hold onto power with threats and withholding information to make yourselves seem more valuable. I despise this company.
@1qlb+1kaNRhaD I agree, but still is going to cost the company more than what Bill Ford bargained for. FMC, penny wise, but pound foolish, just like Sears. And like Kmart, they don't know who their customers/market are/is. Soon we'll be joining those failed American businesses.
Ford is banking on RTO causing people to leave! The more that leave due to RTO the less they have to lay off with severance. It's all about avoiding severance now!
I feel we're underestimating how many remote positions there are in the market. Multiple articles are saying there are 2 to 1 open positions vs applicants for on site work and 1 to 2 open positions vs applicants for remote. The best talent will leave, true, but Ford is too cheap to pay them anyways. I don't mind either way personally, though 3.5 days per week is a bit overkill. 2-3 days per week makes more sense to have 2 days of heads down time not spent being bothered by middle managers that want to look busy until they get fired for creating unnecessary bureaucracy.
If you hate RTO make sure you report unnecessary bureaucracy related to RTO that slows your work down
It doesn't matter if they lose their best employees. Making an electric skateboard doesn't take much talent - especially when the technology isn't anything new. There are plenty of people in Mexico, India, and China available to do the work.
Some that wish for RTO miss the good ol' days of sordid daily s-x affairs with co-workers often used to get quick promotions. ;)
If we decline to RTO what legal advantage do we hold as employees? I’m sure some ppl will see it as an opportunity to possibly get a package?
Also, during the THs Farley has hinted at more reduction in headcount. They may use this RTO as a means to go about it.
@ufd+1kaNRhaD, butthurt is no way to go through life. Son.
Get back to the office and fix the quality issue or it won't matter in the future. Productivity is falling per CNBC. You are all going back... Drink some eggnog and get out of your pajamas and get the heck back in the office in January!
@kjq+1kaNRhaD - that was a pretty snarky comment. It’s easy to hide behind a screen and be nasty. That was so helpful to a fellow co-worker and human being. Apparently you failed to receive any social skills lessons.
I haven’t heard it was MANDATORY. I’ve heard rumblings. I do not think we have space to make it MANDATORY at this time.
But you have been oh so helpful. Jacka$$
To the last commenter, you are missing the language in all of the recent townhalls. Mach-E were subtly told that 3.5 days in office per week is in their future. Other areas have had an emphasis on Evolution of Work, and in office "collaboration" was highlighted.
The writing is on the wall. With GM and Tesla mandating in office for 2023, and Ford being fast followers of those two. RTO is coming, the writing is on the wall. If you are "missing it" it is because you refuse to face reality and have stuck your head in the sand.
I’m wondering what I’m missing here. I have not heard of a return to work mandate. Perhaps this is only in certain organizations.
Reluctance to RTO is not about COVID, it is about people having flexibility and work life balance. In the year 2022, most [people can do their jobs quite well remotely, being in an office is not needed.
Funny, but there are still companies that are hiring only remote and never plan to RTO - still, because of either their business model or they have realized it saves them money and time. I know, I have two job offers - one from the largest healthcare provider in North America that IT group is 100% remote, and the other is a 100% online bank/finance company, that surprise, surprise, has a 100% remote work force.
Yes, I know Ford is different - after all, I used to work there before they shitcanned me - in that some people at Ford will always have to be in a building, but I would challenge the Ford leadership to actually think about what this means and how it could be done. For instance, for those engineers that always have to be onsite, maybe give them more PTO than others that don't have to be and can work 100% remote. There are ways to do this and still meet company needs. The issue is that when you only use a hammer, as they say, every problem becomes a nail. By not offer 100% remote options, Ford is losing out on an entire subset of people that could be very valuable to the company.
RTO is inevitable. Anyone who thought it wasn't was crazy.
Ford will never truly embrace remote work, and in fact, everyone that was hired during the pandemic were told that at some point they might be required to be located in SE Michigan.
This was brilliant. Because now they have it on record that it would be a future requirement. You refuse to move? Axed. Then they only have to worry about the SE Michigan people for severance layoffs (not moving to SE Michigan would be for cause firing). Keep on dwindling that number down, ramping up in Mexico, Brazil, and India. Boil that frog slowly................
If you resist RTO you will be on the chopping block. The Mexican, Brazilian, and Indian workers in their respective countries are more than willing to come into the office to do YOUR job.
RTO will likely end up like the vaccine mandate. They'll try to enforce it for a while and when it fails, they'll change the policy.