Thread regarding Ford layoffs

I am @Yo8d4MV-5hfj

It was late; so i apologize for my tone.

Everything you said regarding th Mental Illness is 100; and ZERO-percent of what i said applies to that.

and i COMPLETELY reject the rhetoric of "MIND over BODY", "Healing through Positive-thinking", blah blah.

When you are NOT in control of your MIND... you are Not in control of ANYTHING.

Again, i apologize for my tone.

I guess i should have explicitly directed my post towards those who do NOT have added difficulties (Yes, persons like me).

For those of us who CAN... do Not lose sight of the bigger picture.

a Job is just a means to an End.... a Job is Not the END.

And Yes, we must show/have support/compassion for those of us who CAN'T.

Peace

Please remember, you have no idea what others are facing or dealing with in their lives. Please remember, not everyone can just move on and live with just a stupid job. Have compassion and empathy for your coworkers.

Stability is great, especially for people like me who battle depression every day. Crisis is not, no matter the catalyst. You don't think I have tried to forget about it? Realize that people have it way worse than me? That I should just count my blessings and shut up? Wow - how easy - to shut it off like a switch!

Sorry, it doesn't work that way. Trust me, I have belittled myself for thinking such nonsense, belittled myself for worrying about such piddly stuff, belittled myself for thinking such stupid thoughts. If you do not know what it is like to live in the darkness, the hell that I have to live in, then don't judge. You have NO idea what it is like to convince yourself everyday not to kill yourself. You truly have no idea. FYI - medication does not work in 33% of people living with this disease. Don't judge. Don't brush off someone who you think just can't seem to deal. There are lots of other illnesses that people deal with everyday, cancer, chronic illnesses, etc., etc. You wouldn't chastise them for struggling, would you? They have so much to deal with day to day, right? It is the same thing with your brain. Trust me, I have tried to shut it off, thought of something else, distracted my brain with ice cream. It is NOT that easy! If it was I would have done that already!

Have compassion and empathy for those that are struggling. Consider yourself blessed that you do not have to carry this load on your shoulders, day in and day out. You have no idea what it is like to live in their shoes. You have no idea what they are dealing with.

What helps me get through the day... is knowing that, one day...

everyone will ALL be DEAD.

Seriously.

the COSMOS have been around for millions of years.... and will continue AFTER im gone.

So who give a sh--e about some Dumb@ss job.

My time on this planet is FINITE; and i will NOT waste it fretting over pointless B.S.

So You think you have problems?

You are afraid of losing everything and being thrown out on the street?

Well, Look at the people of Venezuela.

Look at the people in Yemen. Afghanistan. iraq.

Look at the people living in failed nations in Africa.

I wouldn't trade my WORST day with one of Theirs, EVER.

in 2018, two people at my job Took their own lives.

Seriously.

One in the Spring; one in the Fall.

Really bad for morale (to say the least).

So, WHAT did i do???

i Quit; and took a 4+month 'staycation'.

A Job is just a Job.

A House is just a House.

Your Health, Family & Loved ones are what matter.

Do NOT lose sight of this

@Yo8d4MV-3ykj

That sounds exactly like working at my previous employer. Every year the CEO and management would make announcements that there would be upcoming reductions and layoffs - no timeline or headcount number were released. The management knew that the threat of looming layoffs allowed them to abuse and exploit their employees and extract additional unpaid overtime from their workforce. All the while, giving them a convenient excuse to purge any employee who spoke up or went to HR with any sort of complaints i.e. "We didn't fire you in retaliation because you filed an OSHA complaint about the obvious unsafe working conditions we have at our plant - you were merely part of our headcount reduction target"

@Yo8d4MV-3pfs describes my department to a T. A number of people have used all ten of their personal and sick days already. The odd thing is we continue to add staff, a new person started this week. And we are clearly over-staffed now.

I don't doubt for a minute that this isn't exactly what Hackett was planning and hoping for. I had the unfortunate luck of working at a supplier a few years ago that was bought out by another supplier. Almost immediately the new management scheduled meetings with the their employees and informed everyone that there would be layoffs and reductions in the near future. No date and timeline or reduction number of was given, just constant weekly emailed reminders that there would be reductions in the near future, and that there would be plenty of "opportunities" for the employees to prove their worth to the company so as to not become part of the reduction.

Those "opportunities" meant having their salaried work additional unpaid overtime and weekends, travel on their own dime, volunteer to take on more roles and responsiblities - without any additional pay. In addition all "problem" employees (those who were not a$$ kissers) were shown the door to be made as examples. This went on for a year, everyone look like they were living in a haze, nobody wanted to take the blame for any problems that went on. Fear propagated through the entire company. All the competent employees left, and the only people who stayed were those who were too incompetent to get hired elsewhere or the brown nosers who were promoted to management and continued to propagate the downward cycle. If you think things are bad under Hackett, wait until 10 years from now, you'll see the entire management structure filled by mini-Hacketts.

This is what it is like to work at Ford right now:

In my department people are starting to undermine each other. The fear is so overwhelming that everyone is scrambling for cover and safety like we are all on the Titanic. Managers are cc'ed on every email now, and everything is put in writing to cover a**ses. No one is willing to make a decision. People try to earn brownie points with management by throwing their coworkers under the bus. Management says nothing to us but slogans.

When asked if there is going to be a layoff, our LL4 and LL5 will look us right in the eye and say our department is not going to be affected and that we are growing. No one believes them.

Our department was always a bit rigid with roles and tasks. It was considered the right thing to do to have your set of tasks and stick to them. Occasionally we would help each other. We are over staffed with about double the people needed or more to do the work if we were all working at full capacity. We all know this on some level, so we look around and try to figure out who will be kept and who will not. This makes everyone really suspicious of any changes in tasks or duties.

Now, people are totally territorial. If a mistake is made and you are asked by management to help someone, the person you are supposed to help will eye you with suspicion and do anything in their power to not accept your help or have you get involved. Everyone is being shuffled around in our department which makes this suspicion unbearable. We were inefficient before, as described above. Now we are completely paralyzed. No work is getting done.

Our management are trying to get more direct reports under them. They seem to think this will help them survive.

People are getting sick from the stress and there is a lot of people taking personal days.

I just want this all to be over. Whether I get the axe or not, I will be better off knowing what my fate is.

I wish everyone nothing but warm regards and hopeful wishes that they land in a safe place.

This process has been very stressful to everyone. I feel very bad for people who can't leave Michigan if they lost their job because of their family and houses etc.

There is a high level of anxiety everywhere, if you support a family, this is 10X harder, you never know if you will go home to your wife and children and say i just lost my job and we living month to month (lets try to catch the unemployment benefits and start long hard process) . I feel bad for everyone equally agencies and employees .

The process is at best is torture at this point, we look at our coworkers and you can see stress in their eyes and everything they do, managers are scared of taking decisions because one wrong move might be why they are out. Moral is at its lowest all time (we have truths that we know that are meaningless, it says one thing and we doing something else).

It wouldn't be this bad if they figured things out first and told us, instead of dragging the process. They could have 100 scenario where this went better but it didn't.

If they came in Jan and told us these guys are going to be laid by june and those are not wouldn't been way better than us going to work every day and feel terrified of every email we get and if it will be the one, or every time we got called in new meetings if that meeting is to tell us to back our stuff.

Valid points. When the sleeper awakes to realize the larger picture, that we are only numbers and NOT valued to these corporations, we can start to steer our purchases elsewhere. As GM has learned, losing customers for life has alienated one customer at a time over a very long time. An advocate against your company, is much more damning than a handful of yes men.

Tell your stories and let the public find their truth.

I survived four 'reductions' at Ford. This is the fifth one and not sure if I will survive the cut this time.

This is the longest (time wise) and the worse due to that. People are suffering for months with the anxiety. You never know what is also going on in the person's background, family, mind and circumstances. I feel for this woman. I no longer feel valued in this company. I feel like just a number.

There are all these posters around the office about Ford "Truths" "Put people first". I CALL b---s---.

Everyone has difficulties with something or many things. It's how you are capable of responding to them that matters. Keep a level head, think logically, and walk the middle of the road path. Leaning too far any one way is unhealthy.

Ultimately the greatest danger to ones own self, typically resides within their own mind. What you believe, has the possibility to manifest the positive, and also the negative associated with it.

And just to be clear based on that last post, I'm not saying that someone is in immediate danger does not need immediate help. If you are that bad that you've had "a break from reality" or are about to harm yourself, yes that requires immediate attention. Obviously you need to have at least some stable basis before you can hope to begin to conquer your own mental illness.

@Yo8d4MV-pcg, you need to realize that I am not minimizing mental illness in the sense that it is not a serious issue that people deal with.

I am minimizing it in the sense that it is important to realize that the legitimacy and power you lend to your own mental illness COMES from the fact that you are unable to minimize it.

You have already stated that you can see that your own brain is lying to you constantly. You need to realize that it's possible, over time, to be able to set those kind of negative, unhelpful thoughts aside.

I'm sure you would come back at that and say "No, I can't, I have a mental illness, it's a chemical imbalance and I can't overcome this." And if that is what you believe is the case, then I agree, and you will not be able to overcome it.

But you need to realize that absolutely everyone, mental illness or not, has the ability to hone a skill that can allow them to set aside any sort of negative or unhelpful thoughts, instead of getting wrapped up in them and enveloped by them. It's not something that happens instantly, or even quickly, but it is possible, for absolutely everyone. If you want to pursue this, I'd recommend to find a good book on Buddhism to read.

Again like I said I doubt thks kind of advice is going to go over very well in a forum like this, so I'll shut up about it now. Whether or not you want to pursue this is totally up to you.

My spouse suffers from mental illness. It was terrifying when she had a break from reality and was involuntarily committed. Thankfully she was stabilized with medications. As others have mentioned please be kind. Stress is toxic and it can cause meds to become ineffective.

We have one coworker who attempted self harm this year. In 2008 one of our laid of coworkers committed s---c-de and left three young children behind.

Some people are wired to be more resilient, if you are one of them count your blessings.

At Yo8d4MV-imi: Yes, I have the same history; chronic illness, cancer, s---c-de, etc., etc. but to minimize mental illness with :it's not worth getting worked up over to the point you're losing sleep or getting carried out of the office into a psych ward" Mental illness is a disease, in many forms, and many levels. It is a chemical imbalance in the brain. It is a life long disease. I only ask that you have empathy for your fellow coworkers.

“Be kinder than necessary because everyone you meet is fighting some kind of battle” -J.M.Barry

GMer here who has a lot of sympathy for you guys having just gone through this (I did not end up getting cut). It's easy to say "it's just a job," but for those of us supporting families and putting kids through school, it's hard to stay serene when your salary can go away tomorrow. I suffered from terrible anxiety through our process and ended up seeing a therapist. It helped tremendously and I would highly recommend it to anyone here who is suffering through the same anxiety. My heart goes out to you guys and I hope you get some resolution soon.

@Yo8d4MV-avn, who says I have not had to endure depression or anxiety? But you know what else I have endured? Car accidents, family members with terminal cancer, multiple s---c-des and o---id overdoses of friends, armed robbery and assault.

Am I stressed about losing my job? Yes, I hate sitting around not knowing if I'll have a job in a couple months. But in the end, it's not worth getting worked up over to the point you're losing sleep or getting carried out of the office into a psych ward.

And yes your mental illness might be very real, but in the end, mental illness or not, you do still have the choice as to whether or not you're going to let that control your life. I'd invite you to read up on the concept and ideas behind Buddhism, but I'm guessing that suggestion isn't going to float to well in a forum like this, so do what you want.

At @Yo8d4MV, consider yourself blessed that you have never had to endure depression, anxiety, other forms of mental illness. Yes, it is a job, but when your brain is constantly lying to you about ANYTHING stuff happens. Please don't say other people have it worse. If you knew what went on in my head you would be scared for your life. Don't minimize the struggle of others. Mental Illness is real! We already had a s---c-de this year in our organization. We have had s---c-des in the previous three years.

I am sorry for what happened.

Always try to keep up EVERYDAY

From the day we are hired, always tell ourselves: I am just a number, and can can be let go as soon as tomorrow.

But, that's not the end: when one door is closed, another is opened :- )

I think some people really need to keep things in perspective to avoid serious psychological issues with all of this.

Yes this is your job and it's a big deal to lose it, especially if you have a family to support. But the reality is this... Nobody is dying of cancer here, nobody is getting into a car accident. There are so many worse things that could happen. If you lose sight of this, you're setting yourself up to be a psychological mess.

Layoffs are cruel and heartless, and hopefully someday working class people will be able to band together to topple the system that perpetuates this. But anyone with any amount of intelligence will eventually be able to bounce back from being laid off. It is not the end of the world or anyone's life.

Furthermore, people need to stop tying so much of their identity as a person up in their job. I don't care if you've been here 35 years. As much as you might form a bond with this place, in the end it's just business. And as heartless as it is, they might see fit to toss you out at any time. So it's very risky to get too invested with your heart and soul into this place. You really need to look elsewhere if you're trying to find meaning or happiness in life. This isn't it. This should be how you make money to fund the thing that actually makes life worthwhile.

I feel awful for the coworker and all of you that experienced this. The stress is just awful, rendered me almost useless over the weekend for about 3 days straight. The PTSD is a real thing with this-be kind to each other please.

Try some pot... it’s legal in mi right... it’s only a job take it easy... there are tons of jobs out there... there is always another nipple to s--- on...

My condolences to all who are suffering from the uncertainty of their job security. Mr Hacket, & Mr Ford, please be forthright with who, and when you will be cutting jobs and don’t draw this out any longer!

All the best to her, and to everyone leaving or still at Ford!

Shame that the company's actions have such grave consequences.

This is awful, just AWFUL! I am so sorry for your coworker and all of you in your department. All of this anxiety and stress is unnecessary.

Many co-workers have mentioned they have sought pr-scrip-ions from their doctors to help ease their anxiety. Others, whose organizations have completed the redesign, say they suffer from PTSD and are still anxious because they believe more cuts are in the future. How many of us have been waking up in the middle of the night, unable to sleep because we don’t know if we will have a job? This is an absolutely awful, stressful and unhealthy time at Ford.