A Ford employee works on the final assembly line for the Ford F-150 pickup in this file photo.Larry W. Smith When big companies use terms like “redesign” and “restructure,” you know the axe is going to fly. As part of its ongoing restructuring meant to cut costs and reduce bureaucracy, Ford has announced it will continue lopping off salaries through buyouts and job cuts, starting with 800 jobs by the end of June, and ramping up to 7,000 total by September. Most of the positions will be cut from overseas locations, with 2,300 jobs being lost in Canada and the U.S. According to the CBC, of those 2,300 from the U.S. and Canada, 1,500 cuts have already been made, with an estimated 500 more happening this week, followed by an additional 300 by August. In a letter to Ford employees, CEO Jim Hackett laid out the plan to lay off around 10 per cent of the company’s management workforce worldwide. Unlike the media coverage of the news which brings the job losses to the forefront, Ford’s internal email communication – published by CNBC in full here – is titled “Smart Redesign Update,” and doesn’t mention salary cuts until two-thirds of the way through the document. Sometimes it’s better to ease the people into the bad news. Ford is a family company and saying goodbye to colleagues is difficult and emotional, Hackett wrote in the email. We have moved away from past practices in some regions where team members who were separated had to leave immediately with their belongings, instead giving people the choice to stay for a few days to wrap up and say goodbye. He went on to encourage employees to “take a moment to thank them personally for their service and commitment to Ford.”
Origin: Ford will axe 7,000 workers by September in cost-saving efforts