https://www.freep.com/story/money/cars/general-motors/2023/12/05/gm-return-to-office-salaried-workers-barra/71813389007/
Ford will follow suit. Guaranteed.
32 replies (most recent on top)
@2ulh the non-airbrushed photos of JF show he has aged considerably as well. All the weight he has packed on fills out his face so he doesn’t look gaunt.
High stress jobs aren’t good for long term health
Fatley already looked 15 years older than he is. So less room for aging....
Wow...Barra don't look too good in that picture in the story. Shes not aged too well. How come Farley hasn't had his ceo role age him much? He must be doing something right?
@2lwn+1pVmQwnA. Yes, and why is that happening? Sometimes office politics are beneficial to keep leaders in check. We have an out of touch workforce trying to follow a poor leader who has been given transformational guru status for some unknown reason.
Yes, Ford and many companies were perfectly happy to eliminate desks and expensive US based workers. The question is what value do you provide? If you are a US based worker and the company wants you back in the office, perhaps you should appreciate that the company sees value in maintaining a local workforce. If that value is because of commercial real estate interests, pressure/tax incentives from government, or a notion that people developing vehicles should have hands on experience with those vehicles, it doesn't really matter. These issues are all real and worth a lot of money. Do you think the Ford transformation (and industry transformation) is driven by markets? No, it is driven by government policy. Do you IT workers who are so resistant to RTO have any idea who you work for? Perhaps you should reconsider working for an auto manufacturer, and find an IT services company that pays big bucks for fully remote work and isn't moving to LCC.
@1tky+1pVmQwnA The problems with Product Development start at the top. GPDS has been ignored by every new program and it has resulted in mass chaos. We're doing things the "Tesla" way which means never hitting a deadline.
In reply to the (Do you not see the irony in your post?) Where is it written in my job description that I should pick up your slack while you're sitting at home? How would you know what was going on when you weren't there? Real engineers work on site...
Remember that Ford was perfectly happy with eliminating assigned desks and office space for information workers (people that sat in their cubicles all day attending WebEx meetings, designed stuff or processed information) prior to 2020. Many companies were.
Inflation has eaten into the buying power of most Americans’ paychecks over the past 3 years. Many have been able to offset that loss by NOT commuting needlessly to sit in a cubicle all day. If this RTO management fad gains traction, it will be a huge hit for the economy. Why? Because people will be expending resources on things that don’t have to be done.
I agree. It’s just that my thumbs got tired of typing to list those too.
Looking at the business news this evening on Zerohedge, I see that the commercial real estate investors are getting desperate. “
I’ve heard stories that big companies with multiple locations in a city are even requiring their information workers to PHYSICALLY go to meetings in other buildings now instead of just calling in like they used to for years and years.
There’s big money behind the RTO movement.
Quality and stock price were stellar prior to 2020, right?
How's it working for the blue oval working from home? Quality, recalls, sales, stock price all going in the wrong direction. What a brilliant idea! Keep baking those holiday cookies and hang the holly and outdoor lights while pretending to work. What a bunch of lazy elf's!
1ryu+1pVmQwnA
Landlords and the like aren't there only ones. Local leaders, mayors and council members are also pushing companies to return to the office. The taxi revenue everyone is missing out on are panicking state and local governments. This is more political than anyone knows.
I've heard rumors of Dearborn leaders imploring Jim and Bill to RTO the entire company.
@1byu - people going into the office won’t make a darn bit of difference when they shift work to LCCs. If that is part of the plan, then that is what they will do. Ford is in the commercial real estate business. They also get tax incentives and are getting tapped to get people onsite by the gov. Yes, Ford is also a mobility company. I’m sure there are other financial incentives to get people to come into the office.
Let’s not pretend that it’s because people are more productive sitting in the office.
@1ryu+1pVmQwnA. "What all information workers must do is tell their management, “you want me in the office, then fine, that’s where my work stays at 5 o’clock when I leave for the day.”" Good luck with that. Did that work prior to 2020? Since location isn't important, the people that are hired to replace you in LCC will be happy to work late. And can you think of anyone besides commercial real estate brokers that want people commuting - perhaps a company that makes mobility products?
The problem with Ford is they pushed too much for business degrees and not real engineering people. What you have now are a bunch of WFH pa----s led by Billie and Farley. It's over. I took the 6 months and lump sum and got the he-l out...
Do you not see the irony in your post? If technicians don’t want to do place dependent work, get a new job. I hate this cr--s in a bucket mentality.
@1dui+1pVmQwnA
Ford employees only want to commute if there are frequent flier miles involved, as in CM “commuting” this week to pay for their next family vacation.
As I have stated before, stop "whining from home". Many salaried technicians in engine testing were required to return to work when production restarted. Engineers sent lineup from home without ever seeing hearing or touching the actual product. Technicians had to pick up their slack, while putting their jobs on the line everyday if they didn't wear their masks correctly. If you don't like the job you hired into quit...
Chance to interact with other d heads.
Oh please, you anti wfh people are grasping for anything. People who do side hustles on company time will not change their wheelings and dealings one single bit if we go back to office full time. They will just sign out company m plate vehicles all day and do their hustle still on company time but with free company car, vehicle, insurance, and gas.
A slacker in my dept been doing this for years. Years!! And management and HR do nothing.
This isn’t new news. They told workers to come to the office beginning Jan 2023 What this illustrates is that people didn’t go back to the office.
GM unveils January 2023 return to office plan
Car giant, General Motors, has announced that it wants salaried workers on hybrid work schedules to return to the office from 30 January 2023. It says it expects staff to spend a minimum of three days per week in regular office environments.
I was doing well working from home since 2020. I will need to manage my side jobs during other time.
I’m in engineering and my department was given to the same mandate a couple months ago. I have mandatory, in office work Tue/Wed/Thu. I haven’t seen any added collaboration or productivity and it’s caused a ton of unnecessary conflict and stress.
For those pointing to the terrible program health right now, look no further than how Doug Field and co have completely ignored our product development processes and GPDS. Our programs were doing just fine during WFH until Field came into the picture.
It's no wonder Ford products are so out of touch and rated so poorly. Do the engineers even have driver's licenses? A developer and manufacturer of mobility products whose employees are sitting in their basement office is the equivalent of an Apple employee using a landline.
This is gonna go over like a lead balloon and i'm gonna help make that happen.
Engineers and other information workers have been successfully working remotely since the dawn of the internet age. If Ford is having trouble with people working remotely it’s because management is incompetent.
This push to get people commuting again is driven by commercial real estate landlords, investors and their bankers. Driving back and forth to work just to sit in a cubicle and attend WebEx meetings all day is NOT helping the environment and increases carbon emissions. Needlessly.
For workers, it’s a big cost hit in both transportation expenses and time.
What all information workers must do is tell their management, “you want me in the office, then fine, that’s where my work stays at 5 o’clock when I leave for the day.”
I don't see how anyone can claim WFH has been successful, regardless of whatever fake study you wish to cite. Ford Product development has been embarrassing over the last 3 years.
It is time for Ford to follow!
I've heard so many stories of employees goofing around, doing home improvement, missing deadlines/meetings/assignments... (Including LL6s and LL5s).
Hate me for saying this, but it is time to get your a$$$ back to the office!!!
Ford Credit is the pilot
It is interesting how these clueless "leaders" could find studies to support WFH (greater worker productivity and less stress) in 2020, and now they are pushing for going back to the office. Does that mean the studies were lies? Or does it mean these "leaders", as demonstrated so many times in the past, don't care about studies or common sense?
I agree with OP that Ford will follow suit. IDK how things are currently at GM, but I do know how they are at Ford. All the advantages of going back to the office rely almost exclusively in ASSIGNED DESKS and teams that interact frequently sitting together. Exactly what we NO LONGER have at Ford. Of course it will be an epic fail.
Still four day weekends, every week. If you do your job in T-Th.
Fail.
Or more specifically, this edict will fail and be a fail.