Some Ford employees say they were warned they could be fired for skipping workdays, according to BI

The Detroit automaker told salaried employees in June that starting Sept. 1, most would need to be in the office four days a week, an escalation from the three-day workweeks most people work, according to Reuters.

The company framed the change as part of CEO Jim Farley Wider push To make Ford a leaner, faster-moving electric car company.

Since then, employees say Ford has begun sending out automatic attendance warnings based on badge swipe data, flagging people who don’t meet the new requirements. according to Business insider.

Three current and former employees told the business news website that the emails threatened “discipline up to and including termination.” Two said they received these notices even though their internal schedules had been agreed with managers under previous flexible arrangements.

At a company-wide meeting on September 9, Homer Isaacs, Ford’s director of human resources for enterprise technology, said the messages were intended to “change behavior” regarding remote work, according to a recording he reviewed. with me. He acknowledged that the system had mistakenly targeted some compliant employees, saying those who followed the four-day rule “should not be concerned.”

Most corporate departments are gradually increasing their personal expectations — for example, the number of workdays in enterprise technology has risen from 13 days in the office per quarter to three days a week in August, and now four.

“We asked for communications to be fixed as they missed the mark,” Ishaq said. with me.

The shift came with logistical chaos during the August trial period, with employees describing a lack of parking and crowded workplaces in Dearborn. Others said that the rigid schedule made collaborating across time zones more difficult, reducing the efficiency that the flexibility of hybrid working gave them.

The new base comes as Ford prepares to open a 2.1 million square foot space Global Headquarters In Dearborn this November, Which will include about 4,000 employees. The company framed the move as a bet on personal collaboration to enhance innovation and performance.

This argument did not succeed in allaying internal frustration. On October 2, an unidentified employee hijacked conference room screens across Ford’s offices with an anti-RTO protest image showing CEO Jim Farley’s face crossed out and the words “(expletive) RTO,” The Guardian reported. Detroit Free Press. The image was briefly circulated on internal systems and social media before it was removed.

“We are aware of the inappropriate use of Ford’s IT systems and are investigating,” company spokesman Dave Tovar said. He said the Detroit Free PressAdding content was available “for a short time.”

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