As Ford Motor Co. attempts to transition to a four-day-in-the-office workweek, someone is not happy about it and made it known on Oct. 2.
A Ford spokesman confirmed there was an incident early in the day in which someone put up an image on meeting room screens across the corporate offices in Dearborn, and possibly other facilities, that protested the return-to-office policy on Oct. 2.
According to photos employees took of the image, which were posted on social media and sent to the Detroit Free Press, it contained an image of CEO Jim Farley along with a big red circle with a slash through it over his face and the words "(Expletive) RTO."
"We're aware of an inappropriate use of Ford's IT technology and we're investigating it," Dave Tovar, Ford spokesman, told the Detroit Free Press.
Tovar said the image was up for "a short amount of time" and Ford was able to quickly remove it. He said the company is investigating whether the image appeared only in Dearborn offices or globally.
Farley mandated that employees return to the office four days a week earlier this year and it has been in place since Sept. 1, with no fallout such as people quitting over it, Tovar said. Therefore, Tovar said, "I wouldn't be able to speculate on it, as to why someone would do this."
Farley, 63, has been Ford's CEO for five years as of Oct. 1. In an exclusive by the Detroit Free Press, he reflected on his tenure and what challenges he faces ahead. In his role these past few years, Farley has raised the bar on his expectations from the workforce. There are tougher performance review standards for the employees, for example, and he has given managers license to fire those who can't meet the metrics.
While Ford spokesman Mark Truby said there are no quotas on ranking employees, Farley does challenge managers to raise the bar on expectations.
One comment on social media said that Farley authorized firing people who have not met their in-office targets due to holiday or sick time, which Truby said is absolutely not true.
According to hiring websites, the culture at Ford appears to favor Farley. According to Glassdoor, Ford got a near 4-out-of-5-star rating as a good place to work with 72% of the reviewers approving of Farley as CEO. Glassdoor listed 11,078 reviews of Ford.
The four days a week in the office policy comes as the company prepares to move leadership, designers and engineers into a new world headquarters building starting later this year. It's a move Farley has said will improve efficiency and product development.
Ford isn't the only Detroit automaker to get pushback to a return-to-office policy. Many salaried workers at General Motors initially resisted the return to the office policy. In September 2022, in internal messages to employees, GM first said it would end its Work Appropriately philosophy, which allowed for flexibility on where employees did their job, and require them to come to the office three days a week.
But just a few days later, after much employee pushback, GM CEO Mary Barra sent out a note to the salaried workforce offering an apology of sorts for the short timing in announcing the new policy. She said GM's plan still would include a more regular, in-person presence, but it would not implement any return-to-the-office policy in 2022 as the company listens to employee feedback.
But by October 2022, as the Free Press first reported, GM confirmed it would mandate return to the office for three days — Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday — starting Jan. 30, 2023, but GM said it would not keep track of worker attendance.
In a December 2023 memo to GM's workforce obtained by the Detroit Free Press at the time, Barra wrote: "We realize 'return to the office' is a topic that has been highly debated in many workplaces around the country. It is also something the SLT (senior leadership team) feels strongly about, and we want to make our expectations clear. We believe the benefits of in-person collaboration and mentorship lead to a stronger, more innovative culture and higher performance."