automotive technician

software engineer

engineer

data scientist

assembler

Ford Motor Company

First I would like to say that I loved my Union Employees. They were amazing to work with and to help them grow as workers. They were the sole reason I stayed with the company for so long as the Supervisor General.

The middle management (Superintendent & Plant Manager) were not pleasant to work under. You can never make them happy with your results. You get forced to work up to 16 hour shifts fairly often (Monday-Friday). Plus fairly often you'll be forced to work an 8 hour Saturday with minimal notice. Meaning Friday late evening you're informed that you're working Saturday (8AM-5PM). Training is pathetic. After you make enough mistakes they will finally get qualified trainers to train you for a few days, if you're lucky 5 days straight. But only for roughly 4 hours of your shift. After the trainer leaves, your expected to operate the SAP system, create endless new resorts and manage everything and everyone prefectly. If you don't, you'll get drilled.

Need a day or more off work? Better be an expert begger! Yet watch the Superintendent take almost every Friday off for "Family Fun Days." Don't worry if you're lucky you'll get two days with your family a week. That's more than enough right? 

Don't expect the Superintendent to help you with much of anything but the minor, easy tasks. Never the in-depth, harder tasks. You'll learn the que, "I've got (report, call, etc) then I'll be right back out to help you out!" Then just calls or texts you from his climate controlled office, Multiple times, and never comes back out to help. If he does come back out to "help" it's to give you more work or ask questions about what someone is doing or where they are. Basically wasting your time by taking you away from the real work that's piling up while he keeps repeating the same things over and over.

Need a sick day during this crazy pandemic? Good Luck! Don't cough or start losing your voice because you're obviously faking it to get free days off work. Around someone who tested positive, but you tested and the doctor gave you a 14 day quarantine? Well you're in luck. Ford's policy and nurses will help you ignore the "Doctor's Orders" because there quarantine is just a "recommendation!"

Do you enjoy taking a lunch at work so you can decompress to finish the shift energized? Well as a Supervisor at Ford you don't get a lunch, unless it's at your workstation, on the warehouse floor. Yup, basically 2 years of never having an uninterrupted meal. Does having a cubicle or office make you feel special? Well you'll get one, But you'll only get to use it the first 15 minutes and last half hour or however long it takes you to complete all those lovely (ever growing) reports and emails.

You enjoy gaining more responsibilities? Don't worry you'll Always have more. You're basically payroll accountant, human resources specialist, medical reporter/nurse, inventory analyst, supervisor, manager, safety & quality all in one job title. Get ready for many unprepared presentations, single point lessens, trainings to the union employees/Union Chairman. Plus countless unprepared presentations (unless you do everything in your own free time) to the safety/quality team, middle management and upper management all on conference calls or video calls.

After working more than 20 years at Ford, I can say with certainty it is a great place to work and can recommend it highly to anyone. 

The workplace culture is definitely one of diversity and inclusion. Although that goal is never perfectly achieved in any company, Ford fosters that from the top, making it clear those are the values, and most live by it. It’s a very large international organization, so in many jobs you will interact with people from around the world, both in person and virtually. The vibe is casual, yet professional, with more than a little fun mixed in.

The hardest part of the job is having to learn new things almost constantly, but then again you’re gaining new skills all the time, which keeps things interesting. Continuous improvement is a mantra at Ford and it happens on a daily basis.  Deadlines can be numerous and tight, depending on the position. Early in my career I often worked more than eight hours a day, sometimes by necessity, others times by choice. In recent years there has been more emphasis on work-life balance, and long days are now a rarity. 

The most enjoyable part of the job is the chance to work on interesting projects with a lot of talented, smart people with a wide range of skills, interests and backgrounds. Although it depends on your manager, most give you a lot of flexibility on how you do your job and encourage you to work on learning new skills. For many years I was given 4 hours a week to study anything of my choice I felt I could immediately apply to my current job or prepare me for my next job in the company.

Management is generally very helpful and supportive. Bill Ford, great grandson of Henry, leads the company. He is a very decent person, well-liked by all. That sets the tone for the rest of Ford. I’ve had many great managers at Ford, but only one I wouldn’t recommend to a coworker.

Good salaries, great benefits, ample vacation time, flexible work schedules, work from home arrangements, two days a year for community service, tuition reimbursement and vehicle discounts are just some of the benefits. 

If you are considering a particular position at Ford, keep in mind that although you are applying for a specific job, you really need to view it as a first step in what could be a long career at Ford. That could eventually take you in many different directions of your choice, because it is such a big company with a myriad of jobs you will have the opportunity to apply for every two or more years, if you choose. There are good reasons that it is not uncommon to have coworkers who have been with Ford 20, 30 or even 40 years, as well as many who may be the second or third generation in their family to work for Ford.

So go ahead—apply for that job at Ford, but remember you are really applying for a career! 



There is a lot of personal issues that people tend to push around if they know anything about your past then I'll throw it in your face no matter what you are or who you're about today it personally happened to me myself because of my past a certain person knew me spread conflict throughout the place I started feeling sensing and seen conflict by supervisors and other workers which in turn created my anxiety and blood pressure to increase which put me out of the job before I was there nine months when I needed to be there for a year for my health insurance cooking completely and give me through it it was a job that I wanted my whole entire life I worked 28 different jobs while there in 8 month. Being told by many that I did that good but most people didn't do that kind of stuff in 10 years that they were there but because it's been my line of work my whole entire life the Auto industry I knew what I was doing once those people were not show up on time for work I was there ready to work they put me up on the line show me how to do it 5 minutes later I was doing it doing productive work that people that did it everyday couldn't do in the 10 year period they were there intern I lost the best job I ever had in my entire life I'm upset about it there's nothing I can do about it but I'm coming back and I'm doing do what I got to do to get back and I'm going to show these people what I'm about I loved my job I was all about building trucks not a daycare not a playground not not a boxin arena I was about getting there building quality stuff quality one Ford stuff and going in the house enjoying my family and doing it all over again in the following day but I wasn't allowed to be given that kind of time I was a little struggle with understanding all the regulations but I haven't been involved in any company like that that large ever in my life to know how to operate with what would be rules or per say to be tardy or not there but of the word is they properly use I forget the name of it anyways I'd love to my job I'm 54 years old I don't have time to play games I go to work to work at this place they tend to play games and they get by with it because they can but if I get my job back it's going to take a lot more than to push me off this time I'm strong I'm solid my head is up my chin is up and my feet are flat on the ground I'm going to be back working for Ford Motor Company to please all friends and family including my deceased father that retired from there thank you and I hope you all understand! Hope to see you all soon!

Ford cares less about how it operates as an engineering car manufacturing company and how it utilizes their employees and resources effectively to meet that goal. Instead they focus predominantly on building new buildings/campuses, new lines of business such as scooters, Autonomous, AI, etc. and more on the art and style of the car than on the actual engineering of the vehicle. 

The "Art Department" known as Studio is pretty much given control of the company with free reign to do whatever it wants with vehicle design, program timeframes, and company security policies ignored regularly. Everyone outside the studio group has to make-up for this divisions failures, of which there are many! The biggest of which is their in ability to even use the company CAD software system with engineering or it's own design process! They do make nice looking vehicles though!

Despite cuts in bureaucracy, be prepared to sit around a lot waiting for MBA upper level managers & studio to run around in circles causing problems and delays that the rest of the company pays for dearly via wasted time, wasted resources/effort, minimal car design, constant delays, and team member shifts from one group/division to the next covering team member loses/new extra work/new processes & changes that create busy work/etc. 

Ford upper level business managers have given up on training anyone to save money and because it's GPDS(Design Process) process is such a disaster that it no longer knows what to do with it because the people at the top suggesting changes to the process don't even really participate in most of the process or changes themselves.

Looking past all these issues the company is one of the most ethical companies to work for allowing time off to help in community programs and with family. They also provide college education assistance to employees.  They also are investing in both Detroit and new technologies for electric & Autonomous vehicles, that will be helpful for the industry and the world moving forward.  It might not be the end all/fix all solution some people imagine it to be, but they are trying to help.......while also giving people the option of hybrid vehicles because not everyone feels electric vehicles are 100% solution for the future.  Electric vehicles are quite cool and powerful, but they do have a lot of problems/potential problems some people haven't come around to wanting to recognize yet. And I'm not just talking about range limitations.

I report to a great group of managers, and they are among the top I have had the pleasure to work for in my 24 years at Ford.  
The only problem that has plagued the Company is poor senior management and a top-heavy structure...there are 54 vice presidents!   The Company is constantly changing its mission, its vision and its strategy along with turning entire divisions up-side down in an effort to change things up hoping this will give Ford a competitive advantage. One day Ford is an automotive company, the next day it is a technology company, the next it is a mobility company, and so on.  This continual re-inventing itself means lay-offs, budget cuts and constant new initiatives that seem to never lead anywhere.  The end result is usually a return to doing business as usual, but with a new, cheaper staff that have zero experience, and reduced budgets.  Ford is an automotive manufacturing company and always will be, until it stops all vehicle production and starts manufacturing space ships for interstellar space travel.  I am near the end of my tenure, but I live in constant fear of being laid off or forced out.  I see more and more 20-somethings being brought in; but these youngsters don't want to do any work.  They are glued to their cell phones and are watching videos and chatting on social media all day.  If you tell them this is not acceptable, they look at you like you are from mars.  I hate walking through the office and seeing people on Facebook when the Company is striving to keep momentum in the market.  Sadly, none of this is unique to Ford.  It is not even unique to the American automotive industry. It's everywhere now. Enormous effort is given to five-year plans that are never followed.  I have yet to see anything accomplished that was in a prior five-year plan for any company (with the exception of companies outside our borders).  We can’t even stick to the current year's plan.  You just have to roll with it if you chose to work in the U.S. auto industry.  And if you are a person that is dedicated and works diligently, a person who is not into politics and maneuvering, if you are a person of high integrity and ethics, you just have to know you are in a minority no matter where you get hired.

No day is the same. Yes, we’re working an assembly line, but each day brings new challenges, mostly good. It feels great to overcome obstacles to build a quality American made UAW vehicle and you have a sense of pride to see that vehicle being driven by a family on the open road. As long as you stay positive, the people around you are uplifting, informative and entertaining. You really get to know your coworkers and management in such an intense environment. Even the plant manager will come to the floor to be hands on in an effort to solve an ongoing problem. We’re all on the same team. Unfortunately it seems to be company policy to keep the attrition rate high, and there’s no uniformity in how discipline is meted out. It’s best to never be late and never be absent without reason. As long as you show up and put forth a good faith effort, you’re mostly secure in your job. The union works with the company, so sometimes it seems like they have your back and sometimes they clearly side with the company wishes and turn a blind eye to our grievances. You will lose weight on this job! And you will gain muscle! When the line is running well, you’re literally on your feet working for hours at a time. Most days we work 10+ hours plus about 80 minutes worth of breaks. The breaks pass very quickly. We listen to music, talk to our coworkers for seconds between cars, and try to keep eachother uplifted. No question about it, this is a very physically demanding job. It pays well, and we get a lot of bonuses. The insurance is excellent and we get lots of other benefits too. If you are a good worker, you mostly have all the overtime you want available to you. Lots of good things to say. The worst part of the day is getting there so early, but once the line starts you forget about how early or late it is. Your body will hurt, almost everyday. But I don’t know if it’s just me, but everyone there seems to look much younger than their age and for the most part are happy and healthy. 

I was hired on to be an engineer. When I arrived I was told that I would actually be a production supervisor. I wish my situation were isolated but it seems that about half of the latest crop of supervisors were all lured in under the same false pretenses. When you interview, they'll tell you a few other things: that you'll only work a 4day 10hr schedule (during the day), that you have vacation and personal days which you can take anytime, that you'll get paid overtime for every minute you work over 40hrs, and that you'll only occasionally supervise a small number of skilled tradesmen. All of these promises are at the very least misleading. I've been on the night shift for over a year now. We work long days (routinely over 12hrs often more), most of the weekends (going on 3/4 this month) and rarely receive the aforementioned compensation. You are allowed to request vacation, but it's always going to be denied. Instead they tell you (often when it's not convenient) when you will take your vacation. You can forget your personal and sick days, you'll be lucky to use one per year.

  The worst part is the people: you're put in charge of some forty union-backed troglodytes over whom you seem to have no real authority (because you can't actually discipline them in any way). Upper management is always pressuring you to "hold them accountable" but they never come to back you up when the union representatives push back. Any time you do try to hold anyone accountable, all you succeed in doing is losing the fight, giving the guy a nice fat grievance check, and getting all of your people stirred up against you. Because nobody can control their own people, supervisors take it out on each other - yelling, cursing, waving their arms - everyone trying to pin the blame on everyone else because whoever gets left holding the bag gets a punishment so hateful, so unprofessional, that they never want to experience it again. It's almost comical when it's not personal. And it seems that every time we get things all smoothed out and cruising along well, upper management decides to stir the pot and get everyone back at each other's throats. This truly is a horrible place to work. Don't let them lure you in because you'll have almost no free time to look for another job.

After 20 years it's difficult to define a typical day at work, but here's a quick glimpse. I might spend part of a day in a cross functional team meeting to determine which parts will meet timing for durability or corrosion tests and the rest of the day making sure that it happens. Some days were spent trying to find a durability vehicle that may have been down for one reason or another and to find out if we could install a part before the vehicle ran again. Another day might be spent meeting with the homologation engineer trying to understand how a Korean performance test procedure applies to a high performance American vehicle which Ford planned to export. Several days were spent in a high performance driving class with a Roush Mustang, Mercedes Benz, Ford Focus with electric steering, etc. Other days were spent going through the design and release procedure for wheels and wheel ornamentation. Often I'd spend days reviewing warranty information or meeting with the part supplier to determine fault. I've spent days scheduling vehicles and parts for MCR (material cost reduction) trials. The list of a typical day could go on and on.

I learned about many facets of engineering especially the planning, and as an automotive hobbyist I was like a kid in a candy store throughout my whole career at Ford.

Management was always supportive, I'd get an assignment and told to be done by this date, come back if you have any problems. Particularly in the last 10 years or so, supervisors would come into the group with little or no background, so they really had to rely on us.

Co-workers were great, especially when compared to some I've worked with since I left Ford.

The hardest part of the job occurred during the early part of my career when I didn't know much. Later on I was seldom more that an E-mail or phone call away from getting what I needed. You don't always have to know the answer, just how to find the answer.

The most enjoyable part of the job was solving problems, collaboration with others, some problems seemed insurmountable but sometimes a casual discussion with others could result in resolution.

What is the best part of working at the company?
The people and the job itself is the best part of working at Ford Motor Company. Highly intelligent personnel with a moldable, pliable, diplomatic mentality that far exceeds expectations. Blessed you will be to contribute and receive the collaborative knowledge and experience you will gain working with the best of the best in the world. (I have worked for various fortune 500 companies, to justify) Command Center (GDIA) personnel demonstrate the character and integrity we all hope for when employed.

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
Orchestration, as you may wear many hats, perform various tasks, however the team support is always focused on improving, there is truly only the initial learning curve of adjustment. Ask questions, take notes, be organized and you should be greatly successful.

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
The best I have witnessed from a 100% remote perspective. Friendly, yet business-focused. Open door policy with those that hired you. What you invest, you will reap.

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
100% remote perspective, which has turned hybrid, speaking only from remote, meetings - many meetings but these meetings set the tone and pace for the shift you will work. 365/24/7 you will receive shift turnover from the previous team which will help prepare you for your shift. If in data management you will run scripts to identify what jobs are running and you should have Google Cloud training as Ford has moved from Hadoop to Google Cloud. Data management will require you to identify failures/errors in code which can now be identified with chatgpt more than likely... Hence why I might be providing a review ;) escalate to stakeholders downstream/upstream as needed. Start a bridge as needed. Identify opportunities to streamline the existing system, i.e. compaction Provide turnover to the next shift. Report everything, document everything that it needed, highlighting the most important time-sensitive jobs as products and discerning the proper direction to implement.

I was hired as a temp in communications for 6 months. I left another job and took this in hopes that it was an "in" at Ford. This was my first temp job through a temp agency EVER!

I thought everything was going well and I was working (all remotely) to get up to speed, but after 2 months, I got a call from the temp company saying they were ending the contract early. No explanation, no further contact with the "manager," nothing.

Through several managerial and HR classes (both college and continuous learning as a professional), I know that this is THE WORST thing a manager can do, especially to employees who are enthusiastic to learn and engage. Managers should instruct and build, not turn tail and run if something isn't going the way they want. It seemed that the manager was constantly worried about keeping the job instead of being innovative or constructive. "Don't rock the boat" in other words — even if it might prove beneficial.

They were also implementing an absurd analytics process that took an entire day of backlogging and tracking social engagement; and I'll remind you that I was in "communications" (writing, advertising, marketing, storytelling, etc.) and made it clear I didn't know anything about analytics (maybe that was the problem they had). The analytics instructions were like 12 pages long and absolutely confusing.

Very strange experience that I'll likely never repeat. It really derailed the things I had going on and left me with no job and no prospects. Since then, I am always applying for jobs — always — even though I really like my current job. I suppose learned a hard lesson... if nothing else.

On a side note: I have family members who've retired from Ford after 30+ years and had nothing really bad to say about it, though they were more white-collar positions. I'm not sure how tough/enjoyable some of the blue-collar jobs are.

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