Iconic US automaker Ford Motors Says Employees Can Work From Home “Endlessly” With New Redesigned Hybrid Model In The Office And Remote

The more than one hundred year old Ford Motor Company has announced a new flexible and progressive hybrid work model for its employees. Iconic automaker plans to radically rethink the workplace

Ford has informed about 30,000 office workers that they can continue to work from home “indefinitely” and have “flexible hours approved by their managers.” It is expected that people will come to the office primarily for meetings and group projects.

Kiersten Robinson, director of human resources and head of employee experiences at Ford, said employees will not be returning to the office until July. Once back, the remote work time will be determined by the job responsibilities and feedback from their supervisors.

Robinson added, “The nature of the work we do is really going to be a guiding element,” and told CNBC, “If there’s one thing we’ve learned in the past 12 months, it’s that a lot of our assumptions about the job and what we employee needs have changed. She “doesn’t call this the ‘future of work’ because it’s an ‘evolution’ as the automaker recognizes that there will likely be changes and modifications over time.

Ford will redesign the interiors of its offices. Workspaces will be modernized to be versatile and adaptable to future change needs. This includes walls, furniture, lighting, conference rooms and collaborative spaces. Particular attention will be paid to the activation of video calls and the deployment of technology to improve virtual connectivity between colleagues and managers.

This big change was inspired by a company-wide survey. About 95% of Ford office workers said they would prefer to be able to determine for themselves how they want to work. Ford believes that this empowerment will lead to better job satisfaction, happier workers and a better work-life balance. Ford recognizes that there may be some negative perception that employees can work remotely while factory and production workers do not have that luxury.

Ford joins a growing list of large companies like Google, Salesforce, Spotify, and Twitter that offer worker-friendly programs. It is becoming clear that the post-pandemic world of work will not look like what we had just over a year ago. This culture change destroyed the prejudices that some managers held against those who wanted to work from home. The rapid rise in technology and software such as Zoom has shown that American businesses now have many other options for running a business.

Indeed, Jed Kolko, chief economist of the large job pooling site, said: “While job vacancies are a guide, employers are increasingly open to remote work, even as some employees return to their place of work ”, and job postings referring to“ remote work ”or“ work from home ”on its platform reached 7% last month, up from just under 3% a year ago. a year. Some areas were much higher.

Management consulting firm PwC said about 55% of executives responding to a survey said they plan to continue working remotely. Only 17% said they want employees to get back to work in an office quickly.

There is a downside to this rapidly changing trend. We have seen an exodus from the big cities to the suburbs and the smaller and cheaper places. Daryl Fairweather, chief economist at Redfin, said, “More and more Americans have looked for cheaper homes in lesser-known towns and suburbs.” With the rise of remote working, people have left New York, Los Angeles, Boston and the San Francisco Bay Area in favor of Phoenix, Tampa, Austin, Texas; Charlotte and North Carolina.

We are entering an exciting new paradigm. Trends show that both the way we work and our workplace will change dramatically over the next six months. These developments could be a boon to workers as they may no longer have to endure long, tedious commutes and be able to spend more quality time with their families.

Businesses benefit from a significant reduction in real estate costs. Having happier and more self-reliant workers could lead to increased productivity that will improve the bottom line of their businesses.