Employees all over the world are grappling with return-to-office initiatives as companies make the ill-advised decision to make use of the office space they're wasting money on. Now, at least one Ford employee is making their objection to the idea public with signs all over Ford's Dearborn office building.
The image, which was posted on the r/remotework subreddit, shows a picture of Ford CEO Jim Farley's face with a large red circle with a line through it on top. In the bottom left corner, the image reads "FU** RTO." It's hard to misinterpret what that could mean. From the looks of it, this image appears to be on one of those screens that is used to reserve a conference room — some evidence to suggest this is that above "FU** RTO" it reads "Available For The Rest Of The Day." According to the Reddit post, "All panels in the building were affected." I've reached out to the poster for more information.
Although I haven't been able to verify the claim, another Reddit user claims they were told by a friend that "Ford Racing and Rouch were hit too." In a follow-up comment, they said that, "Screens are now being shut down globally (Ford Racing, Ford Brazil)." It's important to take all of this information with a huge grain of salt, but it seems Farley's new policy really rubbed some folks the wrong way.
On October 1, the Detroit Free Press published an interview with Farley that discussed his newly mandated in-office policy for salaried workers. Basically, they've got to come in at least four days a week, and the move comes as the Blue Oval prepares to move leadership, designers and engineers into a new world HQ later this year. Farley says the move will improve efficiency and product development.
I get it. I really do. I'm no big-business CEO, obviously, but I feel like you get a much happier and more productive workforce when they're not strong-armed into sitting at a cubicle for 40 hours a week. Plus, you can save a hell of a lot of money on real estate costs. Of course, you can't be the biggest fish in the pond if you don't have an office, so I get why CEOs like to keep them around. Plus, you'd hate for anyone to do something as evil as "time theft."
In any case, I've reached out to Ford for comment on the situation, and I'll be sure to update this story if and when I get a response.