Ford will cut 1,000 white-collar jobs in the United States by the end of the year in what is the latest step in its $11 billion restructuring.
Sources close to the situation say that the job cuts will be made under a voluntary program and do not come in response to the coronavirus pandemic.
The Detroit News reports that these buyouts are just the latest step in a reorganization of the company being led by outgoing chief executive Jim Hackett. In 2019, the car manufacturer closed a number of plants in Europe while eliminating thousands of jobs and continuing to encounter issues with its Chinese operations. It was expected that the cutting of 7,000 salary positions worldwide in 2019 would save the car manufacturer $600 million a year.
Read Also: Ford CEO Jim Hackett Steps Down, COO Jim Farley To Be Named New Boss
Despite these continued cutbacks, Ford expects to report a full-year operating loss for the first time in a decade.
The announcement of these latest job cuts comes just four weeks before Hackett leaves his post as chief executive and is replaced by current chief operating officer Jim Farley. The incoming CEO has promised to return Ford’s North American region to a 10 per cent profit margin.
Speaking earlier this year in relation to the impacts of the coronavirus, Farley said he saw a resolve within the workforce reminiscent of that from the 2009 financial crisis.
“Everyone at Ford knows the situation we’re in,” he commented. “I can see it on the faces of my colleagues and it takes me back to about 10 years ago. I’ve seen the look before.”
