Human Resources

at Ford

WELCOME TO
Ford
We have

Ford Motor Company

Active in over 38 countries

Worldwide sales of $189 billion

Assets over $338 billion

Global workforce of nearly .5 million people

Celebrating 78 years in Australia this year

Ford is the 4th Largest company in the world.

We have

Ford Motor Company of Australia

Employees approx. 5,500 people in Australia.

Company headquarters in Broadmeadows, along

with the assembly plants, Customer Service Division,
training centre and research & design centre.

In Geelong Ford has extensive casting, engine and

stamping facilities as well as the product
engineering centre.

Proving (Testing of Vehicle) ground located at Lara.

We have

Ford Motor Company

Geelong plant opened 1925.

Broadmeadows Assembly Plant opened 1960.

Average 445 cars built per day (nearly 1 every

minute).

Over 7km of production line.

18 Hectares of under roof area.

Over 65 nationalities represented throughout the

plant.

We have

Ford Motor Company

Ford part owns many Brands and Services around

the World.

Ford buys into other Companies for several

reasons:

- It allows it to buy into Technology of other

companies.
- It gains different Target Markets.
- Gains different Niche Markets.

We have

Ford Motor Company

Other reasons for buying into other companies are:

Language

Cultural Differences

Profit Motive.

We have

Services

Brands

The Brands and Services

We have

What is Human Resource

Management?

HRM Activities necessary for staffing the

organisation and sustaining a high level of
employee performance

HRM at Ford - When 5,500 people work

together as a confident, inspired and motivated
team, the rewards are great.
People are the Companys only sustainable

competitive advantage.

We have

HRM at Ford

HR functions:
Recruitment

Advertising
Application process
Screening
Testing
Interviewing
Referencing
Selecting

Training & Development

Induction (4 to 5 weeks training for New Staff)

Competency based training (Vehicle Industry Certificate 2 to 3 yrs)
Team Development Training and Job Specific Training
Organisation & personnel performance (O&PP)

We have

HRM at Ford (contd)

Compensation & Benefits

Payroll
Ford Privilege Club
Superannuation
Corporate Citizenship

FECCS Ford tries to be a good Corporate Citizen by doing

good things for the community. What people think of you is
important, as people must feel good about your product.
Labour Relations

Industial Relations impact on employees.

Enterprise Bargaining Agreements are quite flexible at Ford
Union involvement is significant (Amalgamated Metal Workers
Union)

We have

HRM Practices at Ford (contd)

Managing Diversity

Maintaining a fair and equitable workplace

Worklife balance

Ford has 67 different nationalities amongst a total of

1800 employees at the Broadmeadows plant, with
1400 employees, 250 management staff and 150
maintenance staff.
Ford has encouraged a program of English classes
amongst those employees with limited English
skills. Ford shares the cost of such English classes
with the Employee.

We have

HRM Practices at Ford (contd)

Managing Diversity

Observance of Religious Holidays for a range of

ethnic groups. Eg. Greek employees were given the
option to take a strikeday as an RDO for their
Greek Easter festival in 2002.
Shut down of the plant occurs at Christmas, Easter,
Chinese New Year, Greek Easter and 2nd week of
term 2 holidays.
Prayer rooms provided for religious employees.
Zero Tolerance Policy. Harassment is not accepted
with employees sacked for breaches.

We have

HRM Practices at Ford (contd)

Managing Diversity

Staff are provided with 3 RDO and 9 PDOs (Paid

Day Off) per year at Ford. Employees can use thes
when they want. Both staff and management prefer
this as Ford is then able to plan its staffing in
advance and can also plan its supplies for J.I.T.

We have

HRM Practices at Ford (contd)

Other Cultural Issues

Safety is a major priority at Ford, so warning signs

are designed in pictorial form to take account of
language differences
Equal Employment Opportunity policies are
implemented to ensure that various ethnic groups
are not disadvantaged in relation to promotion,
training, remuneration and leave.

We have

HRM Practices at Ford (contd)

Work Schedules

The Broadmeadows plant operates on a flexitime work

schedule based around the daily core times of 7:00 am to
4:30 pm.
Face time in a job is becoming less important than what is
actually achieved in the job.
There is much lateral movement of staff before promotion
occurs. Job Rotation is strongly encouraged. That is, an
employee may spend 1 month in the paint shop, then 1
month in assembly, then 1 month in Quality Control. Job
Rotation stops boredom and increases safety as if
employees lose concentration due to boredom safety
decreases.

We have

HRM Practices at Ford (contd)

Work Schedules

Employees are grouped into Production Teams for

motivational and reward purposes. Monthly trips are
provided for winning teams on productivity.
Work Groups meet once a week to discuss any work
problems which occurred in the previous week.

We have

HRM Practices at Ford (contd)

Industrial Democracy

Ford has implemented a variety of participative

styles of management including:

Production teams setting output targets.

Employees submitting ideas for improved
production and operation via suggestion box to
management.
Weekly meetings for 45 minutes to discuss ways
of improving production. Production shuts down at
this time and small production teams discuss these
issues. Smaller teams are viewed as more
beneficial and personable than larger groups.

We have

HRM Practices at Ford (contd)

Training

Ford encourages a strong commitment by its

employees to a vast range of training and
development programs including specialist
training in:

Latest automotive production techniques

TQM practices at Ford including Quality
Assurance
HRM opportunities. That is, customer service,
recruitment, training, appraisal, induction.
Equal Opportunity policy
Negotiation skills with staff and management.

We have

HRM Practices at Ford (contd)

Motivation

Rewards for 20, 25, 30, 35, 40 yrs anniversary

Reward and Recognition Program prizes given

If individuals achieve their own top 5 priorities,

reward and recognition is given

Job Rotation every 2 to 3 months

Motivational posters throughout the factory

We have

HRM Practices at Ford (contd)

Recruitment

Ford outsources much of its recruitment to

agencies to give it a cost effective advantage.

We have

HRM Practices at Ford (contd)

National Work Groups (NWGs) are

established at Ford. These are specialists
groups in each section of Ford to help focus
and achieve measurable goals.

NWGs measure their performance with specific

measurable indicators.
Example. Safety, Quality, Delivery, Customer
Satisfaction, Morale, Waste reduction etc. are all
measurable per NWGs

We have

Restructuring
HR must be change agents.
Change is needed.
If you stop change you become outdated and

dont attract the best people.

We have

Restructuring
Tariffs decreased from 1990s which meant

quality and competitiveness needed to

increase.

Ford cannot compete with overseas cost or

price because of our cost of labour and our

Standard of Living.

Thus Ford must compete on Quality.

We have

Restructuring

Definitions:
Organisational structure The organisations
formal framework by which job tasks are divided,
grouped and coordinated.

Characteristics of large organisations (>2,000 employees)

Characteristics of smaller organisations

Organisational design The developing or

changing of an organisations structure.

We have

Restructuring (cont)
Restructuring
Rebalancing
Upsizing Ford is employing more people (70 to
80 people) because of the development of a new
model eg. Designers, operators etc.
Downsizing

Ford Restructured in terms of number of

employees leading to Rebalancing.

We have

Rebalancing at Ford

Rebalancing is having the right people for the right job.

What drives the need for rebalancing?

The white water rapids metaphor (fast change, dynamic,

aggressive industry.

Sales position

Current sales
Forecast sales
New models
Changes to current practices

Market share

Increasing/ reducing capacity

Manufacturing complexity

We have

Current situation at Ford

Rebalancing in response to forecast need

to increase capacity 2003 2005

Increasing production line speed

445 units per day (upd) currently

Increasing work complexity

We have

What does this mean for HR?

Identifying targets
How are the Companys objectives and strategies changing?
What does this mean in terms of jobs?
What does this mean in terms of training?

Communication
Corporate, cross-functional committees established
Union awareness sessions
Communication with current employees
Motivation considerations

We have

What does this mean for HR? (Contd)

Industrial Relations issues

How do the Unions perceive the changes?

Recruitment / staffing issues

How many?
How soon?
Job analysis considerations
Internal churning vs. external hiring

Training & development

Induction of new employees
Training & development of existing employees

We have

Benefits of effective HRM

Competent, highly skilled employees

A lean, efficient human resource base

A diverse workforce

A mutually beneficial Company/Union relationship

An outcome in line with Fords Global Vision:

To become the worlds leading consumer company for

automotive products & services, Ford must provide a

business environment that will allow all employees to
contribute their fullest potential.

We have