Pros

Support and encouragement of management and fellow engineers and manufacturing representatives. Opportunity to experience and interact with different departments and people within the organization.

Cons

Lack of diversity in the specific role in terms of opportunities to take on leadership roles when involved in projects.

Advice to Senior Management

Be more mindful and aware of situations in which new employees are having trouble with certain job related issues and attempt to work together through these.

Pros

Pros:
- Great Global Purchasing Experience working with various suppliers and cultures
- Benefits were good
- Management team was great to work for

Cons

Cons:
- Sometimes difficult to balance work/family life
- Promotions very difficult to obtain for top performers
- Overall morale has been poor for years

Advice to Senior Management

Despite the difficult market over the last few years it is important to take the necessary steps to improve morale and listen to the concerns of the employees and act.

Pros

The internship was a great experience because it related directly to my marketing major. I had to organize events and promote the Ford Brand in the most "college friendly" way. I was able to host events with other organizations on campus and get paid while doing so.

Cons

The only downside was I had to spend a lot of time creating event ideas, making budgets, preparing promotional material and updating our websites. I had a heavy course load that semester so I definitely had to learn time management.

Advice to Senior Management

The program is a wonderful way for college students to utilize their creativity. We pretty much had free reign as to how we wanted to educate our peers about Ford. It was a great learning experience!

Pros

-Valuable experience and the ability to work independently
-Good pay compared to other companies in the same area and industry

Cons

-Poorly managed
-Office morale is lower at Ford than at any other Company I have worked for
-They were in the midst of restructuring and roles were not clear

Advice to Senior Management

My advice to management is to take time to develop young employees as they are likely the key to future success.

Pros

Ford Finance has one of the best internship programs. They give you a meaningful assignments to work on. The team you are assigned to work with, help you at different stages of the assignment.
They encourage you to network and host series of events during summer for socializing and networking.
I would reccomend applying for an internship at Ford.

Cons

The scope of the intership assignment need to be better defined.

Advice to Senior Management

Hire more intern this summer

Pros

Invests and trains employees to perform at their jobs.

Cons

Low salary & limited opportunity to grow.

Advice to Senior Management

Alan seems to be doing a terrific job. Keep the focus on the product line. Convert Class B shares to common stocks so that everyone feels that their ownership is in an even keel.

Pros

The pay is decent if not great for Michigan. Most employees are quite loyal and invested for the long term. Most employees are fairly good at what they do. Management among the top C level managers is great and consistent. Good product strategy (currently). Alan Mulally saved the company.

Cons

Middle and lower level managers are hit or miss. They can be completely terrible. There is absolutely no leadership, no accountability, and no consistency with these lower level managers. Ford pretty much wants you to get married and get a house and family so that you don't consider leaving. Once you are in it is almost impossible to get fired so you have to deal with low performers a lot. Promotions are based 100% off years of service as opposed to performance. Communication across groups such as digital marketing is non-existent. Managers can be eager to hear about concerns but will do almost nothing to find a solution. What may take 2 months to do at a small or mid sized company will take at least a year at Ford. Shifting priorities. Micromanagement is terrible and there is absolutely no checks or balances on it. There is no opportunity to move around in your job or advance because the company is not growing.

Advice to Senior Management

Promote off performance, not age or years of experience. Thin your ranks. Don't micro-manage. Just admit you are sometimes wrong and then actually do something to fix it like the hard working rank and file do.

Pros

Wonderful people. I developed trusting relationships with those in my department and others within my first few months of working here. Most people at all levels truly care about one another's success. Ford Motor Company leads the rebound of the automotive industry, and it's exciting to have a role in the turn-around.

Cons

Recent economic pressure has led some employees to fear for their jobs. When people are driven by fear, political jockeying and sharp elbows prevail. Some lower and mid level managers have adapted to having smaller teams by digging in and working alongside those who report to them, while others still feel it is only their job to "manage" and babysit, not to contribute in any meaningful way. Ford is still quite management heavy, leaving little opportunity for promotions or growth opportunities.

Advice to Senior Management

Identify and promote high performers. Test competencies of very long term employees whose skills may have dwindled. Have cross-functional teams rate other global members of the team, using evaluations such as, "on a scale of 1 to 5, would you want to work on a team with this person again" and "this person put team goals ahead of personal project interests."

Pros

Despite being over 100 years old, Ford is an up and coming automaker with a bright future. Its really nice to (finally) receive all the positive press and gain respect relative to peers in the industry. The executive management team is talented, bold, and willing to make difficult decisions. The strategy set forth from Alan's team is clear and spot-on - profitable growth from a global product-led revolution. And the top management really make an effort to inform employees about certain topics regarding the company which would not normally be known. The company offers very competitive benefits and salary, and have policies in place for very flexible work schedules and arrangements to help support work-life integration.

Cons

Hours can be long. The consecutive years of rightsizing the company have cut the employee base to the bare minimum necessary to operate. Thus we're all working very hard. Some middle management at the company needs improvement - especially related to lack of leadership. Sometimes it seems they want to pass the buck to the upper management and let them decide everything. Also promotions have been rare recently, and probably will be for the near future, so career development is stalled.

Advice to Senior Management

To the leadership at Ford, full speed ahead! Continue to drive high quality, technology-rich products into the market and Ford will be rewarded. International cooperation and coordination could be improved. Although One Ford is being fully implemented there are still disconnects at the middle-management and working levels that should be addressed. Also Ford needs to solve the career development problem - how do you convince top achievers that they have upward mobility when there have been no promotions?!

Pros

Good work life balance and decent pay.

Cons

If you are a top performer this probably isn't best place for you since most promotions are based on connections rather than performance.

Advice to Senior Management

Share a little more of the bonus pool with the employees and lower level supervisors.