Sometimes looking to the past can be a good way to gain momentum. Or at least that’s what Jim Farley, Ford’s CEO, has done. The businessman is reviving Henry Ford’s hiring method to encourage young people to return to work in his factories. Farley explained that he was inspired by founder Henry Ford’s decision to raise factory wages to $5 a day in 1914 to convert temporary workers into full-time employees. This all came about after Farley heard, “No young person wants to work here,” from the company’s most veteran workers.
After learning of this, Farley says he followed the example set by the company’s founder, Henry Ford, in 1914
Ford CEO Jim Farley says he learned of the situation from older employees, who told him that some of the automaker’s younger workers were taking shifts at Amazon to make ends meet, as he stated at the Aspen Ideas Festival. After learning of this, Farley says he followed the example set by the company’s founder, Henry Ford, in 1914.
After the conversation Farley describes, Ford began converting temporary workers to permanent employees,
This news has garnered attention, especially among workers not only at Ford but at other companies as well, since such a reaction from an executive is unusual. The automaker’s CEO acknowledged the need for change in his workplace after speaking with veteran employees during collective bargaining negotiations and learning that young Ford employees were holding multiple jobs and not sleeping well due to low wages, Farley stated in an interview with the journalist. At the Aspen Ideas Festival, Farley recounted that the conversations with the workers were a turning point.
The fact is that Farley wanted to follow Ford’s lead in trying to retain young workers. Therefore, after the conversation Farley describes, Ford began converting temporary workers to permanent employees, giving them access to higher wages, health benefits, and profit sharing. “The older workers who had been with the company said, ‘None of the young guys want to work here. Jim, you pay $17 an hour, and they’re really stressed,’” Farley said.
The transition was outlined in the 2019 contract negotiations with the United Auto Workers (UAW) union, and temporary workers will be able to become full-time employees
In any case, even with the CEO’s approval, changes that are almost structural in companies take time. Specifically, the transition was outlined in the 2019 contract negotiations with the United Auto Workers (UAW) union, and temporary workers will be able to become full-time employees after two years of continuous employment at Ford.
There are jobs that require less training and offer higher salaries
On the other hand, there is the growing disinterest of younger generations in factory work. Although the United States is projected to create 3.8 million manufacturing jobs by 2033, many young people reject them because they consider them poorly paid. There are jobs that require less training and offer higher salaries. In fact, Ford’s own decision to double factory wages in 1914 was not altruistic, but rather a strategy to attract a stable workforce, as well as provide an incentive for its own workers to afford Ford products. Once again, it’s about maintaining the circular economy.
In fact, regarding the paragraph above, Farley said, “He said, ‘I’m doing this because I want my factory workers to buy my cars. If they make enough money, they’ll buy my own product,’” and added, “It’s a self-fulfilling prophecy, in a way.” Finally, Farley calls for decisive public investment in vocational training and cites the German model as an example, where students begin their apprenticeships in secondary school.