People and Communities > 

Our People

Our success depends on having a great place to work and a motivated, skilled workforce that meets, if not exceeds, our customers’ changing needs and expectations. Attracting the right people ensures a healthy talent pipeline, and providing effective training and development opportunities helps them achieve their potential. We remain committed to the health and safety of our people, and to advancing diversity and inclusion in our operations.

Talent on Six Continents

At the end of 2016, we employed 201,287 people in 71 facilities – approximately 2,200 more than at the end of 2015.

This growth in jobs is largely associated with investments in our existing facilities to expand production capacity, roll out new product launches and explore opportunities in emerging markets such as electrified and autonomous vehicles.

  See more detail about our workforce profile

Investing in New Jobs Globally

Working with our partners, and through collective bargaining agreements, we have created 28,000 jobs in the United States and invested $12 billion in our U.S. plants during the past five years. And for every one of those jobs, we know a further seven employment opportunities are created in the local community among our suppliers and other associated industries.

Ford builds more vehicles in the United States and employs more hourly U.S. workers than any other automaker.

As part of our efforts to fully utilize the capacity we have in existing facilities, we’re investing $700 million to transform and expand our Flat Rock Assembly Plant in Michigan, creating a new manufacturing innovation center and 700 jobs. Upgrades to our Livonia Transmission Plant and Ohio Assembly Plant will also create or retain 650 hourly jobs, while a further 150 jobs will be generated or secured with a $145 million investment in the Cleveland Engine Plant. In March 2017, we also announced a $1.2 billion investment in three Michigan manufacturing facilities.

Beyond the United States:

  • We have announced a $1.2 billion investment in our Canadian operations over the next four years; this will include a new research and development center in Ottawa, where 295 engineers will be hired to work on developing autonomous and connected vehicles

  • We have invested $170 million in our Silverton Assembly Plant in Pretoria, creating 1,200 new jobs at Ford South Africa and within our supplier network

Our Strategic Priorities

Our people vision is to be recognized for world-class human resources (HR) solutions and business partnerships.

Our people mission is to deliver high-impact, innovative workforce solutions and experiences that make employees’ lives better.

Creating a Great Employee Experience

Throughout the world, we want Ford to be an employer of choice, offering competitive compensation and benefits, challenging and rewarding work, and the opportunity to be part of a leading company with a diverse workforce and great products. We will do this by:

  • Creating a high-performing, diverse and inclusive workforce that is empowered, collaborative, engaged, safe and healthy
  • Using employee-centric, high-value, integrated and streamlined workforce solutions that make employees’ lives better
  • Developing a great place to work with a strong employer brand

Building a Capable and Effective Workforce

To compete for potential recruits and ensure our future success, we have been standardizing, simplifying and integrating our process for managing talent. This has involved:

  • Creating an organization that drives learning, teaching, coaching and mentoring to develop our people
  • Fit-for-purpose development including functional, professional and leadership capabilities
  • Agile and collaborative organizations and teams

To achieve these strategic priorities, we rely on a skilled and motivated HR team whose capacity to make employees’ lives better has been enhanced through the use of world-class technology.