A Ford worker told the CEO that “young people don’t want to work here.” So Jim Farley took a page from the founder’s playbook
Some economists praise automaker Henry Ford for jumping off the middle class in the 20th century when he hiked factory wages in January 1914. Up to $5more than twice the average wage on an eight-hour working day.
More than a century later, in the face of the reality of many employees, Ford CEO Jim Farley said he pulled the page out of the founder’s playbook.
The automaker’s chief executive spoke with veteran employees during union contract negotiations and realized that the young Ford employee was working multiple jobs and was sleeping inadequately due to low wages, Farley said. Interview with journalist and biographer Walter Isaacson at the Aspen Idea Festival on Friday.
“The older workers at the company said, “No one of the young people wants to work here. Jim, you pay $17 an hour, and they’re very stressed,” Farley said.
Farley learned that some of the workers were also working at Amazon, and after working there, he began his seven-hour shift at Ford, only slept three or four hours. As a result, the company has made temporary workers full-time employees and is eligible for higher wages, profit sharing checks and better health care coverage. An overview of the transition has been outlined 2019 Contract Negotiation Along with United Autoworkers (UAW), temporary workers can go full time after two years of continuous employment at Ford.
“It wasn’t easy to do,” Farley said. “It was expensive, but I think it’s the kind of change we need to make in our country.”
Ford’s own decision to double factory wages in 1914 was a strategy that attracted a stable workforce, not altruistic, and a strategy that provided inspiring so that his workers could buy Ford products.
“He said, ‘I’m doing this because I want factory workers to buy my car. If they make enough money, they’ll buy my own products,” Farley said. “It’s a self-fulfilling prophecy in a way.”
Issues attracting young trade workers
Farley, a proponent of expanding US productivity and supporting an essential economy, advocates for young workers to have strong trade experiences.
“Our government needs to be really serious about investing in trade schools and skilled trade,” he said. “You go to Germany. All of our factory workers have apprentices that started in middle school. All of those jobs have the person behind them for eight years of training.”
Despite the US watching 3.8 million new manufacturing industry According to the Deloitte And the younger generation of workers, the manufacturing lab, are pretty much away from their career paths. That’s what it is for registration at Gen Z Trade School increaseHowever, the latest generations to participate in the workforce are Avoid factory work2023 SOTER Analytics survey cites low wages. There is an average for US manufacturing jobs in the US $25 per hour– It’s $51,890 a year – That shortage Average American Salary $66,600.
American automakers like Ford may be trying to make it appealing for younger workers to embark on manufacturing careers, but they have yet to be spared frustrated with workers’ wages. In 2023, thousands of UAW members, including 16,600 Ford employees, were hit by strikes earlier Reach the contract That October, beyond wage increases, the period required for temporary workers to become full-time was further reduced.
Farley called the strike “completely unnecessary” from a management perspective, and kept Ford not alone in his responsibility to improve wages for trade workers.
“We’re not just hoping it gets better,” he said. “We have the resources and know-how to solve these problems in 120 years, but we need more help from others.”