The insignia of an electric vehicle Ford Motor Co. E-Transit during a presentation in Washington, DC, USA, on Wednesday, July 28, 2021.
Al Drago | Bloomberg | Getty Images
DETROIT – Ford Motor delays its hybrid return-to-work program for employees who have not returned to the offices from October to before January due to the rapidly expanding delta variant of the coronavirus.
The automaker informed staff of its plans Wednesday morning, about five months after it initially announced the flexible work schedule for its approximately 86,000 employees worldwide who had not yet returned to work.
“The state of the COVID-19 virus remains very fluid, so we are adjusting the start of our hybrid work agreement to before January 2022,” Ford said in a statement.
About 120,000 to 130,000 of Ford’s 182,000 employees, mostly manufacturers, have already returned to work. Schedules are not expected to change much, if any, for workers who need to be in a particular facility to perform their duties.
Ford’s 56,000 hourly employees began working again in May 2020 after Detroit carmakers were forced to close factories for several weeks at the start of the pandemic.
Ford also announced that it will launch a new “short-term” distance work agreement that will allow employees who do not have to work in a specific location to work from an alternative location within the country of employment for up to 30 days at work. ‘year.
“The flexible hybrid model will be the main work arrangement for employees whose work does not depend on the job,” the company said.