Ford plans to cut 1,000 salaried jobs in North America

Ford Motor reportedly plans to cut about 1,000 salaried jobs in North America as it tries to execute an $11 billion restructuring plan that has failed to meet Wall Street’s expectations.

The planned reduction, reported by Bloomberg, comes as the company is expected to report its first annual operating loss in a decade. It also follows thousands of previous job cuts under the 2-year-old plan that’s expected to continue for several years.

The job cuts are expected to come in the form of voluntary buyouts and are not related to rising costs from the coronavirus pandemic, according to Bloomberg, citing anonymous sources familiar with the plans.

The headcount reduction being unrelated to the coronavirus is despite outgoing Ford CEO Jim Hackett telling investors on a first-quarter investor call in April that the company “must not only weather the crisis,” but “emerge from it ready to build a brighter future.” He also said “there’s that one truth, right, don’t waste the crisis.”

Ford had a worldwide workforce of 190,000 people at the end of 2019 – down 9,000 from the previous year, including a reduction of 7,000 salaried positions worldwide last year. The company has about 36,000 salaried employees in the U.S.

A Ford spokesman declined to comment on the report.

The company announced the restructuring plan in 2018, citing it would cost $11 billion in pre-tax earnings and $7 billion in cash-related effects through 2023. The actions were expected to “come largely outside of North America,” the company said at the time.