Over five years ago, the COVID-19 pandemic turned the working world on its head. Barred from returning to the office, a vast majority of white-collar workers transitioned to working from home, including quite a few under Ford. The automaker has been slowly calling its employees back to office, issuing a three-day return to office mandate early last year – and now, five years out from the start of the pandemic, The Blue Oval is requiring that its office employees spend at least four days of the work week on campus.
As per a report from Reuters, Ford is mandating that its salaried workforce report to The Blue Oval’s offices for four days a week. A spokesperson told the publication that the new rule applies to most of its global salaried employees, although the automaker did not provide a headcount. Ford alerted its employees to the impending mandate on June 25th, 2025, and stated that it will go into effect on September 1st.
“Many of our employees have been in the office three or more days per week for some time now. We believe working together in person on a day-to-day basis will help accelerate Ford’s transformation into a higher growth, higher margin, less cyclical and more dynamic company,” the Ford spokesperson told Reuters.
Hybrid work might be popular with employees, but companies including Ford, Amazon, and JPMorgan are rolling it back. In fact, The Blue Oval’s crosstown rival, General Motors, received a largely negative reaction to implementing a three-day in-office requirement back in 2022. While GM walked back on that particular mandate, the automaker eventually made it a reality in 2023, and Ford followed suit just one year later.
Ford did not say why it chose now as the time to enforce its new four-day return to office mandate. But like many companies, the automaker is likely responding to a mix of internal and external pressures as the COVID-19 pandemic fades in the rearview.
Comment
Should have been the case a few years ago. And that means top execs, too.