Ford Not An Outlier With Return-To-Office Mandate Pivot

Following the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020, the vast majority of white collar workers transitioned from working in offices to working from home. Once conditions improved, Ford introduced a hybrid model that allowed workers to continue doing so unless they needed to go to the office, but early last year, some were required to report to the office three days a week – which increased to four days this past June. However, Ford certainly isn’t the only company out there mandating a return to the office, either.

According to The Detroit News, Ford is being joined by a host of other companies in regard to a push to get workers back in the office. That list includes the commercial bank Huntington Bancorp Inc., headquartered in Detroit, which will soon require workers to report to the office four days per week. Additionally the recent Americas Office Occupier Sentiment Survey found that 85 percent of U.S., Canada, and Latin America-based companies have an attendance policy – 77 percent of which require workers report to the office at least three days a week.

Ford’s rival, General Motors, has required that workers report to the office on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday since January 2024, and Stellantis began requiring its workers to come into the office for three to five days a week this past March. Each has acknowledged challenges with some workers that prefer to work from home – and claim that they are more productive in that kind of environment – but those days seem to be a thing of the past at this point.

As for Ford, it’s been busy upgrading its spaces to better accommodate this transition back to office work, as well as providing a shuttle from its world headquarters to other buildings to help with parking concerns. “Working together in person on a day-to-day basis will help accelerate Ford’s transformation,” Ford spokesperson Ian Thibodeau said in a statement. “This is about collaborating and problem-solving effectively to compete and win as the industry evolves and competition intensifies.”