New Ford HQ Should Serve As Talent Attraction Mechanism

Ford has operated out of quite a few different headquarters locations in its century-plus of existence, but for the past nearly 70 years, its HQ has been the "Glass House," as many like to call it. As Ford Authority reported earlier this month, The Blue Oval will now demolish that building and move into a brand new, state of the art facility at the upgraded and reimagined Dearborn product development campus, officially known as the Henry Ford II World Center, starting this November. As one might imagine, that new location is designed to help Ford attract new talent, too.

According to Automotive News, Ford is betting that moving into a brand new high-tech facility will help it "attract top talent and let executives, engineers and designers work more efficiently." "This is more than just a new building, it is a physical symbol of our Ford+ transformation," CEO Jim Farley and Executive Chair Bill Ford wrote in an email informing employees of this big move. "The core idea is simple: to win in this new era, we must work together in new ways."

The new Ford HQ will contain quite a few things that the existing building does not - such as six design studios (one of which allows for full product reviews to be completed in one space for the very first time), seven restaurants in a 160,000 square-foot food hall, mother's rooms, wellness areas, art installations, and even "Easter eggs" scattered throughout. Bill Ford calls the new HQ a "talent attraction magnet," adding, "our facilities around the world were really tired and in some cases embarrassing. Our product development center hadn’t changed from the day I started there in 1979. When we’d recruit people, we’d have to show them everything but where they were going to work. It was really bad."

According to Ford, its new headquarters is designed to bring thousands of engineering, design, and technology team members together in one collaborative space, one that’s also double the size of its current HQ. The site will be capable of hosting up to 4,000 employees in total, and 14,000 workers will be able to live without a 15-minute walk of the new facility, which will feature state of the art workspaces, technology, and tools.