By Nora Eckert
DETROIT (Reuters) -Ford Motor CEO Jim Farley has told employees that the automaker needs to speed efforts to improve quality and lower costs, and that manager bonuses, which are tied to those metrics, would be slashed to 65% of their total, according to three people familiar with the matter.
Farley recently introduced a new performance system where company bonuses are directly tied to progress on key goals in an effort to change the 121-year-old automaker’s culture to hold employees more accountable. He made the announcement about the lowered bonuses at a town hall on Wednesday.
“I’m proud of the progress but we’re not satisfied at all,” Farley said in a third-quarter earnings presentation on Monday.
Ford executives said on Monday that the company would meet only the lower end of its annual guidance. Its shares fell by more than 10% on Tuesday. The shares were down 1.3% at $10.34 on Thursday afternoon.
“When we meet or exceed our targets for those factors – and we achieve the ambitious goals of Ford+ – the team is rewarded,” a Ford spokesman said on Thursday. “We are focused on lowering our costs, improving our quality and making Ford a higher growth, higher margin, more capital efficient and more resilient business.”
Bonuses may change depending on the company’s fourth-quarter performance, he added.
“It’s a fundamental change in the way we’re running the company. We now truly differentiate and reward excellence at Ford,” Farley said on an earnings call in February, describing the new performance system. “It’s a massive culture change.”
The percentage of the company bonus recipients collect also varies depending on their personal performance, the Ford spokesman said.
Crosstown rival General Motors tweaked its compensation package for employees earlier this year, Reuters first reported, in a move to compete with companies like Tesla which offer stock-heavy pay packages.
GM now rewards its top 5% of employees with 150% bonuses, higher than what was available under the previous system, and the lowest 5% of performers are subject to what the company calls “appropriate action,” including being fired.
(Reporting by Nora Eckert in DetroitEditing by David Gaffen and Matthew Lewis)
