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1 month ago
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Conference-room screens at Ford's Dearborn HQ were briefly hijacked on Thursday to display a protest image in an apparent swipe at the carmaker's return-to-office policy.
On Thursday morning, screens at Ford offices displayed a picture of CEO Jim Farley with a slashed circle over his face and the words "F**k RTO" emblazoned above. Social media sites started sharing the pictures, IT staff reset the screens shortly afterwards, and now the hunt is on for the mystery protester.
"We're aware of an inappropriate use of Ford's IT technology and we're investigating it," Dave Tovar, Ford spokesman, told the Detroit Free Press.
The messages appeared at Ford's Dearborn headquarters, and it's not yet clear whether any other facilities were affected. The American automaker refused to confirm the full extent of the incident or provide any clue about the perpetrator.
While Ford's factory workers returned to plants earlier in the pandemic, white-collar staff remained hybrid or remote. In June, the company announced that most salaried employees must be in the office four days a week starting September 1 as part of its return-to-office policy.
"Many of our employees have been in the office three or more days per week for some time now," it told Reuters. "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."
- IBM orders US sales to locate near customers or offices
- Empire of office workers strikes back against RTO mandates
- Vodafone: Be in the office 8 days a month or lose bonuses
- Tata Consultancy enforces return-to-office mandate for all US staff, effective immediately
Clearly, someone in the company doesn't agree, and this vulture is willing to bet it's someone in IT. Hacking the monitors requires knowledge of the network infrastructure - something far beyond what your average pen pusher could pull off.
Next month, Ford will open its new 2.1-million-square-foot headquarters in Dearborn and it's clear management wants to see bums on seats in the meantime. This hasn't gone down well with some on social media.
"They don't even give people the dignity of assigned desks, so it's like The Hunger Games trying to find a place to sit," one Reddit commenter claimed.
"And good luck sitting anywhere close to your team ... even though 'collaboration' was allegedly the goal. Nah, this is attrition to get people to quit on their own so they don't have to pay for layoffs."
It's a common refrain, although Microsoft and others are quick to deny such motivation. Many companies are now insisting on staff returning to the office and telling those who won't, or can't, to find somewhere else to work. ®
