Source: The Detroit News

Ford Motor Co. has begun issuing buyout offers to 15,000 salaried employees in an effort to cut 1,400 positions from its corporate staffing in the U.S., Canada, Mexico and the Asia/Pacific region.

The automaker started making the offers via email Wednesday for voluntary retirement. Ford employs about 201,000 people worldwide.

A Ford spokesman said each employee’s offer would vary based on current salary and benefits, as well as years of service. It will range between three months to 18 months of pay.

“We expect we’re going to reach the 1,400 voluntary reductions,” said Mike Moran, Ford’s global news manager. “They would depart from the company by Sept. 30.”

The targeted cuts center on administrative positions and steer clear of Ford’s work on new technologies and manufacturing operations, the automaker said when it announced the upcoming personnel reduction in May.

Departments seeing buyout offers include corporate finance, sales, service, government affairs, legal purchasing and communications. The company is not seeking cuts in the areas of product development, Ford Credit, information technology and global data.

The offers go out just as Ford completed a reorganization at the top of its leadership structure. Former President and CEO Mark Fields was shown the door in May and replaced by Jim Hackett, the leader of Ford’s Smart Mobility unit. Other top executives were reassigned to different positions.

Despite record earnings last year, the automaker faces plateauing sales and stagnant valuation of its stock price.

jlynch@detroitnews.com

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