Motor
giant Ford has dropped the practice of ‘managing out’ the poorest performing
staff after a strong negative reaction from employees.
The
company introduced the 10/80/10 approach championed by US energy company GE, which
involves culling the worst performing 10 per cent of the workforce, but found
it did not fit in with the Ford culture.
"Boy,
did it get a bad reaction," said John Walker, vice-president of HR for
Ford Europe, at the Winning the Global Talent War Conference organised by Pearn
Kandola in association with Personnel Today.
"It
turned a lot of staff against the company just by the manner in which it was
done," he said.
Walker
said changing social values had led the company to drop the authoritarian
approach to leadership and introduce new methods such as coaching to boost
employee engagement in the business.
