The continued spread of COVID-19 has impacted Ford’s business in China as well as other closely related regional markets. Despite the adverse situation, we are proud to observe that all Ford global businesses, subsidiaries and departments have been working as one team, making concerted efforts to protect the health of our employees and deliver sustained value to our stakeholders.
In order to prevent the spread of COVID-19 after employees return to work in the offices, Ford Land has made comprehensive preparations. Since Ford has offices in a few Chinese cities, and the policies of local governments vary from one city to another, the GA and Ford Land team have paid close attention to local policies on resuming work, learned professional epidemic prevention strategies, and formulated customized infection prevention instructions with HR and cross function experts for offices in different cities.
Facing a critical shortage of disinfectants and disposable medical masks, Purchasing deployed global procurement resources to meet the urgent prevention demands of various Ford offices in China. Thanks to the effective coordination of Ford global and China teams, sanitization equipment has been put in place and the disinfection routines have been carried out smoothly. The team includes Jingjing Zhang, Cathy Ai, Linda Zhuo, Joon Zhou, Echo Zhang, Jin Hui, Wilson Lee, Catherine Xia did a great job to ensure employees' health & safety after work resumption.
“In order to prevent large gatherings of employees in public areas, we stipulate guidelines for the maximum number of employees allowed in various public areas. For example, the pantry will cater to a maximum of six people at one time. We have taken as many details as possible into consideration, including wrapping lunch boxes with disposable plastic bags before putting them into refrigerators, and using tissues when pressing buttons on water dispensers, coffee machines and microwave ovens,” said Liu Jiasheng, director of Ford Land, who gave up the Spring Festival break to be on-call 24/7 with the team together.
In addition, the collaboration between the mainland China and Taiwan offices was also very heartwarming. Since transportation between Taiwan and mainland China was suspended after the outbreak of COVID-19, Ford Lio Ho Motor Company (FLH) established a temporary satellite office for employees who were not able to return to their offices in mainland China.
The satellite office is well equipped and designed to accommodate up to 55 employees. So far, 25 employees have registered to work at the temporary office. It provides for closer collaboration between regional markets and facilitates cross-functionality among various departments, ranging from IT and product development to human resources, further demonstrating the One Ford spirit.
With increasing globalization in recent years, all Ford businesses across the world have become growingly connected. In the battle against COVID-2019, the One Ford Spirit and concerted efforts among all departments will help us navigate through the challenges and usher in new development opportunities.