Ford

I had a great supervisor and team.

They paid my relocation costs when I first started work for them.

I left Ford when I was recruited into a better job offer, plain and simple. I planned to give 3 weeks notice as a courtesy to my team that I still highly respected, so I could help them transition a new team member into my position during a very busy time in the project cycle.

Beware, the day you give notice, they immediately excuse you from work and cut you off, no matter what date you list in your resignation letter. It seems they have a secret walk-out policy. Don't bother giving notice until you're ready to leave the same day.

I lost thousands and thousands of dollars in retirement money that would have vested in just a week, had they honored a 2 weeks' notice. I was promised two weeks' additional pay and unused vacation in my exit interview, and a month later I haven't received anything and have been trying for over two weeks to reach someone and find out what happened.

They send you to an e-mail address that only responds every 4-5 days and knows nothing. The person who gave me the promise never returned any of my calls until my wife called, then emailed and referred me to the same phone number that knows nothing. Well, actually, pretends to know nothing, as I’ve called them enough now to get the feeling their responses are scripted.

They give a pretense of helping me and answering my questions, but we are still back at square one after over two weeks, and I’ve had to rephrase my question about ten times, and they still don’t get it.

Ford touts how good they are at communicating, but anytime I try to call and get information, no one knows anything (or maybe pretends not to), and I'm just referred to automated e-mail addresses and voicemails. Even as an employee, we found out major company news from the mainstream news before they told their employees. Horrible communication.

You can't find contact information to a live voice anywhere, probably on purpose.

I wanted to leave in a friendly manner, but instead, they seem to have made false promises and treated me like outsider scum, so I've lost all respect I had for them, which is really sad. Thanks a lot, Ford, it didn't have to be this way.

If you plan on staying there the rest of your life, then maybe you'll enjoy it if you can handle all the lack of productivity and frustration that might arise when trying to work with union employees, and if you don’t mind a bonus that seems to be only a fifth the size of what the union workers get. But if you ever have to make a career change, watch out for the corporate beast and be sure to make sure all your own interests are in line before you leave.

Yes, I’m bitter now. I’ve wasted so much time trying to get only what was promised to me, and I wasn’t bitter when I walked in to give my notice, or even when they walked me out the door, although I was shocked. The last month of trying to work with completely clueless and incompetent Ford employees, policies, and procedures has ruined it for me, zero customer service, and intentional avoidance. I’d be ashamed to drive a vehicle produced by a company run in such a manner, and I can’t believe I worked for such a company, how sad.

Don't make promises you don't intend to keep.

Scrap the walk-out policy. I understand you're afraid people will steal company secrets when they leave, so you walk them out the door. But all this does is alienate them and harm your reputation in the long run. If they were really going to steal secrets, they would have done that before they gave notice, unless they are really brainless.

Publish your employee handbook and policies online.

Make contact information for departments available instead of hiding behind dead-end automated phone systems and e-mail addresses.

Give better bonuses to your engineers and product developers. They can't be replaced by robots, and it's a slap in the face to them every time they watch news coverage of the big bonuses line workers are getting every Christmas.