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"Ford Grabs Chance to Rethink Offices"


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Headline in Friday WSJ.     "Most of the roughly 30,000 employees who work at or near Ford's Dearborn Mich. headquarters have returned to the office this summer to clean out their desks and workspaces......."  Goes on to say..."has nothing to do with layoffs".  Just a recognition.."Ford...is trying to prep for a future in which many, if not most employees won't come into the office every day...."

 

Interesting-not one word about the millions committed to the train station.

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41 minutes ago, Bob Rosadini said:

Headline in Friday WSJ.     "Most of the roughly 30,000 employees who work at or near Ford's Dearborn Mich. headquarters have returned to the office this summer to clean out their desks and workspaces......."  Goes on to say..."has nothing to do with layoffs".  Just a recognition.."Ford...is trying to prep for a future in which many, if not most employees won't come into the office every day...."

 

Interesting-not one word about the millions committed to the train station.


It depends on what department you're in. Someone I know is expecting to be working at home at least for the rest of the year but they're considering making it permanent. 

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With anything, working from home will be abused and once Covid 19 fiasco is over .....back to the office. Much like remote learning for children, there are positive things you miss by not being in the same space as your offices mates. I don't have to go back to the office but I can tell you, even with my 4 monitor setup (vs 3), I work better at the office. 

 

 

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33 minutes ago, jcartwright99 said:

With anything, working from home will be abused and once Covid 19 fiasco is over .....back to the office. Much like remote learning for children, there are positive things you miss by not being in the same space as your offices mates. I don't have to go back to the office but I can tell you, even with my 4 monitor setup (vs 3), I work better at the office. 

 

 


I’m just the opposite.  I haven’t been in a colocated team for 20 years.  When I’m at the office I’m doing phone, email, Webex and IM with folks all over the country.  The only interaction I have with others in the office is social.  Which is nice but doesn’t affect work.  I can do exactly the same job from home.  I do have a dedicated office with dual monitors which helps and no kids.  Wife has worked from home for 20 years.  We’ve both been promoted several times.  We were told not to come back until next summer if at all.

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10 hours ago, jcartwright99 said:

With anything, working from home will be abused and once Covid 19 fiasco is over .....back to the office. Much like remote learning for children, there are positive things you miss by not being in the same space as your offices mates. I don't have to go back to the office but I can tell you, even with my 4 monitor setup (vs 3), I work better at the office. 

 

It all depends on what your doing-but working remotely does have its challenges. I can do about 90% of my work remotely and without interruption from my coworkers, but the big issue I'm facing now is that I have two new employees under me that need training/help and working remotely has hindered that to a point, not to mention they live an hour to hour and half way. Plus some people just don't work well at home or don't like change (lots of people had a hard time adjusting to a compressed work schedule of having every other Friday off!)  

 

I'm lucky that I'm only a 20-30 minute ride to work, so I can drop in just about whenever needed, but in the future I'd rather work a hybrid schedule of working 2-3 days at home and the other 2 days in the office, as to get a change in scenery and socialize with coworkers. 

 

On our end, we've been hearing that people are going to have to clean out their personal workspaces and if you need to come in, you need to book a space and clean it up afterwards...I guess they want to go to a Regus style office sharing concept. 

 

I don't expect to be back in the office til next Spring, if nothing changes. The areas we work aren't exactly great for social distancing and the building is in dire need of upgrades since it prob hasn't been upgraded in 25 years or so. 

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Well I said from the beginning when the "work from home" edicts went out,  wonder how long the guys at the top will be looking at their real estate costs and recognize that there is a lot of potential cost reduction in this covid driven mandate.  Many of you have pointed out how little this has impacted you in the performance of your job.

 

Again, as a "senior citizen" who has been retired for 10 years, I recognize much has changed.  I think of all the drawing files that we had, and even 10 years ago they were being replaced with electronic files.  And while we were not "zooming" we sure had our share of conference calls.  But I do say, when the going gets tough, nothing like a "live" meeting.  As one of my guys once said, he knew when things had taken a turn when he saw the veins in my neck getting "definition" ?

 

I myself would not want a steady diet of working from home- in particular if I had small kids.  Then again when I think about a couple of "tours" where I spent at least 2 hrs a day commuting, then it would not be a bad trade off.

 

But my reason for starting the thread had more to do with thoughts on the "silence" with respect to the big bucks bering spent on the train station.

Think Farley is having second thoughts? 

 

When the project was started, I'm sure a pandemic was not on anyone's mind.

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8 hours ago, Bob Rosadini said:

I myself would not want a steady diet of working from home- in particular if I had small kids.  Then again when I think about a couple of "tours" where I spent at least 2 hrs a day commuting, then it would not be a bad trade off.

 

But my reason for starting the thread had more to do with thoughts on the "silence" with respect to the big bucks bering spent on the train station.

Think Farley is having second thoughts? 

 

When the project was started, I'm sure a pandemic was not on anyone's mind.

 

Lots has changed since lets say 9/11..the biggest thing is the increase in available bandwidth and software for teleconferencing.

NYC is leaching people (well ones who can afford to move) horribly and the real estate prices where I live at (35 miles south of Manhattan as the crow flies) have shot up 40K in the past month or so because people want to move into "the suburbs". NYC is going to be in a bad way for the next few years because of everything going on. 

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38 minutes ago, silvrsvt said:

 

Lots has changed since lets say 9/11..the biggest thing is the increase in available bandwidth and software for teleconferencing.

NYC is leaching people (well ones who can afford to move) horribly and the real estate prices where I live at (35 miles south of Manhattan as the crow flies) have shot up 40K in the past month or so because people want to move into "the suburbs". NYC is going to be in a bad way for the next few years because of everything going on. 


NYC isn't the only one as long as some of these mayors keep insisting these riots are just peaceful protests and doing absolutely nothing about them. I'm surprised LA hasn't started burning yet. 

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On 8/29/2020 at 10:07 PM, fuzzymoomoo said:


It depends on what department you're in. Someone I know is expecting to be working at home at least for the rest of the year but they're considering making it permanent. 

Oh no a double post. The Mod will not like this.

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22 minutes ago, fuzzymoomoo said:


NYC isn't the only one as long as some of these mayors keep insisting these riots are just peaceful protests and doing absolutely nothing about them. I'm surprised LA hasn't started burning yet. 

 

I can only speak about NYC since I live so close to it. Lots of people commute into the NYC from the surrounding areas and now that isn't happening (as much) its causing a domino effect of other businesses having to close because they don't have customers coming in from workers or tourists that would be visiting to see broadway or other things. 


Another thing is that people who are in their mid 20-30s are now settling down and having kids and living in say Jersey City or a Boro in NYC isn't as appealing now-things are closed and there is no where to go due to COVID. Your much better off having a yard to do things in with your kids and driving 5-10 minutes to get dinner or the like. I think that is the other trend that would have played its way out even without COVID accelerating it. 

As for LA...painting with a board brush...they are too laid back to care. If a police related incident like what happened in Minn or WI happened there, all bets woulds would be off. That's all I'll say without getting into politics too much. 

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6 minutes ago, silvrsvt said:

 

I can only speak about NYC since I live so close to it. Lots of people commute into the NYC from the surrounding areas and now that isn't happening (as much) its causing a domino effect of other businesses having to close because they don't have customers coming in from workers or tourists that would be visiting to see broadway or other things. 


Another thing is that people who are in their mid 20-30s are now settling down and having kids and living in say Jersey City or a Boro in NYC isn't as appealing now-things are closed and there is no where to go due to COVID. Your much better off having a yard to do things in with your kids and driving 5-10 minutes to get dinner or the like. I think that is the other trend that would have played its way out even without COVID accelerating it. 

As for LA...painting with a board brush...they are too laid back to care. If a police related incident like what happened in Minn or WI happened there, all bets woulds would be off. That's all I'll say without getting into politics too much. 


That's because NYC is still under the strictest lockdowns in the country so there's zero reason to be there right now. Combine that with a lot of lawlessness going on because of the current climate I don't know who in their right mind would want to go there right now. 

 

I only included LA because of their history of looting and rioting. I would have said Detroit because of the history here but we've kept it together pretty well for the most part and the police chief has made it clear he will not tolerate "outside agitators" to come in and start problems. 

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3 minutes ago, fuzzymoomoo said:

I only included LA because of their history of looting and rioting. I would have said Detroit because of the history here but we've kept it together pretty well for the most part and the police chief has made it clear he will not tolerate "outside agitators" to come in and start problems. 

 

That is the problem...a certain movement got corrupted by another movement. I'm curious as to how things are going to be spun with the killing of the guy in Oregon yesterday....the Mayor of Portland appears to put his foot into his mouth with that one...

 

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27 minutes ago, silvrsvt said:

 

That is the problem...a certain movement got corrupted by another movement. I'm curious as to how things are going to be spun with the killing of the guy in Oregon yesterday....the Mayor of Portland appears to put his foot into his mouth with that one...

 


Portland's mayor has gone full 'Orange Man Bad'. Simple as that. Trump has offered several times to send federal troops to help and that guy has refused every time saying it's somehow Trump's fault for starting it. 
 

Christ, I'm probably going to talk my way into trouble if I keep going.... I need to STFU now. 

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On 8/29/2020 at 9:25 PM, Bob Rosadini said:

Interesting-not one word about the millions committed to the train station.

One of the key building in the Research and Engineering Center will meet the wrecking ball very soon.  The Design Center has been the birthplace of every North American vehicle for more than the past 60 years.

 

This is part of the planned total R&E make over that will cost more than $1B !

 

Last I heard the train station, once fully restored, will also cost over $1B !

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57 minutes ago, theoldwizard said:

One of the key building in the Research and Engineering Center will meet the wrecking ball very soon.  The Design Center has been the birthplace of every North American vehicle for more than the past 60 years.

 

This is part of the planned total R&E make over that will cost more than $1B !

 

Last I heard the train station, once fully restored, will also cost over $1B !

Yes, I recall reading about the R & E project as well.  I had that project in mind as well when I started this thread.

In any case, I would imagine the "change orders" ($$$$$) are flying out as we speak.  

 

But better to adjust than ignore the new "reality".  Or is it  in fact the new reality??????

 

 

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57 minutes ago, theoldwizard said:

One of the key building in the Research and Engineering Center will meet the wrecking ball very soon.  The Design Center has been the birthplace of every North American vehicle for more than the past 60 years.

 

This is part of the planned total R&E make over that will cost more than $1B !

 

Last I heard the train station, once fully restored, will also cost over $1B !


A Billion dollars really is not that much money anymore when you're dealing with a larger construction project. Construction costs are currently astronomical, a new ground up fast food is about 5 million+ not including the land, a Target/Walmart will spend 1-2 million just to add the in store online pickup areas.  

 

Michigan Central as well as Dearborn also setup in TIF districts so they get the money back for the construction over the life of the project while at the same time they are depreciating it. In a way they end up fronting the money but will get back double over the life they own it.  The issue with intercity offices is they become harder to defend during times of Civil unrest, it was one of the driving forces after the late 60's that drove suburban office complexes in the 70's/80's. 

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2 hours ago, fuzzymoomoo said:


Portland's mayor has gone full 'Orange Man Bad'. Simple as that. Trump has offered several times to send federal troops to help and that guy has refused every time saying it's somehow Trump's fault for starting it. 
 

Christ, I'm probably going to talk my way into trouble if I keep going.... I need to STFU now. 

 

LOL

 

Don't worry I was thinking the same thing, just didn't want to get into details...your good :)

 

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On a side note. Whoever wins the coffee shop contract in that trains station wins. Even with graded coffee inside my office, people still will go get coffee. 
In our midtown office , coffee snobs grade the coffee beans. We buy from these growers and it’s in our offices.  Yet, the snooty coffee shop across the street always had a line. I never understood this but it made me want to own a coffee shop.

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On 8/29/2020 at 9:25 PM, Bob Rosadini said:

Headline in Friday WSJ.     "Most of the roughly 30,000 employees who work at or near Ford's Dearborn Mich. headquarters have returned to the office this summer to clean out their desks and workspaces......."  Goes on to say..."has nothing to do with layoffs".  Just a recognition.."Ford...is trying to prep for a future in which many, if not most employees won't come into the office every day...."

 

Interesting-not one word about the millions committed to the train station.

 

Or the millions wasted on the train station.  If Ford is closing plants like Romeo and is postponing/cancelling investments like they did at FRAP, they cannot afford a social engineering project like the train station. 

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2 hours ago, Footballfan said:

 

Or the millions wasted on the train station.  If Ford is closing plants like Romeo and is postponing/cancelling investments like they did at FRAP, they cannot afford a social engineering project like the train station. 


Those 2 things have nothing to do with each other. Romeo is closing because they have way too much engine production capacity. Plans keep changing at FRAP because they keep finding better places for their plans. Any kind of work that FRAP needs to build more than cars will require a very extended period (read: years) of down time, which means much more lost revenue than they’re willing to give up. Better off tooling up another plant where they can keep the line running while the work is being done at the same time. 

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11 hours ago, ausrutherford said:

Train Station is suppose to also be used for Ford's partners and suppliers to use.

It will be at least another 5 years, probably more, before any part of Michigan Central can be used for office space.

 

Those unfamiliar with this renovation need to look at a Google earth image (below).  There is nothing there, including NO PARKING !

 

 

Capture.jpg

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