Micro-management is the hallmark of ineffective leadership and this is absolutely true at Ford AV. Nearly every issue within the company stems from upper management. Forms upon forms must be completed, often requiring approval from other departments. Why? Because whenever someone makes a mistake, the immediate response is to create yet another form and set up recurring meetings to ensure it never happens again. The result? The company is suffocating under its own bureaucratic weight.
The pay? It’s notoriously the lowest in the AV industry, which is why Ford AV mainly hires fresh graduates—they would rather underpay the greenhorns than pay for experienced professionals.
If you were to create a Venn diagram of "cheap" and "micro-managed," Ford AV would sit squarely in the middle. Take their Tulsa building as an example. The roof leaks, the parking lot is lousy with potholes, and the HVAC system spews black grit out of the vents when in operation. This has been the state of things for years. Yet instead of investing in necessary repairs, the company allocates funds to install a door badging system in order to track employees’ movements. Even salaried employees are required to punch a time clock and submit detailed timesheets accounting for every minute of their day. It’s as if they’re guarding state secrets instead of selling the same exact products every other AV company is selling. The lack of trust and constant surveillance will be shocking if you've ever worked anywhere that treats employees like adults.
Remote work? Don’t even bother. Upper management’s last word on the subject was a curt, “Stop asking.” This, despite the fact that everything—meetings, communications, workflows—is done on a computer and, hilariously, recorded. You could do this job from anywhere with Wi-Fi, but flexibility? Not on their watch. If your kid gets sick and you need to work from home to juggle responsibilities, you’ll get a hard “no.” Why? Because if they can’t monitor your every mouse click and keystroke, how could they ever be sure you’re not secretly binge-watching Netflix between Teams calls?
Leadership may claim to appreciate their employees, but ask anyone who works there to name a moment of genuine recognition or support beyond token gestures. You’ll be met with silence.
The worst part? It’s not outrageous enough to make you quit on the spot. It’s just the right amount of corporate nonsense to slowly grind you down, bit by bit, and wear you smooth out until you don’t even realize you’ve surrendered. Before you know it, you’ve stayed for years, convincing yourself that this is just how things are everywhere, and leaving wouldn’t make a difference. Spoiler: it does, and it will.
