Despite the COVID-19 pandemic and the remote working arrangement that came about as a result, the past year has been a busy one for the Women of Ford employee resource group. The group took another significant step toward its strategic imperatives, with the reveal of an interactive playbook aimed at providing resources for women to self-advocate, in conjunction with International Women’s Day earlier this month.

The playbook, downloadable here, is available to all Ford team members. It includes examples such as how life events and other occurrences can impact your career, as well as guidance on how to prevent disruptions to your career.

“The goal is to help people become more confident in their skillset and grow their skills where they think they need to, then self-advocate for themselves to ask for the promotions and raises they deserve,” said Coreen DeFever, a design and release engineer and Women of Ford board member.

Though the playbook is written with women in mind, DeFever said men may also find it helpful.

Women of Ford, formerly known as Professional Women’s Network, revealed its strategic imperatives on International Women’s Day, held each March 8, last year. The group has since been working diligently to achieve its goals, said DeFever.

Raj Register, head of global brand experiences and Women of Ford board member, said one of the group’s goals was to increase communications, which they’ve been able to do with updated contacts and a newsletter with a call to action for prospective members. While it might be easy for any group to become disjointed due to remote working, Women of Ford has actually thrived, she said.

“As a group, we’ve banded together, especially cross-functionally,” said Register. “We’ve become a lot more structured with our strategic imperatives. There are more touchpoints, and our executive leaders are staying in touch to make sure we have the support we need. It’s refreshing that the momentum has picked up, and I’m expecting that it will continue based on the energy, support and the number of people who are raising their hands to get involved.”

Register said she expects the same commitment and energy to continue as employees in North America return to offices later this year. “COVID has shown us how efficient we can be, so there’s no reason to go back to inefficiency,” she said. “There are a lot of things that have been put into the schedule for the rest of the year and I don’t see that changing because we might be in the office.”

International Women’s Day expands, goes global

While International Women’s Day served as a springboard to a busy year for the group, the events surrounding last year’s observance were focused mostly on employees in North America. Organizers have taken a global approach this year, empowering leaders from other regions to create content specific to their location, as well as recording U.S.-based events for playback worldwide. Related workshops have been made more interactive, while other events have been stretched out over the entire month to coincide with Women’s History Month.

“It was a great start for us,” Register said of last year’s event. “But we knew we needed to make it more global. I think we’re showing up a lot better, and hopefully 2022 will be even better.”

As remote working has normalized the use of online meetings, Women of Ford has also become more accessible to employees globally. The global chapters are contributing to the group’s plans, said DeFever, adding that International Women’s Day events were offered this year in Spanish, while workshops were led by members in Europe.

“It’s given us the opportunity to be much more inclusive globally since everybody is virtual,” she said.

How to join Women of Ford

Women of Ford reflects the overall company plan, Register said, because its mission revolves around caring for one another and members challenging themselves. The group is also acting as a challenger, she said.

“To me, we have a challenge in the automotive business, and at Ford, to change the narrative of women and how we show up,” said Register. “We are making sure to be a lot more intentional about how we treat our employees, how women are reflected within the organization, as well as giving the necessary attention to close some of the gaps we have.”

The group now counts 29 chapters worldwide. It offers networking opportunities and professional growth opportunities, as well as a safe space for women to find mentorship and advocacy. The group’s benefits are also available to men, as it provides opportunities for men to be allies for women and to help solve existing issues within the organization.

The group’s men as advocates and allies team has been working to create training to recruit men to Women of Ford. A guidebook, available here, has been created to enable men to be better advocates for their women co-workers. Click here to watch the “Men as Allies and Advocates” session from International Women’s Day.

Members can volunteer for a particular workstream, the availability of which depends on the chapter they belong to. They are not required to join. Each workstream has a leader and co-leader, as well as an executive champion. Some members just want to be part of social moments, while others are more interested in mentoring, said Register.

“It really depends on what you’re interested in and how much you want to be involved,” she said.

Click here to learn more or to join Women of Ford.