Ford has expanded the number of workers it has furloughed in the UK while production, sales and development remain largely on hold during the coronavirus pandemic.
The automaker has furloughed 1,500 to 2,000 non-production staff, adding them to the 3,500 engine production workers already furloughed. Other employees have been given a two-week mandatory vacation until April 20.
"It is important we use all tools available to ensure that we come out of this crisis in a fit state for the future," Ford said in a statement.
Like other auto companies, Ford is taking advantage of government programs to pay salaries during the enforced shutdowns to slow the spread of the coronavirus.
The UK's furlough program is similar to ones set up across Europe to reduce the heavy financial impact of the pandemic. The British government will fund up to 80 percent of wage costs for staff placed on temporary leave, up to 2,500 pounds ($3,100) a month per employee.
Under the program, employees must be furloughed for three weeks and not undertake any work in that time.
BMW in the UK is also set to expand the number of furloughed staff to include office-based employees and other workers after initially restricting it to production workers. The change would take place 'soon,' a BMW spokesman said.
Other automakers using the program include Aston Martin and Nissan.
Nissan has furloughed production and vehicle development staff as it extends its production shutdown in its UK and Spain plants through to the end of April.
Ford in Germany has moved most salaried employees to the 'Kurzarbeit', or short-time working scheme funded by the government, which is similar to the UK's furlough scheme. Around 22,000 employees are on the scheme, a spokesman said. The German program pays up to 80 percent of lost wages, net of tax.
"Exceptions only apply to a few functions that are necessary to maintain very restricted business activities," the spokesman said.
PSA Group and Renault have signed "solidarity contracts" with employees in France to protect wages.
In the UK, companies are having to wait to access the furlough program as the government works to put it in place.
"We expect the scheme to be up and running by the end of April," the government wrote on a web page detailing how it would work. The scheme is backdated to March 1, but until it is set up companies must continue to pay staff as normal.
"At the moment while the government has announced the furlough, there are no means to go furlough so we have to pay salaries until further notice," Mofid Elkemiri, head of production for UK based electric taxi maker, LEVC, told Automotive News Europe.
"It is backdated, but we have to wait to see what the conditions are. At the end of the day, everything has a condition," Elkemiri said.
