Ford to cut 800 salaried positions in U.S. by August

Ford will eliminate 500 of those positions tomorrow.

Ford has informed employees that it will be eliminating a total of 800 salaried positions in the United States by August, with the majority of those cuts scheduled to be announced on Tuesday.

Ford CEO Jim Hackett made the announcement in a note to employees that was obtained by The Detroit News. According to the correspondence, Ford will terminate 500 salaried positions on Tuesday. The balance of the 800 employees will be let go by summer.

"Ford is a family company and saying goodbye to colleagues is difficult and emotional," Hackett wrote. "We have moved away from past practices in some regions where team members who were separated had to leave immediately with their belongings, instead giving people the choice to stay for a few days to wrap up and say goodbye.”

The cuts are part of a broader effort by the Dearborn-based automaker to cut $25.5 billion from its operating costs. In total, Ford will have eliminated 7,000 global salaried employees, or about 10 percent of its total salaried workforce, by the end of its cost-saving initiative. Ford says most of those cuts have already occurred through the use of voluntary buyouts.

Despite the job cuts, Ford continues to invest in its future. Most recently Ford signed an investment deal with electric startup Rivan worth $500 million.