Ford

that Ford is departing from past practices and letting laid-off employees stay a few days to wrap up their jobs and say good-bye to colleagues. In the past, laid-off workers would have had to pack up and leave immediately.

“Ford is a family company and saying goodbye to colleagues is difficult and emotional,” Hackett wrote.

Hackett told workers that under the restructuring, managers now will have seven people reporting to them on average, up from five before changes were initiated began. That reduces management bureaucracy by one-third from before the “Smart Redesign” began.

Before the restructuring, Ford had 14 organizational layers, but that will drop to nine or less by the end of the year, Hackett’s memo said.