GM begins cutting salaried workers

DETROIT — General Motors has begun cutting about 4,000 salaried jobs, most of them in North America, and expects to complete it in two weeks.

GM leadership is communicating with employees on the timing and procedure of the job cuts, part of a restructuring intended to save $2.5 billion this year. A spokesman said some areas began cuts over the past couple of weeks.

“This will be implemented staff by staff and location by location over the next couple of weeks,” Pat Morrissey told the Free Press. “We’re not going to get into which departments and when and where it’s happening.”

Some employees in GM’S Detroit headquarters received an email from CFO Dhivya Suryadevara on Monday saying that “restructuring activities” were beginning and employees will be informed by their team leaders when the cuts are complete.

“As you hear about employees that are impacted, please be mindful and respect their feelings. People will respond differently, so always take your cue from them,” she wrote.

Morrissey said severance pay will be based on years of service. For those with 12 years or more, the severance package is the same as the one offered late last year to 2,250 employees who took a voluntary buyout: six months’ pay and the continuation of health care benefits.

CEO Mary Barra says the company must restructure while its finances are good so it will be ready for changes in the industry. GM reports its 2018 full year and fourth-quarter earnings Wednesday.

The auto industry faces high researchand-development costs for the anticipated need to capture big shares of the coming market for autonomous ride sharing and delivery of goods. Legacy automakers are seeking tech workers as they reshape, and Barra has said GM should be seen as a tech company.

GM has been on a hiring spurt for nearly five years as it seeks new skills for its drive to develop automated and more electrified vehicles. The Free Press reported in June that GM had hired 9,000 new people in the previous 24 months. Forty percent of GM’S 67,000 salaried full-time global workers had been hired in the previous five years, the company said at the time.