General Motors on Thursday said it was offering buyouts to most of its salaried employees and global executives and expects to take a pre-tax fee of up to $1.5 billion to cover costs.
The announcement comes as layoffs at U.S. corporations over the past two months hit their highest level since 2009, with the tech sector accounting for greater than a 3rd of the greater than 180,000 announced layoffs.
The most important US automaker in January revealed a $2 billion cost reduction goal, including job cuts through layoffs.
Under the terms of the staff reduction plan, all U.S. salaried employees with at the least five years of service and all global executives with at the least two years of service will receive a lump sum and other compensation for leaving the corporate, GM said.
GM CEO Mary Barra said in a memo to employees seen by Reuters that the automaker presents “the best opportunities to reduce structural costs”, including reducing “vehicle complexity and expanding the usage of common subsystems between existing combustion engines and future electric vehicle programs “. “.
![General Motors CEO Mary Barra](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/03/NYPICHPDPICT000005963193.jpg?w=1024)
She also cited reductions in discretionary spending and “reduction of wage earners through attrition, mostly in america.”
“By permanently reducing structural costs, we will improve vehicle profitability and maintain flexibility in an increasingly competitive market,” Barra wrote. “Now greater than ever, we’d like to take into consideration cost in all the things we do. It has to be built into our culture.”
It expects many of the fees to be collected in the primary half of 2023.
GM, whose shares fell about 2%, had 58,000 salaried employees at the tip of 2022.
Eligible employees considering the volunteer program must register by March 24, and those that agree will leave GM by June 30.
The buyouts are separate from the layoffs the corporate made last month.
A GM executive in February said the corporate was cutting a whole bunch of management and full-time jobs. Peer Ford Motor said it plans to cut 3,800 product development and government jobs in Europe over the following three years.