GM offers buyouts to ‘majority’ of U.S. salaried workers

 

General Motors will offer voluntary buyouts to a “majority” of its 58,000 U.S. white-collar employees, as it aims to cut $2 billion in structural costs over the next two years, according to a letter sent to workers Thursday from CEO Mary Barra.

The “Voluntary Separation Program,” or VSP, will be offered to all U.S. salaried employees who have spent five or more years at the company as of June 30. Outside of the U.S., the automaker will offer buyouts to executives with at least two years of time at the company.

GM expects to take a pretax charge of up to $1.5 billion related to the buyouts, according to a public filing Thursday. The majority of the charges are expected to be all-cash and occur during the first half of the year, the company said.

U.S. employees who are approved for the buyout will be granted one-month pay for every year they worked up to 12 months, as well as COBRA health coverage. They also will receive prorated team performance bonuses and outplacement services. Global employees will receive base salary, incentives, COBRA and outplacement services.

Eligible employees interested in the program must sign up by March 24. Those who elect to take a voluntary package and are approved will depart by June 30.

A company spokeswoman declined to disclose how many employees the company is targeting to accept the buyout packages. At the end of last year, GM employed about 81,000 salaried employees worldwide, according to public filings.

https://www.cnbc.com/2023/03/09/gm-buyouts-us-salaried-workers.html