A month after CEO Mary Barra said General Motors Co. was "not planning layoffs," the Detroit automaker is cutting a small number of executive-level and salaried jobs, The Detroit News has confirmed.
GM isn't providing the exact number of employees affected, but spokespeople for the company said it's a small number. As of December 2022, GM employed about 86,000 hourly employees and 81,000 salaried employees worldwide.
"Today's action follows our most recent performance calibration and supports managing the attrition curve as part of our overall structural costs reduction effort. This action impacts a small number of salaried employees and executives globally," spokesman David Barnas said in a statement.
In a Tuesday letter obtained by The News, GM Chief People Officer Arden Hoffman said: "We are looking at all the ways of addressing efficiency and performance. This week we are taking action with a relatively small number of global executives and classified employees following our most recent performance calibration. They will be departing the company starting from today."
During the full-year earnings release, Barra and GM CFO Paul Jacobson said the company wasn't planning any layoffs this year despite economic pressures. Jacobson did say that the automaker expected to have a slightly lower headcount by the end of this year.
GM's guidance of adjusted earnings to be in the range of $10.5 billion to $12.5 billion for the year includes $2 billion in cost savings in the automotive business over the next two years.
"I do want to be clear that we're not planning layoffs," Barra said. "We are limiting our hiring to only the most strategically important roles, and we'll use attrition to help manage overall headcount."
For the $2 billion in cost savings, during the earnings call, Jacobson said the company would focus on reducing "complexity in all of our products and reducing corporate overhead expenses across the board. I do want to be clear, though, we're not planning layoffs. We are limiting our hiring to only the most strategically important roles and will use attrition to help manage overall head count."
