Brain Drain: GM Whacks Engineers
GM’s woes continue to deepen as the automaker faces a critical deadline by the end of the month. Before April 1 rolls around, the company must trim staff including production line union workers as well as white color engineers and support staff.
That move must be done in order to show the federal government that the company is serious about overhauling its operation and returning to profitability. If it doesn’t, then additional funding isn’t likely to be offered, making bankruptcy a more likely scenario.
GM’s Brain Trust
Although it would be nice to say that all workers provide the same valuable service to a company, the hardest people to replace are those with highly specific knowledge skills which includes engineers who help design the electrical, mechanical, electronic, safety and software aspects of a car, the brains behind current and future models.
Most companies fear a “brain drain” where some of their smartest people decide to up and leave in pursuit of a better opportunity. But, in the case of GM they’re not waiting for that to happen as they are giving as many as 160 people their walking papers, folks who are part of the company’s vast technical center in Warren, Michigan.
330 Acres and Thousands of Employees
The General Motors Technical Center is sprawled across 330 acres and includes more than two dozen buildings and other structures. The center is the heart and soul of company product development and cost the automaker $100 million when it was completed in 1955. According to GM, the complex would cost five times that much if it were built today.
Notified workers will be given until April 1st to leave the company and will receive a half month’s severance for each year worked, up to six months. In the meantime, they’ll have to consider what action to take, given that neither Ford or Chrysler are hiring and the engineering staffs for most foreign automakers are located overseas.
See also — GM Releases First Chevy Cruze Photos
Trackbacks
3 Responses to “Brain Drain: GM Whacks Engineers”
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
March 30th, 2009 at 2:38 am
Though a lot of companies are doing it, I still think that big companies like GM should think twice about retrenching their employees. The valuable knowledge and skill that one person possesses could be the key to the growth of the company overall.