General Motors has announced to layoff workers worldwide, mostly in the US. According to a state filing, the reductions include 507 employees at GM’s tech center in Warren, Michigan. Confirming the layoffs, the company’s spokesperson Kevin Kelly said in a statement “In order to win in this competitive market, we need to optimize for speed and excellence. As part of this continuous effort, we’ve made a small number of team reductions.” GM did not reveal the exact numbers impacted by the job cut, but a Reuters report says that the number of layoffs could be around 1,000.
Earlier, in August, GM streamlined its software division by laying off over 1,000 workers, followed by another 1,700 employees affected at a Kansas manufacturing facility in September.
General Motors has been working to establish itself as a frontrunner in the electric vehicle and software markets, both of which come with significant costs. The company aims to reduce its electric vehicle losses by $2 billion to $4 billion next year.
GM employs approximately 150,000 people worldwide, with the largest concentration at its technical center in Warren, Michigan. By the end of last year, the company had 76,000 white-collar employees globally. Chief Financial Officer Paul Jacobson recently confirmed that GM is on track to meet its goal of cutting $2 billion in fixed costs by year-end.
In April, around 5,000 white-collar employees accepted buyout offers from GM, a move the company stated was sufficient to avoid layoffs at the time. The buyout was extended to white-collar employees with at least five years of service and global executives with at least two years. While layoffs were not being considered then, GM acknowledged it couldn’t entirely rule out the possibility of future job cuts.