GM delays plans to hire 3,000 salaried workers after intense hiring spree
General Motors is delaying plans to hire 3,000 salaried workers this year because the automaker says it is ahead of schedule in its hiring.
GM has already hired 7,000 new salaried workers so far this year, said spokeswoman Maria Raynal, as it works to transition from an internal combustion engine automaker to an electric vehicle software company by 2035.
The new hires are for various jobs, with an emphasis on technical hires in GM's engineering, strategy and innovation, digital and IT departments, Raynal said.
"Some open positions are being delayed in part because we’ve been hiring at such a fast pace," Raynal told the Detroit Free Press on Friday. "We are essentially ahead of schedule with our planned 2022 hiring."
She did not say how long the delay would last but said the automaker expects to have about 3,000 open positions from now through the end of the year. The jobs will be reposted on a rolling basis throughout the year on GM's career website, Raynal said.
"We have been aggressively hiring this year to support our transformation," Raynal said, adding that GM's hiring will continue during the upcoming months. "It’s not unusual to retime hiring of some positions for a variety of reasons — which is what is going on in this case."
Raynal did not know how many of the 7,000 new hires are working remote or have moved to Michigan.
In January, GM said it planned to hire about 400 software specialists and more than 8,000 people across various technology teams and other areas of the company. The hiring extends to GM Defense, GM's wholly owned subsidiary that makes products for the military.
Last year, GM said it hired 10,000 people globally. GM currently employs 50,631 people in Michigan.
In 2020, GM hired 3,000 engineers to help accelerate its development of EVs and self-driving cars. GM is spending $35 billion through 2025 to develop the technologies and promises to bring 30 new EVs to market by that time. GM-owned Cruise, a self-driving car company, hopes to launch a robo-taxi fleet business in San Francisco soon.
GM has said the flexibility of its Work Appropriately policy, which allows people to work remotely if their job allows for it, will help attract and retain talent.
GM is also offering a benefits package that includes 15 to 30 paid vacations days, depending on length of service, plus paid time off for national holidays, a commitment to diversity and an inclusive environment.
But on the manufacturing end, the auto industry has struggled to hire and keep people since late last year, despite good starting pay and benefits.
GM's Factory Zero, in Detroit and Hamtramck, is no exception.
In April, GM held a job fair at the plant where it is assembling the 2022 GMC Hummer EV pickup and, later this year, will start building more EVs.
GM spokesman Dan Flores said Factory Zero currently employs about 800 total people and when it reaches full production, GM plans to employ nearly 2,200.
But he said, "Due to the overwhelming success of Factory Zero's April job fair, we are not currently recruiting for GM subsystems positions. We are still accepting applications for skilled trades team members."
Interested applicants can visit careers.gm.com for information regarding employment opportunities at Factory Zero.
Flores said GM’s Pontiac Stamping is holding a skilled trades job fair May 25.
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Contact Jamie L. LaReau: 313-222-2149 or jlareau@freepress.com. Follow her on Twitter @jlareauan. Read more on General Motors and sign up for our autos newsletter. Become a subscriber.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: GM delays plans to hire 3,000 salary workers after hiring spree
