GM’s simple message to employees about returning to work: “Work properly”

DETROIT – General Motors takes a surprisingly simple approach to its return-to-work strategy for employees: “Work Properly”.

This is the message conveyed on Tuesday by CEO Mary Barra and other GM leaders about how the carmaker plans to reintegrate its 155,000 global employees into a world of work after the vaccine. It is a flexible and evolving policy that, according to executives, will vary depending on the employee, the week and the project.

It could mean more remote training for GM workers of 87,000 factory workers every hour, whose jobs require being on the company’s manufacturing facilities. Or it can mean allowing a salaried employee to work permanently from home or doing a hybrid work program in the office and remotely.

“This is not a one-size-fits-all policy or approach,” Laura Jones, GM’s global talent director, said this week. “But really this evolution of our culture for everyone.”

The decision to create this program followed the comments of employees, many of whom have been working remotely for a year due to the coronavirus pandemic. GM conducted several surveys on how and where employees would prefer to work in the future, officials said.

GM’s remote work plan is a game outside of the company’s simplified dress code, which Barra started while managing human resources from 2009-2011. He replaced a 10-page dress code policy with two words: “Dress appropriately.”

These flexible and ambiguous policies are intended to empower GM leaders to take responsibility for their departments and employees. GM recently held 52 workshops aimed at 1,100 business leaders to present its remote work initiative, according to officials. Each leader will work with their employees to determine what an appropriate work schedule is.

Last year’s learnings and successes led us to introduce how we will manage the future of work at GM, called ‘Working Properly.’ This means that wherever work allows, employees have the flexibility to work where they can. have the greatest impact on achieving our goals, ”Barra said in a LinkedIn post on Tuesday.

GM declined to estimate how much it could save on office-related costs as a result of the new initiative. Executives also refused to predict how many employees are expected to stay away. Jones said having this estimate would go “against the philosophy” of the initiative.

GM’s strategy comes a month after Ford Motor said it will launch a hybrid work program that offers employees who don’t manufacture more flexibility when they show up at the office.

GM believes its new policy, which it calls a “mindset,” will help recruit new employees, some of whom will not work in GM’s traditional locations.

Enabling this flexibility has already increased recruitment during the coronavirus pandemic, according to Cyril George, GM’s global talent acquisition director.

“From a recruitment standpoint, it has significantly opened up the talent pool to us,” he said, considering it a “really liberating aspect” to hiring.

George said the company hired more new employees in the United States in the first quarter of 2021 than in all of 2020 and 2019 combined. About 20 percent of the 3,300 new job offers are completely remote, he said.

GM declined to provide an update on when employees working remotely due to the coronavirus pandemic will return to the office. The company had previously confirmed a June or July target, but said it would be based on local regulations related to Covid-19.

According to a company spokesman, only 25% of non-manufacturing GM employees worldwide work in physical locations.