GM’s simple message to employees about returning to work: ‘Work appropriately’

DETROIT – General Motors follows a surprisingly simple approach to its return to employee work strategy: “Work appropriately.”

This is the message that Mary Barra, CEO, and other GM leaders conveyed Tuesday about how the automaker plans to reintegrate its 155,000 global employees into a world of work after vaccination. According to managers, this is a flexible, evolving policy that will depend on the employee, week and project.

This could mean more training for GM’s 87,000 hourly factory workers whose jobs are at the company’s manufacturing facilities. Or it could mean that an employee is able to work permanently from home or have a hybrid schedule for working remotely and remotely.

“This is not about a policy or a one-time approach,” Laura Jones, GM’s global talent director, told reporters this week. “But truly the evolution of our culture for all.”

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

GM’s remote work plan is a play on the simplified attire of the company, which Barra started when he led the human resources of 2009-2011. She replaced a 10-page clothing policy with two words: “Customize the clothes.”

Such flexible and ambiguous policies are intended to empower GM leaders to take responsibility for their departments and employees. According to officials, GM recently held 52 workshops for 1,100 industry leaders to distance itself from its initiative. Each leader will work with their employees to determine what an appropriate work schedule is.

“The learnings and successes of the past year have let us know how we will manage the future of work at GM, called ‘Work Appropriate’. This means that employees, where work allows, 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 did not want to estimate how much it could save on office-related costs as a result of the new initiative. Managers also did not want to predict how many employees are expected to remain remote. Jones said such an estimate would be ‘against the philosophy’ of the initiative.

GM’s strategy comes a month after Ford Motor said it would introduce a hybrid work schedule that gives non-manufacturing employees more flexibility when reporting to the office.

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

According to Cyril George, GM’s global talent acquisition director, the recruitment during the coronavirus pandemic has already boosted the provision of such flexibility.

“From a recruitment standpoint, it has significantly opened up the talent pool for us,” he said, calling it a ‘truly liberating aspect’ to the appointment.

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

GM did not want to provide an update on when employees who work remotely due to the coronavirus pandemic will return to the office. The company had earlier confirmed a June or July target, but said it would be based on local regulations regarding Covid-19.

Only about 25% of GM’s non-manufacturing employees worldwide work in physical locations, according to a company spokesman.