General Motors is a technology company that makes cars, and the skills its employees had yesterday are continuously becoming outdated. Experts said that is the underlying message of GM CEO Mary Barra’s move on Oct. 31 to offer voluntary buyouts to GM’s North American salaried workers with 12 or more years of experience with the company. On the surface, it’s typical to cut costs ahead of a potential dip in new-car sales and rising raw-material costs. But look closer. “GM is signaling a change in vehicle technology. If they go into electric more rapidly, then they do not need the same engineers they have now,” said Maryann Keller, principal of Maryann Keller & Associates in the New York area. “The advent of electric vehicles has profound implications for employment in the auto industry’s competition and the skill sets needed to compete.” Consider that Barra hails from a human-resources background, so targeting employees with long seniority and high pay grades is strategic when a company is moving toward the development of more electric cars, fuel cells and autonomous vehicles, experts said. It means redeploying the workforce and freeing up significant capital, said Marick Masters, professor of business at Wayne State University. “Technology has changed so fast and is changing so fast that if you’ve been out of school 10 or 20 years, you’re not at the leading edge anymore,” said Masters. “This will give GM an opportunity to create a greenfield of sorts, to create a new company within a company.”… [Read full story]
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