R.I.F. at G.M. North America, 2018 edition

[gcgang]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lakewood90712 Article cites buyout offered to 17,700 salary employees with just 2250 accepting. https://www.cnbc.com/2018/11/28/here...-job-cuts.html That has got to be about the lowest acceptance on a buyout I have ever seen. I wonder just how Generous the package offered by Generous Motors was.

I only worked there about a year, and it was almost 40 years ago, but didn't they call it Generous Mother?

It was my introduction to the monotony of bureaucracy and job protection rules. I couldn't get out of there fast enough.

[target2019]

Even though it is obvious now, GM's plant closures were not public knowledge when the buyout was offered. In fact some likely felt immune because of recent speeches. Another important point is that many eligible would have a problem replacing that job. A pity.

[marko]

Quote:

Originally Posted by gcgang I only worked there about a year, and it was almost 40 years ago, but didn't they call it Generous Mother? It was my introduction to the monotony of bureaucracy and job protection rules. I couldn't get out of there fast enough.

Years ago I gave a seminar at GM. I was scolded quite strongly for trying to plug in my slide projector on my own. "You need to have one of our electricians come and do that!!!"

At seminar time, a guy came in with a stop watch and told me that if I didn't have the seminar fully underway within 6 minutes of my stated start time, everyone would leave. They didn't have to go back to work; they could go home (or to a bar) for the 3 hours that I said the talk would last.

Made me wonder what other gross inefficiencies this place had.

[marko]

Quote:

Originally Posted by joeea How about if you got that offer 20 years before you planned to retire? And your skills didn't translate well to other industries? And you were in a locale with few other opportunities? And you had only held one job your entire adult life?

Good points. But we've discussed on a few threads that even with translatable skills and tons of opportunities in one's area, age is the biggest determinant for getting hired. (speaking from personal experience)

Someone with 20 years to go might be 40 years young which could be a good thing; someone with 10 years to go at age 50 is very often doomed.

In my case, I did take an obscenely generous buyout which got me to RE 10 years sooner than planned.

[oldphd]

Quote:

Originally Posted by marko Made me wonder what other gross inefficiencies this place had.

In the early 80s I was working at a company doing cutting edge computer work. GM hired our company to do some work that involved me being onsite in Detroit at a job shop where GM was footing the bill for several people working on a particular concept vehicle. We had a middle aged/middle manager GM lifer type who was overseeing the project.

He shared a number of things about his work/benefits, but one story in particular stuck with me. At his level he got a new company car every 3-6 months. He said it was so he would know all the models offered and how things worked, so he didn't think of it as a benefit but as part of his job. No maintenance costs since always new, usually turned in before it needed an oil change, but it also included fuel. However, he complained about the hardship of working off site, he would have to go to a fuel pump at the plant he was based out of and get the gas himself (still free, not even pay and get reimbursed on expense account). If he was actually parked in the lot at work it would be filled up for him by a fuel truck that drove around on certain days of the week and topped off every car in the lot (maybe 2-3 days/week, I forget). As a just out of college youngster struggling to make ends meet, all I could think was wow, is this guy out of touch.

[Walt34]

Quote:

Originally Posted by oldphd If he was actually parked in the lot at work it would be filled up for him by a fuel truck that drove around on certain days of the week and topped off every car in the lot (maybe 2-3 days/week, I forget). As a just out of college youngster struggling to make ends meet, all I could think was wow, is this guy out of touch.

At the brutal place where I worked I got a free car with free gas, but I had to drive to the employer's pumps and put the gas in it myself.

In the heat of summer and the cold of winter the suffering was terrible I tell ya!

[joeea]

Quote:

Originally Posted by SmallCityDave I live in a different world.... when my employer can't afford to keep me he cuts me loose, maybe he lets me stay on for a couple of weeks working while I look for a new job.

You live in a non-union world and seem to have convinced yourself that it's a good thing for some reason. And you look down on those in a union.

[jazz4cash]

Quote:

Originally Posted by oldphd In the early 80s I was working at a company doing cutting edge computer work. GM hired our company to do some work that involved me being onsite in Detroit at a job shop where GM was footing the bill for several people working on a particular concept vehicle. We had a middle aged/middle manager GM lifer type who was overseeing the project. He shared a number of things about his work/benefits, but one story in particular stuck with me. At his level he got a new company car every 3-6 months. He said it was so he would know all the models offered and how things worked, so he didn't think of it as a benefit but as part of his job. No maintenance costs since always new, usually turned in before it needed an oil change, but it also included fuel. However, he complained about the hardship of working off site, he would have to go to a fuel pump at the plant he was based out of and get the gas himself (still free, not even pay and get reimbursed on expense account). If he was actually parked in the lot at work it would be filled up for him by a fuel truck that drove around on certain days of the week and topped off every car in the lot (maybe 2-3 days/week, I forget). As a just out of college youngster struggling to make ends meet, all I could think was wow, is this guy out of touch.

The rest of the story: The cars were not free. Employees at that level paid a substantial below market rate for the benefit. It was a great deal if you placed a very high value on driving a brand new car every 6 months or 5000 miles. You generally didn’t get to pick the model but you could decline a sports car if you had a family for example. You also were required to buy a new vehicle outright at the employee discount. A lot of folks I know tried to decline but couldn’t.

[CRLLS]

Quote:

Originally Posted by oldphd In the early 80s I was working at a company doing cutting edge computer work. GM hired our company to do some work that involved me being onsite in Detroit at a job shop where GM was footing the bill for several people working on a particular concept vehicle. We had a middle aged/middle manager GM lifer type who was overseeing the project. He shared a number of things about his work/benefits, but one story in particular stuck with me. At his level he got a new company car every 3-6 months. He said it was so he would know all the models offered and how things worked, so he didn't think of it as a benefit but as part of his job. No maintenance costs since always new, usually turned in before it needed an oil change, but it also included fuel. However, he complained about the hardship of working off site, he would have to go to a fuel pump at the plant he was based out of and get the gas himself (still free, not even pay and get reimbursed on expense account). If he was actually parked in the lot at work it would be filled up for him by a fuel truck that drove around on certain days of the week and topped off every car in the lot (maybe 2-3 days/week, I forget). As a just out of college youngster struggling to make ends meet, all I could think was wow, is this guy out of touch.

Such benefits to middle and higher management type personel were not uncommon back in the day. I worked for one of the major (US) TV mfgrs. Every time a new model TV would come out, the top guys got one delivered to their house. Presumably for them to provide actual, real life performance reviews. Problem was that they were not technical so did not give any actual feedback. it was clearly just a benefit in disguise. I didn;t think less of them for that. Not my circus! As a mfging tech whose job was to release these to the manufacturing floor, I was too low on the totem pole to get one personally. I did have one on my bench at the factory though, That one, or the next model scheduled to come out. Smaller than the GM by comparison I know.


Now, no more big TV mfgrs left here in the US. GM is just a few decades later in closing their manufacturing I guess. Times change.

[RobbieB]

I worked summer replacement at Ford back when I was going to school in Michigan back in the 70's. The "glory days" of the big 3.

I'm always grateful that I didn't have good enough grades to get hired at Ford as an engineer and wound up on the west coast in the automation business instead.

[WhenIsItTime]

How do these mega-corp mega-layoff's work? Are they kicking out tenured high paid folks to replace at lower cost or in case such as GM's, do they really have 15,000 employees who could leave immediately and not impact ongoing operations negatively (in other words, were they not doing something productive?)?

[charais]

Brings back so many memories of DH being asked to leave GM at age 53.9 years old with 24.5 years of service in 2009. 18,000 engineers were laid off in April 2009 (they called it Black Tuesday) waiting in their cubicles hoping they didn't get the tap on the shoulder. Unfortunately my DH was tapped...he appeared unexpectedly at my place of work that sunny, cold morning telling me "The worse has happened." True, they got evaluation vehicles every 90 days (we did pay monthly for that) but they had no other way home than to drive the company car home. The ones who weren't in the car program were escorted out and into waiting black sedans to take them home. The sedans were in such a long line around the Warren Tech Center it looked more like a funeral procession (I guess it sort of was) . Everything changed for us that day in April 2009. Two kids in college, 2 years from paying off the mortgage, no other debt.....DH could have retired in 6 months but certainly would have stayed until 30 years because he loved, loved his job. Cars were everything to him and as much as I didn't like Michigan cold, it was the job and his love for it that kept us there. Six months severance and 30 days more with the cute Pontiac Solstice hard-top coupe, a big house with lots of stuff we loved that had to be sold. We were emotionally numb but had to keep moving. No one had any money so garage sales went on without customers. The house went on the market quickly as we hoped if we could only move fast enough we could try to get in front of this nightmare that was threatening to destroy everything we had built. A new normal of 20 resumes out per day and constant calls to friends all over the country looking for leads. Anywhere. Our kids at college begged us to not sell the house. "We don't get work, we spend all the savings and blow through the retirement and then lose the house anyway. Then you kids get to take care of us." OK, sell the house, they told us. They learned the hard way, just like us. We did find a buyer for the house ($70K under asking...we took it), packed up our stuff and paid cash to the movers to take it to the local storage place (cash only--and unfortunately it was 5 degrees outside with a 20 below zero wind chill that day). We left Michigan with the dog and prayed we could find work. A "snow bird" relative offered us their house for the winter as a home base, and thankfully by spring DH had a job offer and we could breathe again....a little. SO many people never got jobs or could replace what they lost when everything tanked. It was horrible. Now GM is shaking loose the people that missed the 2008-09 massacre. I feel awful for them if they go through anything like what we experienced. I am grateful DH never could get his foot back in the GM door, but it wasn't for a lack of trying. He tried for years to get back in. It's taken us these last 8 years to get back on financial track so I read this forum to dream about what retirement will be like and to be grateful for the jobs we found in a new state. FI will be sweet indeed when we get there. Sorry if this was rambling but I really am feeling sad for these people.