I've been very bullish on GM for quite some time, but my resolve is starting to crack. I find out today if yet another one of my many friends who works at GM will be parting ways with the General. The white collar jobs cuts have been well-publicized, but I confess that I'm shocked at how deeply the senior staff is being cut out of the picture. Every aspect of the business is being trimmed—including the holiest of holies—EV development. This weekend, I spoke to the former Lead Engineer for Electric Vehicles, Eric Pierce, who elected to retire after 23 years. He spoke very positively about his time at GM, but noted that, "It's going to be a different GM in the future."
I've heard similar comments from staff at GM's Racing Safety group, who are also being offered packages. On the positive side, nearly everyone I know who has opted out of life at Warren has found the job market very easy to navigate with multiple options available. These aren't your run-of-the-mill engineers, and I'm left to wonder 1) How much damage is GM doing to itself, and 2) If they can afford to lose these people, how incredibly awesome are the people who are still there?