Most General Motors administrative staff in the U.S. are unlikely to return until the end of the year or even next year.
In an internal memorandum, GM President for North America, Steve Carlisle, wrote that GM would begin opening its services to allow more workers to return to offices from October 1, but only if it is safe and mandatory for their work.
Until then, and probably beyond that, top painters paint remotely and deserve to continue to do so, GM said.
In the July 31 memorandum, received through the Detroit Free Press, Carlisle wrote that as of October 1, “In the U.S., painters will begin to have general access to GM’s facilities. Access will be granted in a timed manner and will be limited to From Tuesday to Thursday at the beginning, then prolonged to the week of full paint.”
But that doesn’t mean the painters will start returning to their offices in October, GM spokesman David Caldwell said. Currently, a small number of American painters paint on GM’s facilities because their paintings require them to be on site. Most come in just five months of remote paintings, Caldwell said.
In the memorandum, sent to GM’s 40,000 employees, Carlisle said GM would provide staff with more important points on returning to the paintings as October approaches. October 1 will mark the beginning of the third phase of GM’s four-part plan to bring staff back to the office, he said.
During this phase, managers who need their groups to return to the workplace and improve their paintings can argue this case.
No one will come back, Carlisle wrote.
This means that most of GM’s salaried workforce in the U.S. will most likely continue to operate remotely until the end of the year, GM Caldwell spokesman told Free Press.
“Remote paintings are having a good time, ” said Caldwell. “We will review our plan back to the painting in October. It’s hard to expect anything, so we step by step.”
GM is lately in the time phase of his plan back to painting, Carlisle wrote in the memo. This means that only painters who cannot paint remotely can access GM’s facilities.
“In practical terms, this means that The RenCen, as well as the offices of Grand Blanc and Warren, are at a fraction of the normal occupation,” Carlise wrote. “Access is only allowed with the approval of the leaders to the protection of all.”
GM’s global headquarters are located in Detroit’s Renaissance Center, where it employs approximately 5,000 others. Its global technical center is located in Warren, where it employs another 22,000 people and its head of visitor service and after-sales service is in Grand Blanc, where about 1,000 more people work, Caldwell said. GM also employs another 4,000 people at its test floor in Milford. Most workers in these institutions are non-union workers.
GM recently asked its administrative staff about his paintings reports on the COVID-19 pandemic, Caldwell said.
His comments told GM executives that remote paintings are very effective, Caldwell said. Employees who responded to the survey met several concepts that GM has now “considered,” he said.
“These comments give us opportunities to improve the way we paint, whether in the short and long term, topics such as increased use of flexible hours and other tactics to help staff succeed, either remotely or at the site of painting,” Caldwell said.
Still, managers who need their team back in can justify it from October 1, Caldwell said.
If given to the office, this team will have to stick to many of the same strict protection protocols that already exist in GMO plants, such as dressing up with protective equipment, frame temperature tests, and answers to health-related questions. The offices will also be redesigned to publicize social estrangement, Caldwell said.
GM’s protection manual states: “We will provide advisory workstation seat models to help inspire physical remoteness. Traditional cabins already offer a distance of six feet (two meters) between colleagues, while compressed cabins will have to be decided by changing to sustain a distance of six feet between colleagues. »
Caldwell said: “Fitness and worker protection is our most sensitive priority, so our back-to-work strategy has been guided through clinical knowledge and available medical recommendations.”
The resolution to allow more salaried workers to return to GM’s offices will feature “the status of the pandemic in local spaces and will continue to be evaluated,” Caldwell said.
“A return to will will stick to a staggered technique, in which small waves of workers will return according to the wishes of the company, with more additions in effectively implementing the protection protocols,” Caldwell said. “This controlled and timed technique allows Americans to acclimatize to new site access protocols and protection criteria for their locations.”
GM has a total of 86,000 in the United States, of which about 40,000 are salaried, Caldwell said.
GM’s return-to-work protection protocol is working well, he said, noting that “a significant number of workers worldwide” have returned to the workplace.
In mid-March, GM shut down all of its plants in North America amid the coronavirus pandemic. Just before that, he had told painters to paint remotely if their paintings allowed. Gm’s factory was back in operation in mid-May when GM restarted its plants.
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Contact Jamie L. LaReau at 313-222-2149 or [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter @jlareauan. Learn more about General Motors and subscribe to our newsletter. Become a subscriber.