Thread regarding General Motors layoffs

o Cross training was not mandated between in-sourced and new employees on legacy systems. Now they got rid of ENTIRE legacy system teams since your basis of cutbacks were based on age/wages/location. They are now all gone and management has the naïve belief that newer employees are adequately prepared to support and change those legacy systems.

o When EDS/HP delivered c-ap, they heard it from GM and were required to fix it ASAP ! When IT delivers c-ap now, criticism is minimal since it is viewed as not being a team player. As for a fix if it is not a major issue, forget it, just defer the fix to another day which never will happen.

I'm not sure if some of you know how contract works, but when you are onsite representing the contract house, you are essentially working hour for hour to fulfill a role for GM. There is nothing drawn out, you are there to get a job done, and often times, overtime is not available. Any extra time may be negotiated as comp time.

That's not to say that work can't be outsourced for specific timelines or deliveries on a project basis, but most onsite contractors are non-GM employees, working in a GM setting. Some, have been there their entire life throughout multiple roles and many programs. Some, are extremely diversified in their skill sets, and I know many of you could claim to know a few contractors that would walk circles around you. Equally can be said about some salary. The status, the color of the badge, does not define skill nor talent. There are brilliant people, and there are not some not so much. When it comes to downsizing, and when all contractors need to go, the brilliant also get tossed out along with the rest. This is not to GM's advantage, a system that is clearly flawed, but it is what it is.

Contractors are billed at a much higher rate, but what they take home is about the same as their salary counterparts. What they endure, is increased health and medical costs, unpaid furlough, unpaid holidays that don't align with GM, and unpaid shut downs.

Our management tried an experiment in our area of engineering expertise. They thought they could increase workload capacity within our group, by relocating the work to another in house salaried design team. They should have been equally capable so they thought. It was a massive failure, one that cost us about three years in fixing all the fallout. A group comprised of half contract, and half salaried, gave this work to another department comprised entirely of salaried personnel. It was an utter failure, and management had a lot of explaining to do for that one. A few of us specifically stated it would fail, but management does not listen. They aren't always analytical in nature, so history proved us right.

Color of a badge, does not define talent, skill, nor capability. This is something you only learn with enough time and exposure. Treat a blue badge with respect. Treat a yellow badge the same. One team, stand with each other, and not against each other. The company, is the one dividing the employee.

Contractors are usually paid about what an employee makes, but they don't get any benefits so they have to pay for their own benefits out of their salary, so they're way cheaper for GM.

No vacation or sick leave. If they don't work, they don't get paid.

The nice thing about contractors is if business gets bad, or you guess wrong about how many people you need, you can fire them at any time with no notice, no severance, and no WARN act.

The problem with outsourcing is the contract company will always give you the bare minimum, will drag out the schedule if they get paid by the hour, and will nickel and dime you with increased charges for every new feature or requirement change.

And because they don't really care about your business, they don't care about quality and take every short cut. And they never document anything, which makes what they do impossible for other people to understand.

People who've inherited the code written by HP during the outsourcing days can tell you how awful it is.

Outsourcing IT is the right thing to do because FCA is doing it successfully.. is it good for worker?... No

Scapegoating fellow or former employees ignores the real problem. Management gambles on new projects or programs but doesn't provide the resources or support needed. Then they want immediate results. Nothing will change until leadership changes.

Happens all the time internally within GM, across all departments and not just IT. When you play with the livelihoods of employees, they tend not to forget.

Moving in house, or outsourcing, it's always a gamble whether efficiency will be improved up, or even met. I've seen moves where GM burnt so much money, you had to wonder which genius executive came up with that idea. The problem is always that there are other genius executives behind them, with more insane ideas. Nothing new under the sun.

Short term savings may be there sure, but do they calculate in the loses of those former employees that may never buy their products again? Those people, never come back, and only accumulate and add up over a lifetime. A GM customer is theres to be had. Employees you might think, want to purchase their product. Should be an easy sale right? However, a customer or employee alienated or scorned, will not likely ever come back to the product.