GM's return-to-office likely to be flexible as Tech Center gets more employees
Apr. 20—DETROIT — General Motors Co. plans to largely keep its southeast Michigan real estate footprint intact, despite changes wrought by the 13-month pandemic that likely includes a more flexible work model.
But there have been some changes to where employees will go to work when they head back to the office, potentially later this year. GM's Warren Technical Center campus, with its open-concept offices, will house more of its employees than before the pandemic.
As for the Renaissance Center, GM'sglobal headquarters in downtown Detroit, the automaker is moving some employees from there to the Tech Center. But some other new tech hires will be working out of the RenCen, which will remain the automaker's headquarters and an "important element of our future," GM has said.
GM decided to downsize — in at least one area — with plans to close its Customer Care and Aftersales headquarters in Grand Blanc. The automaker will transition the roughly 900 employees who work there also to the Tech Center campus. Meanwhile, the company is moving forward on projects throughout its portfolio, such as restarting construction at a design facility on the Tech Center campus.
GM hasn't publicly declared what its plan will look like for workers to return to the office. But when employees do return — which likely won't be before summer — the workplace is expected to feature a flexible work model similar to what rival Ford Motor Co. announced. More details on GM's plans are expected as early as this week.
"We'd like to have the best of both worlds: The collaboration of in-person workplaces combined with added flexibility for our people to work remotely as appropriate," GM spokesman David Caldwell said in a statement to The Detroit News. "We will update as we confirm that plan, and as more workers return this summer."
What's helped GM with the workplace transition are decisions made prior to the pandemic to develop more open spaces at the Tech Center and elsewhere.
"Years ago it was really old, antiquated cube space. Now you walk in and it's bright light, it's welcoming. It's refreshing," said Steve Tomaszewski, GM's director of facilities. "And there's a variation of spaces people can use."
Collaborative spaces were made to make social distancing possible even before the pandemic hit. At the Tech Center, more than 3.5 million square feet have been converted in the last four years.
"Our design is ahead of the curve, at least in my mind," Tomaszewski said. "We started this about four years ago, consciously going through, renovating the space where we thought the largest populations would be, and we've continued to do that."
With the RenCen, the team is "looking at that space," and some areas have been converted to have more open space layouts, Tomaszewski said: "As we look into the future, where we think it's appropriate, we'll be looking at doing similar modifications throughout the area."
Tech Center design construction restarts
In 2015, GM announced it would invest $1 billion at the Tech Center for construction of new design studios, rebuilding and renovating some R&D facilities, and upgrading offices, among other items.
Some of GM's construction projects were halted in 2018 as part of a cost-savings plan. Construction restarted this year for a new "Design West" facility on the Tech Center campus.
This new building surrounds GM's Design Dome Auditorium and connects to the Saarinen building on the campus. The 360,000-square-foot space provides space for in-person collaboration.
Design employees work throughout the Tech Center campus right now and Design West will bring them together, said Melinda Gray, group manager of special projects for GM Design.
"The provisions that we're incorporating into Design West will improve the efficiency and agility of GM design in a way that would be challenging to accomplish within the current confines and constraints of renovating our current historic design center," Gray said.
The facility is expected to be completed in late 2023.
Changes expected
The pandemic has led many businesses to rethink their real estate portfolios, office spaces and what the work environment — enabled by technology — will look like going forward.
GM's closure of the CCA headquarters, Caldwell said, isn't pandemic-driven. Rather it's intended to aid in collaboration between the teams at CCA and the Tech Center.
John Mirsky, the former vice president of technical and engineering services for Bosch LLC who handled real estate and site concept optimization for the auto supplier, expects companies to continue to consider how to reshape their portfolios. This was happening years before the pandemic, he said, recalling how Bosch reviewed its real estate portfolio for ways to utilize space more efficiently.
"The problem that is being faced right now by people that own their own buildings or that are leasing space is that they're paying for an asset that is just tremendously underutilized," he said. "This is something that's been recognized for a long time. Now it's just a huge change in terms of scale and magnitude. It's across the whole country and the whole world."
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