Beaumont Health looks to hire laid-off salaried GM workers

Beaumont Health has about 500 job openings for General Motors Co. workers losing their jobs this month.

After Beaumont’s chief of human resources Aaron Gillingham read about GM’s plans to cut 4,000 salaried workers in the coming weeks — nearly 1,300 of whom will be at the Warren Tech Center — he asked his talent acquisition team to reach out to the Detroit automaker’s outplacement team.

In addition to helping out fellow Michiganians, Gillingham said he saw an opportunity to acquire much-needed talent in areas such as human resources, finance and information technology.

“There is absolutely a war on talent right now, combined with an unemployment rate under 4 percent in Michigan, that creates problems,” Gillingham said in a Wednesday interview. “This is an opportunity for us to go out into the market and get good talent much more quickly.”

GM is cutting its salaried workforce this month as part of a larger restructuring that will also see four U.S. plants idle and one Canadian plant shutter this year. The automaker reported pre-tax earnings of $11.8 billion in 2018, including a $10.8 billion profit in North America.

GM’s top brass has said it needs to make these painful moves now while the company and greater economy are in good standing.

Beaumont, which employs 38,000 workers in Michigan, currently has 1,500 jobs open. About a third of those openings are “non-clinical,” Gillingham said.

The Southfield-based health care provider has forged an agreement with GM to have the roughly 500 job openings included brought to the attention of laid-off employees after their GM positions are eliminated.

“We’re pleased there are companies eager to begin the interview process and fill openings,” GM said in a statement.

Beaumont is the largest employer in Oakland County, according to the county’s latest financial report. It and Henry Ford Health System are considered among Michigan’s biggest health powerhouses.