DETROIT – Normal Motors will supply voluntary buyouts to a “majority” of its 58,000 U.S. white-collar workers, because it goals to chop $2 billion in structural prices over the following two years, in line with a letter despatched to employees Thursday from CEO Mary Barra.

The “Voluntary Separation Program,” or VSP, shall be provided to all U.S. salaried workers who’ve spent 5 or extra years on the firm as of June 30. Exterior of the U.S., the automaker will supply buyouts to executives with a minimum of two years of time on the firm.

GM expects to take a pretax cost of as much as $1.5 billion associated to the buyouts, in line with a public submitting Thursday. The vast majority of the costs are anticipated to be all-cash and happen through the first half of the yr, the corporate mentioned.

Barra, within the letter Thursday, mentioned this system is “designed to speed up attrition within the U.S.,” aiding the corporate in probably avoiding “involuntary actions” sooner or later. The buyout supply comes after the Detroit automaker mentioned final week it could terminate about 500 salaried positions globally.

The final time GM provided such a big buyout program was for roughly 18,000 North American salaried workers in 2018-2019.

“Staff are strongly inspired to think about this system,” GM mentioned in an emailed assertion to CNBC Thursday. “By completely bringing down structured prices, we will enhance automobile profitability and stay nimble in an more and more aggressive market.”

GM introduced the $2 billion cost-cutting program in January, saying between 30% and 50% of the financial savings have been anticipated throughout 2023. On the time, executives mentioned they have been planning head rely reductions via attrition moderately than layoffs.

U.S. workers who’re accepted for the buyout shall be granted one-month pay for yearly they labored as much as 12 months, in addition to COBRA well being protection. In addition they will obtain prorated crew efficiency bonuses and outplacement companies. World workers will obtain base wage, incentives, COBRA and outplacement companies.

Eligible workers curious about this system should join by March 24. Those that elect to take a voluntary package deal and are accepted will depart by June 30.

An organization spokeswoman declined to reveal what number of workers the corporate is concentrating on to just accept the buyout packages. On the finish of final yr, GM employed about 81,000 salaried workers worldwide, in line with public filings.