Great beginner job - Senior Project Engineer General Motors (GM) Employee Review

Work life balance is great

Decent but slow burn layoffs

GM offers above-average benefits compared with many employers, including solid healthcare, retirement, and time-off options. Compensation is generally competitive and aligned with market value, especially for engineering and technical roles. The hybrid work schedule at the Tech Center is a positive, offering better flexibility than fully onsite roles while still allowing collaboration with teams in person.

GM’s current performance management culture can be a major morale killer. The stacked ranking approach and forced distribution create an environment where employees may feel they are competing against peers instead of being evaluated purely on performance. There also appears to be a cap on how many employees within a group can receive higher performance ratings. A manager may tell you throughout the year that you are exceeding expectations, but the final review can still come back as “meets expectations” because of calibration, quotas, or internal politics. Like many large corporations, it can be easy to feel like a small cog in a very large machine. Decision-making is often driven heavily by cost reduction, investor expectations, and headcount efficiency, sometimes at the expense of morale and long-term employee engagement. The “Workplace of Choice” messaging can feel disconnected from the actual employee experience, especially when performance ranking, headcount reduction, and workload expectations do not align with that message.