General Motor’s autonomous vehicles division Cruise offers equity to employees

In a major move towards talent acquisition and retention, Cruise, the self-driving vehicles division of American auto giant General Motors is offering equity to its employees. Corporations have always entered a competitive race for what they perceive as the next big thing, and autonomous vehicles may just be the next big thing. With other large companies like Google, Tesla, Uber, and Baidu hotly contesting for the self-driven car market, this move by General Motors may just be the edge needed to hire and retain the best talent from all across Silicon Valley.

This decision by GM was made public by an SEC filing for GM Cruise Holdings, as large corporations are required to disclose any additional benefits and remunerations offered to employees. Japan’s SoftBank had earlier announced that it planned to invest $2.25 billion into Cruise. Additionally, GM itself has pledged another $1.1 billion into its division.

This will enable employees to own shares of Cruise and not its parent company. Following the massive amounts of capital committed, the decision to award employees a portion of the equity goes on to show GM’s drive and resolve in commercializing self-driving vehicles. It is often seen as a means to encourage and motivate employees since owning shares of a corporation will result in employees getting wealthier if the company prospers.