General Motors workers with less than three years' seniority who are losing their jobs in the automaker's white-collar cuts will receive just a few weeks of severance pay, according to documents obtained by the Free Press.

GM was in the second day Tuesday of massive salaried job cuts across its North American offices, targeting about 4,000 workers as part of a restructuring plan that includes indefinitely idling five factories where about 6,200 jobs are affected.

Those in GM's salaried ranks described the atmosphere as "awful," with tensions high. In a photo sent to the Free Press, workers in an Austin, Texas, office stand in their cubicles watching as colleagues selected for layoff are walked out.

One of those fired described the process:

"HR emails you. You get an invite to meet with HR in a conference room. They read the script to you, discuss what you don’t have and walk you out. In front of everyone," said this former GM employee who asked for anonymity to protect severance benefits. "I was walked out after five years. I was really happy when I landed this (job)."

After five years, this person received 2½ months' severance pay, according to the documents given as part of the separation package.

The document said GM salaried employees with one year with the company will receive two weeks' severance; those with two years get a month, and those with three years will get six weeks' pay. Those with 12 or more years get six months' pay, it said.

One fired employee said GM was providing three months' insurance and allowing her to keep her company car until the end of the month, at which time she has the option to buy it.

The amounts are not atypical, but not generous, either, said an auto industry consultant.

"This GM severance package looks like about what an auto supplier has typically given over the decades, but seems light for the normally more generous automakers themselves," said Jon Gabrielsen, economist and auto industry consultant.

Who's being cut

The fired worker said about 400 people had been cut from GM's Arizona office. Those in Atlanta and Austin were being cut Tuesday. Some of those losing jobs include engineers, software engineers, business process engineers and senior consultant managers, according to a document included in a severance package.

In Detroit, "level 6 and 7" non-managers are being let go, as well as lower level and college hires, said multiple sources. In Warren, GM is targeting its engineering division and purchasing there and in GM's Pontiac office. Managers and senior managers are impacted in the reorganization with the director level and up already reorganized.

GM has declined to comment on which workers or departments will be targeted or when.

"This will be implemented staff-by-staff and location-by-location over the next couple of weeks," said Pat Morrissey, GM spokesman. "We’re not going to get into which departments and when and where it’s happening."

On Monday, some employees inside GM's Detroit headquarters received an email from CFO Dhivya Suryadevara telling them "restructuring activities" were beginning and saying employees would be informed by their team leaders when the cuts are complete. But GM said the bulk of the cuts will be completed in about two weeks.

"As you hear about employees that are impacted, please be mindful and respect their feelings. People will respond differently, so always take your cue from them," she wrote.

More:General Motors threatens to sue union over Super Bowl ad

More:GM adding 1,000 jobs at Flint to build heavy duty trucks

"Bear in mind that GM has adapted lessons from our past and we’ve thought about the individual throughout this transition. We want to preserve dignity to all employees by living our values and behaviors. We recognize that every individual will respond differently, and we will respect and acknowledge those differences."

Some nonunion employees in manufacturing said they were notified via email by leadership in their division.

One of the memos obtained by the Free Press read: "Today we continue our restructuring activities, including employee separations, across North American locations. Please be assured that every effort has been made to treat our employees with the highest respect. We have thought through personal and professional needs and will provide our employees choices for how the process will work best for them."

Earnings report Wednesday

GM CEO Mary Barra has said GM must restructure while its finances are good to be ready for changes in the industry. GM reports its 2018 full year and fourth-quarter earnings Wednesday. It reported adjusted pretax earnings of $9 billion over the first three quarters of the year.

The auto industry is changing, with high research and development costs for the anticipated need to capture big shares of the coming market for self-driving cars ride sharing and delivery of goods. Legacy automakers are seeking tech workers as they reshape, and Barra has said GM should be seen as a tech company.

GM has been on a hiring spurt for nearly five years as it seeks new skills for its drive to develop automated and more electrified vehicles. The Free Press reported in June that GM had hired 9,000 new people in the previous 24 months. Forty percent of GM's 67,000 salaried full-time global workers had been hired in the last five years, GM said at the time. That hiring continues through this layoff process.

"We will still need to do some targeted hiring to ensure we have the right skills for the future," Morrissey said. "For example, Cruise Automation continues to hire to support the growth in autonomous vehicles."

In the meantime, the cutting continues. One GM employee who kept her job Tuesday said the department manager announced an "all clear" at the end of the day. She breathed a sigh of relief, after spending a anxious part of the day monitoring Skype, knowing which of her colleagues weren't so lucky when she read, "Presence unknown" next to their name.

Contact Jamie L. LaReau: 313-222-2149 or jlareau@freepress.com. Follow her on Twitter @jlareauan.