Union rules and agreements prevent Mercedes from hiring and firing as they please. So now some employees can get 3 million kroner for resigning.
Mercedes is seeking to reduce the number of employees and has presented a scheme where certain employees can receive up to 3 million kroner to leave the company.
The aim is to achieve economic savings of 34 billion kroner over a period of two years.
"Anyone who wants to leave the company can do so quite safely," Ergun Lümali, chairman of the cooperation council, told Handelsblatt .
The new move from Mercedes follows the same recipe that a number of its competitors are following. They are also going on a diet.
Among those who will have to tighten their belts the most is Volkswagen. Over the next few years, the Wolfsburg brand will cut 34,000 jobs and 3 factories at home in Germany.
Back at Mercedes, they are cutting back to prepare for a world where electric cars are not the same big business as cars with combustion engines.
At the same time, competition from outside – especially from China – has intensified. However, the Chinese are not without their own troubles.
The latest reports are that at least one car brand is on the verge of bankruptcy. In any case, the employees will not be able to get paid. Read more about it here .
To handle the situation, Mercedes management has drawn up a severance package that has been presented to all employees at the factories in Germany.
According to information from Handelsblatt, a middle manager with 30 years of seniority and a monthly salary of 64,000 kroner can expect a severance pay of over 3.4 million kroner.
A factory worker in his 30s with a monthly salary of 40,000 kroner can expect to receive just over a million kroner for resigning.
Mercedes hopes the offer will motivate up to 30,000 employees to leave the company voluntarily. However, Ergun Lümali says that it is all voluntary at first.
"If you don't want to quit, you don't have to. But if you choose to do so, you will receive generous compensation."
At the same time, it is expected that the employees who remain in the company will have to accept a substantial salary reduction in order to keep their jobs.
