Miele wants to reduce staff at its headquarters
Due to a decline in demand, the household appliance manufacturer Miele is stepping up staff cuts at its washing machine plant in Gütersloh. The company announced on Friday that it would have to "adjust production planning", referring to washing machine production at its headquarters in Gütersloh. The WDR and the "Westfalen-Blatt" had previously reported on this. In one section of the washing machine plant, where 1,300 people work, a changeover from three to two shifts will take place at the turn of the year.
The management is relying on voluntary redundancies: staff cuts at the plant are to be made through severance payments, among other things, and fixed-term contracts will not be extended. The number of jobs to be cut has not been disclosed.
In addition to the demand-related job cuts, Miele is also running a multi-year program to eliminate jobs at the Gütersloh washing machine plant in the long term. However, jobs will be created at a site in Poland that opened in 2019.
Miele has had three very good financial years, with turnover increasing by 12.2 percent to 5.43 billion euros in 2022, more than ever before in the company's history. The positive development was also due to the consequences of the coronavirus pandemic: at that time, many people did not travel, but instead invested in their own four walls. This benefited Miele as a manufacturer of washing machines, dryers, dishwashers, vacuum cleaners and ovens.
However, the company has been feeling the effects of high inflation and the weakening economy since last year. As the order books were still full in 2022, things initially continued to go well, but the signs were negative - the general reluctance of consumers to spend ultimately also affected Miele.
The Group has around 23,000 employees worldwide, around half of them in Germany. Around 5600 people work for the long-established company in Gütersloh.
Despite the success in previous financial years, influenced by the pandemic-induced home improvement trend, Miele's Electric Industry has been impacted by high inflation and a weakening economy. This has led to a reconsideration of production planning, specifically for household appliances such as washing machines, at their Gütersloh headquarters. To accommodate this adjustment, the company is considering shifts from three to two in certain areas, potentially affecting employees.
Source: www.dpa.com
