Volkswagen wants to shrink its administration
Volkswagen wants to streamline itself in order to save costs. A hiring freeze is already in place, as well as partial retirement offers. Now the Group is apparently also planning to make cuts in administration. It is not yet clear how many jobs are to be cut.
According to a media report, the Wolfsburg-based car manufacturer Volkswagen has named the first measures for possible job cuts as part of its cost-cutting program. As reported by the Handelsblatt newspaper, citing an internal VW podcast between brand boss Thomas Schäfer and Chief Human Resources Officer Gunnar Kilian, Volkswagen AG's personnel costs in the so-called indirect area are to be reduced by a fifth by 2026. The indirect area comprises Volkswagen's administrative apparatus, which employs around 40,000 office workers for both the VW brand and the Group.
The company did not specify how many jobs would be lost as a result. A VW spokeswoman said that there was no blanket reduction target at Volkswagen. "As proven during the transformation, the company will continue to utilize the potential of personnel development in line with the demographic curve."
A recruitment freeze is currently in place at Volkswagen, along with partial retirement offers. A spokesperson for the Works Council declined to comment on the report, pointing out that negotiations with the Board of Management are confidential. "Our guidelines are well known and we would like to reiterate them at this point: we will not accept any cuts to collective wage agreements or compromises on job security," he added. "Profitability and job security are and will remain equally important and shared goals at Volkswagen."
Volkswagen is currently negotiating with the Works Council on multi-billion euro savings for the low-profit main brand VW. The first talks were held in October. In June, the car manufacturer announced a performance program to trim profitability within three years. The volume brand is to increase its return to 6.5 percent by 2026 - in the past quarter it was 3.4 percent. To achieve this, around ten billion euros are to be freed up through efficiency improvements and savings.
Handelsblatt also reported that negotiations within the Volkswagen Group regarding the performance program for the core VW brand could extend into next year. According to the report, all measures are already in place for 2024, but the plans for the following years have not yet been finalized. According to the report, the management around brand boss Schäfer assumes that the most important key points could be agreed with the works council by the end of November or early December. The works council declined to comment on the timetable.
In line with its cost-saving measures, Volkswagen, located in Wolfsburg, is considering administrative job cuts as part of its plans to reduce personnel costs in the indirect area by 20% by 2026. German carmakers are closely watching this development, as Volkswagen AG's administrative apparatus, employing around 40,000 office workers, could be impacted by these potential job cuts.
Source: www.ntv.de
