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Merry Christmas all you BMW employees. According to Der Spiegel, BMW is planning on cutting down 8000 jobs in the forthcoming year. This figure was announced by Mr Reithofer, current head of BMW. Besides chanting the usual corporate mantra about shareholder value, increasing productivity and hence having to cut down on jobs, nothing has been decided about which cities will mostly be affected. Most of the jobs affected are said to concern temp workers. Regarding the other jobs, the plan is to not fill open jobs once people leave the company, to make people redundant, to introduce partial retirement and to offer compensation to people willing to leave on their own. As already mentioned, nothing was announced on how many jobs in Munich will go, so don't despair. BMW employs more than 100 000 people world wide.

I'd still be concerned if I worked there. Take a look at this mathematical equation:

x volume of work
– 8,000 workers
= More work for those left behind.

And I doubt they'll be redistributing those 8,000 wage-packets to the remaining workers.

Hopefully they'll pass the savings down onto their consumers.

Is this the first time BMW has cut jobs? I mean real full employees not temps etc.

HaHaHaHaHa...

Or maybe they'll give it to charity!

On April 1st, yes...

According to the FAZ, most of the jobs concern temp workers working in Leipzig. A spokesperson for the company:

I thought all jobs here were held for LIFE.

BMW is not being a Grinch here. Der Spiegel is the one floating the 8,000 jobs quotes. BMW has only reacted to the article by reiterating what they said in September, that job cuts would be included in their cost-cutting plans.

In fairness, BMW is the lone German Automaker whichhas not had large-scale job cuts in the last ten years. Opel had massive cuts and Merc and V-Dubs have also cuut significantly.

Just trying to put it in context.

Well Dan, try to think about the way people who are at the receiving end might feel about this. Leipzig, the city mentioned as being affected worst by these measures, is a poor city in the eastern part of Germany. The whole region is suffering from unemployment. Leipzig is still doing ok in comparison. So it will be very hard for these workers. I see your point and yes, BMW has been a good employer in the past. It still doesn't change the fact that 8000 people are going to lose their jobs next year.

MB, I'm perfectly capable of sympathizing...and maybe even empathizing since my employer just dropped a couple of billion in subprime and will likely go swinging the axe. Anyone think Spiegel were maybe asses for their sense of timing?

That sells newspapers (or in this case magazines).

Not really. The FAZ and a few other papers were also reporting on this. It was expected as BMW already announced something about this to their staff. I know, because I know somebody who works at BMW. Talk was of a much smaller number in job cuts, so this is quite a shock.

Seems to me that regular employees with an unlimited work contract have no reason to worry. At least nobody seems to think that any of them will be fired. As for the temps, well, that's why companies hire temps, isn'it? So that they can lay them off when they are no longer needed... Not nice for the temps, but nothing terribly unusual.

Long-term employees will also be affected. They'll offer lots of people early retirement or other incentives just as the other automakers have done. Temps are the only ones they can get rid of for free.

Nope.

The announcement is just really to please the stock markets and show that BMW is acting to improve its ROCI which has detiorated over the last few years (sales have increased with new records each year , investment has increased but profits have not increased at the same level).

BMW has never fired a single worker in recent history and they do not plan to do so. There has been a strict external recruitment halt for a few years now with only a few exceptions (engineering etc). This will now be more rigourously enforced. No one is going to get sacked.

It is just part of a plan to reduce structural costs and improve company performance. And no, it won't mean that BMWs will get cheaper, it will just mean more money will go to the investors, whose money has been funding BMWs expansion to date. Remember, if it wasn't for investors putting their own capital on the line, we wouldn't have a job.

Yes, but it will all be voluntary, at least that's what it sounds like.

correct tom_a. Nothing has actually changed over the situation of the last few years except that temporary contracts will not be renewed and the external recruitment stop will be more strictly enforced. They may well offer people voluntary early retirement, though nothing official has been said about this.

The WSJ Europe is reporting that BMW will be hring design engineers even as they reduce the number of production personnel. I also wonder how much the strength of the euro has affected the company since around three-quarters of its employees are in Germany.

Der Spiegel says they will reduce headcount in Germany, and increase it in the US.

Let,s be honest, if a company want rid of you they can make life very unpleasant for the person involved.

It's really misleading to describe the non-renewal of a temporary work contract as a "job cut" especially since the Leipzig plant makes use of temporary workers on a regular basis. Voluntary early retirements aren't layoffs, either.

there won't be any lay-offs. how many times do we have to go through this?

Mebbe if the top honchos at Bay-em-vay cut off a couple of digits from the right hand side of their salaries, things would'nt be too bad

In general true. However it's just a blanket statement. No company is perfect; but BMW has got a hell of a lot of things right in terms of treating its employees (and not only that). I would be extremely surprised to hear of them using dirty tactics to get rid of people, and I also do not expect there to be a lot of complaining employees over the cuts. I expect it to be done pretty fairly, as has been pointed out by some who know BMW by not renewing temps, and by not replacing those who leave.

They can, but if you know what you´re doing - have a good lawyer and legal insurance - you can come out of it with a little compensation. Most employees at BMW, as members of the trade union IG Metall, have access to a lawyer and expenses are paid for. Companies can also not get rid of you unless you´ve either stole something or committed something similar or the company is doing badly i.e. making a loss.


I heard something slightly different. Permanent employees at Dingolfing will be given the "choice" of relocating to Leipzig to replace the temps that are laid off. It

People no longer earning a crust is still jobcuts whether they are temps or permies!

That kind of thinking is what has created the " 6 month contract renwable " scenario in the UK ffs.

Is this a rumor or a fact? Considering that most factory line workers in Dingolfing are Lower Bavarians deeply "rooted to the soil", people that don't mind making one- or two-hour one-way commutes every day from somewhere in the Bayerischer Wald instead of moving closer to the factory, I imagine the uproar would be deafening!

tom, workers in ottobrunn, just south of Munich, are now required to commute to Manching, just by Ingolstadt and the whining has been incessant but no action taken ...

Rumour.

Why cannot a company get rid of someone? You can leave the company if you want , it works both ways. Also a few warnings in your records work wonders in a Labour Tribunal court. Like already mentioned here they can offer you a transfer to Lepzig and you must accept until a Tribunal decides otherwise ( Änderungskündigung ).

As I tried to explain before, BMW will not be sacking anyone. Here the official line from the Board;

Medienberichte über Personalabbau

Auf Basis eines SPIEGEL-Artikels wird in den Medien intensiv über Pläne zum Personalabbau bei der BMW AG berichtet. Ebenso wird über konkrete Zahlen spekuliert, die zum Teil auch auf das Stammpersonal bezogen werden.

Initiiert wurde der Beitrag von einem Mitarbeiter der BMW AG, der dem SPIEGEL vermeintliche Fakten aktiv zugetragen hat. Daher hatten weder Geschäftsleitung noch Unternehmenskommunikation einen Einfluss auf Zeitpunkt und Inhalt der Kommunikation.

Fest steht, dass das Unternehmen an einer Trendumkehr bei der Entwicklung der Profitabilität arbeitet. Große Potenziale liegen hier im Materialeinkauf und in den Entwicklungskosten. Es werden aber auch nachhaltige Maßnahmen zur Senkung des Personalaufwandes geprüft. Diese umfassen - wie auf den letzten Betriebsversammlungen angesprochen - verschiedene Möglichkeiten:

• Das Unternehmen nutzt maßgeblich die Flexibilität, die der Einsatz von Zeitarbeitskräften ermöglicht.
• Bei Personalmaßnahmen im Bereich der Stammmitarbeiter setzt das Unternehmen auf natürliche Fluktuation, Altersteilzeit sowie die freiwillige Auflösung bestehender Arbeitsverhältnisse. Es sind keine betriebsbedingten Kündigungen geplant.
• Eine weitere maßgebliche Senkung des Personalaufwands wird durch verschiedene Beiträge aller Mitarbeiter des Unternehmens durch alle Hierarchiestufen erreicht.

No, it´s not. It´s a plan to jump up those share prices so that management get their bonuses. Arguably, the goals of the investors and those of the employees are more compatible that those of the investors with those of management, the reason being, that the investors and employees are interested in the long-term welfare of the company and the management more short-term.

Besides, I´m pretty sure BMW doesn´t follow a cost focus strategy, not with its brand image and reputation for innovation.

You're wrong about this one. I don't have time to explain (and would not explain it either without giving out too much information) but, trust me, they are very clearly focused on costs.

I meant cost focus as in cost-cutting at the expense of differentiation. That is clearly not the case as it wouldn´t work in their industry. Clearly, they have to be cheaper to build than Mercedes and Porsche since they could charge somewhat more than Landrover I would think for their X-series. I´m not really sure which models are manufactured in Dingolfing or wherever they plan on reducing personnel, but I would assume models such as the 3, 5 or 7 series which compete with Mercedes.

I wouldn´t be surprised though that they simply account for the temps in a different way such as full-time equivalents whereby part-time employees are no longer counted as one employee, but as 0,5. Easy way of reducing headcount without really reducing them.

Apaprently they are offering a good deal.Worker at B.M.W. told me they are offerring €10,000 for every year worked at B.M.W.

BMW have announced today that they want get rid of 2500 Employees in Germany and 5000 part timers. Bayern 5 News (in German)

No matter what their business model, they can still be overstaffed in Germany, especially given factors such as changes in exchange rates and in the percentage of sales outside of the eurozone.

As for the interests of management, theý are also employees of the company, and given the fact they make more then non-managers at BMW, they have an even greater incentive to think long-term so that they keep their well-paid jobs as long as possible. You mention bonuses above- what exactly are the details/triggers of these bonuses?

I wish they would get rid of some of my buyers. I know they are totally overpaid for what they do and what they know - some of them are just...thick!

They probably all have a "Family Plan".

Das Unternehmen nutzt maßgeblich die Flexibilität, die der Einsatz von Zeitarbeitskräften ermöglicht.
Bei Personalmaßnahmen im Bereich der Stammmitarbeiter setzt das Unternehmen auf natürliche Fluktuation, Altersteilzeit sowie die freiwillige Auflösung bestehender Arbeitsverhältnisse. Es sind keine betriebsbedingten Kündigungen geplant.

So this translates as we rae going to use the flexability of agency workers.
We will be using the natural fluctuation which means people coming up to retierment age will be offered a pay off.
So all in all from my experience and we have had this at my company,they are getting rid if people, but trying to make it look nice and replacing said people with agancy workers.Especially POLISH people.
They are also looking at offering people a good redundancy payment.
What could happen is a 'Transfer Gesellschaft'
People move in to a spin off company from B.M.W. get training paid for
6 months on 85%
6 months on 75%
You have to regíster with the Agentur für Arbeit for this and they pay you 66% of the said costs.All in all an easy way for employers to get rid of workers cheaply and the state helps pay for it.
At the end of the year period you also get a redundancy pay out.
So however you look at it people will be moved on albeit supposedly of their own accord.
At the end it still means you have been sacked just nicely and according to the law.IT F+--*CKING STINKS

no. you are wrong. They are terminating people on agency contracts as the first measure to reduce staff levels. Yes they are offering early retirement but no there won't be any "transfer Gesellschaft" or any "training" or getting sacked. They are being aggressive about early retirement and targeting people they think they can offer a settlement to but nothing is mandatory.

Furthermore, the whole sales organisation has been restructured as of 1st April and although every single person on a permanent contract has a job within the new organisation the aim is, i believe, to create far fewer management positions. This will cause a number of people to leave the company in search of pastures new (i.e. people who lose out from the old structure and younger people finding there pathway blocked). Anybody leaving the company won't be replaced until targets have been achieved.