Mercedes Benz has launched a savings plan that contemplates the ‘voluntary’ and incentivized dismissal of at least 40,000 employees who work in departments of “non-productive” areas such as administration, new technologies or communication. As reported by the German media Handelsblattthe intention is to save 5,000 million euros in 2027 and to achieve this, a payment of up to 500,000 euros is being offered to employees who voluntarily resign from their jobs.
This program, called ‘Next Level Performance’, has several points and a clear objective which is none other than to respond to some difficulties that the automobile sector is going through such as more expensive raw materials, less demand and the launch (increasingly) of electric vehicles.
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Of the 40,000 workers who have been proposed to pay this half a million euros, as reported by the German media, there are 4,000 who have already accepted the proposal. The company, for its part, has already reserved 560 million euros to cover this expense.
The company wants to avoid layoffs and offers voluntary departures
The voluntary departure program that Mercedes Benz is promoting in several of its European headquarters has been carried out because the company is avoiding laying off workers. In Germany, forced dismissal is prohibited until 2035 due to labor agreements and for which economic incentives are used, as reported The reason.
The automobile company has highlighted that compensation packages are being calculated on an individual basis, that is, per worker. For this, the employee’s seniority, position and salary are taken into account.
If you take into account, for example, an employee who has the position of team manager, is 55 years old and has been working in the company for 30 years with a salary of 9,000 euros, he could pocket more than 500,000 euros if he resigns from the position voluntarily. The incentive program began last April and will last until March 2026.
Mercedes wants to improve sales data for 2024
The actions that Mercedes Benz is implementing to increase profitability are aimed at improving the 2024 data when a drop in profits of 30% was recorded. And this measure does not come alone, but production costs will be lowered by 10% by 2027 by launching new models suitable for what consumers are looking for today.
In 2024, Mercedes Benz recorded revenues of 145,594 million euros with a profit of 10,207 million, a drop compared to last year as mentioned before. 47,071 vehicles were sold.
In this sense, the president of the group Ola Källenius, highlighted that the company seeks to adapt to the new automobile market where more importance is given to electric vehicles since the trend is to increase the production of zero-emission vehicles in a few years.