Volkswagen headquarters in Wolfsburg. Photo: Volkswagen
Volkswagen has internally announced the conditions under which employees can leave the company early.
According to information from Spiegel, and according to an internal table, a person who has worked in the lowest-paid group for less than five years can expect a severance pay worth 17,700 euros. If you have worked at the company for more than 20 years, benefits for employees in the same group increase to €117,700.
Employees in the “Tarif Plus” group, Volkswagen’s highest tariff, receive between €60,700 (less than five years of service) and €404,700 (more than 20 years).
However, they say it is rare that this maximum amount is actually paid. Moreover, all these amounts are lump sum amounts, meaning the tax is still deducted.
The offer is intended for administrative employees only, and does not affect workers in the production field. Photo: Volkswagen
The offer is valid for employees who register for the program between April 29 and May 31. Anyone who agrees to resign from Volkswagen within two weeks and has worked at the company for more than five years will also receive a so-called turbo bonus in the amount of 50 thousand euros.
Who is excluded from end-of-service benefits?
The condition for participating in a severance program is that it be doubly voluntary, that is, both the company and the employee concerned must agree to early departure. For example, IT jobs are still excluded due to high demand. In addition, participants may not have been born before 1968.
Through these measures, Volkswagen wants to save a fifth of its administrative staff costs by 2026. A similar program for severance pay was already in place in 2006, when the maximum was around 260,000 euros.
Spiegel article. Screenshot
Volkswagen declined to comment on the numbers, but confirmed that the terms of the termination agreements had been disclosed.
Popular partial retirement
The group already discussed the main points of the efficiency enhancement program with the works council in December. Recurrences were excluded for operational reasons. Volkswagen has left the door open on how many jobs it will eventually cut. They said it's not about heads, it's about costs.
According to the statement, Human Resources Director Gunnar Kilian sees “current great interest” in partial retirement. Spiegel reported that “an average of 85 percent of the salary in both the positive and negative phases” will be offered in return.
