Mercedes does not make redundancies but offers very attractive compensation for voluntary departures. These can amount to more than 500,000 euros gross.
The German newspaper Handelsblatt reports that Mercedes is offering highly attractive compensation to those who decide to leave the company voluntarily. According to the German newspaper, the information has been published on the company’s internal intranet and allows long-serving Mercedes employees to calculate their compensation.
The German newspaper even gives two examples. A 55-year-old team chief with a gross monthly salary of €9,000 and 30 years with the company could receive compensation of more than €500,000.
An administrative manager aged 45 with a gross monthly salary of €7,500 and 20 years’ seniority in the company could receive a compensation of over €300,000.
But these compensations are only offered on a short-term basis from the beginning of April until the end of July so those who want them should decide quickly. Mercedes is not making redundancies so only those who want to leave voluntarily will go.
This voluntary departure program will run in stages until March 2026.
But not just anyone can apply to leave. Mercedes wants to retain its highly skilled workforce and that’s why it doesn’t offer compensation to everyone. These compensations are only offered to those not involved in production. That’s why only about 30,000 employees qualify to apply for leave. Mercedes wants to reduce the workforce but only in the administrative and management area.
For those who want to leave, we have some bad news. The compensations announced above are gross amounts subject to tax. Given the size of the amounts, the taxes will be very high. For example, on a compensation of 500,000 euros, the tax will amount to a six-figure sum.
On the other hand, Mercedes has extended a collective contract agreement until 2034 for around 91,000 employees in Germany that excludes layoffs for operational reasons.