Schaeffler to finish job cuts a year early as 1,768 take partial retirement
The industrial and auto supplier has cut 3,715 of 4,700 planned jobs and aims to finish by the end of 2028. Savings are set to beat the 290 million euro target by more than 20%.
Graphic: TERRA WORLD NEWS (own graphic based on the sources listed)
German supplier Schaeffler is making faster progress than planned with its cost-cutting programme. By the end of September it had cut 3,715 of the 4,700 announced jobs, or about 79%, the company said on Monday. Agreements are already in place for the remaining 985 positions. The cuts are now due to be completed by the end of 2028 instead of the end of 2029. The programme was announced in November 2024; around 2,800 of the jobs are in Germany, according to ms-aktuell.
Partial retirement is a key element: by Oct. 5, 1,768 employees at German sites had signed such contracts with terms of two to eight years, well above the roughly 1,300 Schaeffler had expected. Chief Executive Klaus Rosenfeld said this created predictable transitions into retirement for many employees. Planned annual savings of 290 million euros from 2029 are now expected to be exceeded by more than 20%. Around 84 million euros in restructuring provisions were released, while one-off payments will require about 70 million euros more through 2030.
The cuts come at a difficult time for the industry: according to ms-aktuell, around 691,500 people worked in Germany's auto industry at the end of June, 42,300 or 5.8% fewer than a year earlier. Among suppliers, employment fell 7.6% to around 219,500. Schaeffler employs about 110,000 people worldwide.