Rush for severance: BMW closes buyout programme after less than two weeks
Several thousand employees want to leave BMW voluntarily. The carmaker says it reached its target early and is no longer accepting applications.
Archive image · Photo: Strubbl / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped and resized)
BMW has already closed its severance programme, which only opened on 8 October. According to Handelsblatt, several thousand employees have said they are willing to leave the company. BMW did not give an exact figure. The group confirmed on Tuesday that it had reached its target "early" and is no longer accepting applications. Tens of thousands of staff in the indirect areas of BMW AG had received an offer by email. Shortly after the launch, the online portal showing severance amounts crashed and was unavailable for hours.
BMW aims to complete the process by mid-November, when employees will learn whether they can sign a termination agreement. The principle of dual voluntariness applies: the employer must also agree. The background is the planned cut of around 8,000 jobs by the end of 2027, with which CEO Milan Nedeljkovic wants to save one billion euros a year from 2028. According to insiders, individual payouts exceed 650,000 euros; BMW declined to comment. Those who leave earlier also receive a so-called turbo bonus.