VW offers €250k redundancy deal

Car manufacturer Volkswagen is offering redundancy payments totalling up to €250,000 as part of its efforts to reduce the size of its workforce in Germany.

Latest reports suggest that 1,000 employees have already accepted the offer, and the company hopes that another 3,000 will do so.

Some 85,000 employees aged 54 and under at Volkswagen's six main German plants are entitled to apply for redundancy, while older workers can apply for early retirement under another scheme (see Workplace Report, February 2006).

Payments are linked to grade and length of service, starting at €40,680 and rising to around €195,000. The offer is open until the end of the year, but an additional €54,000 will be paid to employees who leave before the end of September.

Early reports suggest that most of those leaving are aged between 31 and 40 and have more than 10 years' service with the company. On average they are getting about €150,000 each.