Tesla is set to cut only about 3% of its permanent employees at Giga Berlin in a planned wave of layoffs. The manufacturer launched a volunteer program to ensure that layoffs affected those employees who wanted to leave the company.
Last week it became known that Tesla intends to reduce the global number of employees. Immediately after the news was made public, some German media outlets published reports that Giga Berlin would be laying off around 3,000 employees. Tesla denied this information, saying that this figure “has no basis.” Drive Tesla has independently found out that as a result of this wave of layoffs, only about 500 employees will be laid off from Tesla’s German factory.
Now, at the request of RBB24, Tesla has said that it wants to cut 400 permanent jobs at Giga Berlin. Discussions are currently underway with the works council to make this process as painless as possible. The company says it wants to avoid layoffs and has launched a volunteer program for employees who want to leave the company.
Giga Berlin employs 12,500 people. Of these, 2,000 are temporary workers who were hired by the company to temporarily perform certain tasks. Earlier, it became known that the company would not renew the contracts of 300 temporary workers, while still maintaining jobs for 1,700 of them.
The layoff of 400 permanent employees represents 3.2% of the total number of employees, which is 12,500 people. Together with the 300 temporary employees, the total number of Giga Berlin employees remaining after the wave of layoffs should be 11,800. Brandenburg Economy Minister Jörg Steinbach noted that although he was saddened by the news of layoffs at Tesla, he was still glad that the layoff rate was low and the company was working closely with the factory’s works council on the issue.
Ich bedauere den angekündigten Stellenabbau bei @Tesla in #Grünheide sehr. Ich bin aber froh, dass dieser – in seiner Ausgestaltung im Einvernehmen mit dem Betriebsrat – mit Augenmaß umgesetzt wird – ohne Kündigungen und mit 3 % von > 12.000 Beschäftigten vergleichsweise moderat.
— Jörg Steinbach (@joergstb) April 23, 2024
In the future, Tesla Giga Berlin wants to compensate for fluctuations in the workforce, especially with temporary workers. “In addition, it is in our interests to always operate our production as productively as possible. The resulting efficiencies will primarily be accompanied by adjustments to the use of temporary labor in the future,” the company said in a statement.
The layoffs occur against the backdrop of optimization of the company’s work, taking into account the new global economic situation and decreasing demand for cars. Tough times are forcing companies to reorganize to improve efficiency and reduce their costs.
