In the last six months, 5,090 employees have left PSA Peugeot-Citroen using various voluntary separation measures on offer, the group said on Friday.
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They include 1,010 who have volunteered to take retirement, 3,740 who have left “to pursue personal projects” and 340 who have taken out-placement leave. In addition, 590 employees not affected by the plan have accepted incentives to retire while others have volunteered to take long-term leave or to benefit from other measures under the plan’s incentive schemes.
In all, 2,120 operators, 1,620 clerical employees, technicians and supervisors and 2,310 managers have left.
A spokesman said that automobile division employee numbers in France had reduced by 5,515 since the beginning of the year, including employees who left before the plan was launched on 1 June. More have volunteered to leave but are still serving their notice period.
The job redeployment plan presented to the central works council on 9 May was designed to address PSA Peugeot Citroën’s need to improve its competitiveness and reduce its fixed operating costs. In an environment shaped by flat sales volumes and eroding profits, the decision was taken at the end of 2006 to reduce overheads, revamp operating procedures, optimise real estate costs and reduce the corporate workforce.
The group chose to chop the workforce without making any lay-offs and without any early retirements. Instead, the reductions were made through natural wastage and a system of incentives for employees volunteering for in-placement or out-placement measures.
Employees interested in leaving the group to take up new positions or to pursue a personal project were offered financial incentives. The plan was open to all employees, with the exception of those directly involved in production or sales or in certain specific positions, whose departure would require the hiring of the same number of replacements.
PSA said the initial target of 4,850 departures was in fact exceeded. Workforce reduction will, however, continue, mainly through natural wastage.
PSA also plans to continue to offer leaving incentives at five or six sites with an excess of 1,000 skilled workers, and to limit new hiring “on the basis of a very selective process”.
