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Siemens says to slash 6,900 jobs worldwide in restructuring

Industrial conglomerate Siemens on Thursday announced thousands of job cuts worldwide, most of them in its fossil fuels division, with unions and politicians in its home country Germany particularly outspoken against the plans.

Published: 16 November 2017 08:33 CET
Updated: 16 November 2017 16:54 CET
Siemens says to slash 6,900 jobs worldwide in restructuring
File photo: DPA.

 A total of 6,900 workers are set to lose their jobs, around half of them in Germany, where Siemens also plans to close sites in the country's economically weaker east.

“The power industry is experiencing disruption of unprecedented scope and speed,” board member Lisa Davis said in a statement, saying layoffs were necessary to keep Siemens competitive.

The Munich-based group says global demand for the large turbines its power and gas unit produces “has fallen drastically” as renewable energy has become more popular.

This has sapped profitability as there is not enough demand to keep its factories turning.

In Germany, that division alone will shed 2,600 jobs and close sites in Goerlitz and Leipzig, both in the former communist east.

“This is sad news… a sudden bolt from the blue for Leipzigers,” said Stanislaw Tillich, premier of Saxony state.

Some 1,100 jobs are set to go in the rest of Europe, while the US will see 1,800 layoffs.

German employee representatives have vowed to resist job cuts, as they would follow on the heels of flourishing annual results for the sprawling group.

Chief executive Joe Kaeser had already warned of “painful cuts” last week, even as Siemens reported 11 percent growth in net profit for 2016-17, to €6.2 billion ($7.3 billion).

But he had pledged to “soften the blow” by reassigning or retraining workers, a promise the group reiterated Thursday.

“Siemens must gradually ask itself, do we want to remain an integrated technology group, or is it only about pleasing shareholders?” Juergen Wechsler, head of the powerful IG Metall union in Bavaria, told news agency DPA.

The company – whose products range from trains to wind turbines to medical equipment – has already announced some 6,000 job cuts in its wind power unit, sapped by falling prices in major markets like India and the US.

Further site closures and layoffs would be met with “creative forms of resistance,” IG Metall board member Juergen Kerner warned in an interview with WirtschaftsWoche magazine on Wednesday.

Siemens employs around 350,000 people worldwide, with around 115,000 of them in Germany.

'Discontent and doubts'

Germany's poorer eastern states have yet to fully recover from decades of communist mismanagement and an arduous reunification with the west since 1990.

Alongside the closures in Goerlitz and Saxony, almost 900 jobs are set to go in Berlin, while the group is considering selling off a site in Thuringian state capital Erfurt.

Cuts in the east “could stoke the discontent and the doubts” that helped far-right party Alternative for Germany into parliament with 12.6 percent of the vote in September elections, outgoing economy minister Brigitte Zypries wrote in a letter to Kaeser seen by Bild newspaper.

For its part, IG Metall accused Siemens of being “irresponsible” by showing thousands of employees the door while the group as a whole is turning in healthy profits – and by failing to consult closely with workers, as was the norm at big German conglomerates for decades.

The group laid off some 15,000 people in 2013, partly as a consequence of Germany's decision to abandon nuclear energy in favour of renewables.

Under Kaeser's tenure, whole divisions have been abandoned or sold off, including household appliances, telecoms networks and nuclear and solar energy.

Tearing up a 2008 agreement that ruled out layoffs short of an “existential crisis” at the firm “would disquiet colleagues in all of the divisions,” union boss Kerner said, especially when “the group is doing well” overall.

Battling the same headwinds, Siemens' US competitor General Electric on Monday announced a restructuring of its own, with thousands of job cuts around the globe as it narrows its focus to aeronautics, health and energy.

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WORKING IN GERMANY

Which Bavaria-based companies regularly hire English speakers?

Bavaria is no doubt a beautiful state with a strong economy, but can be a hard place for non-German speakers to integrate. The Local takes a look at job opportunities in Germany’s southeastern 'Free State.'

Published: 7 February 2024 10:54 CET
Updated: 10 February 2024 08:20 CET
Which Bavaria-based companies regularly hire English speakers?

Munich ranks third in German cities with the highest total GDP, behind Berlin and Hamburg, but in terms of GDP per capita, it’s higher than both of them.

It also consistently ranks high, often highest, in terms of average household income.

As of 2023, nine of the 40 companies listed on DAX, Germany’s stock index, were based in Bavaria. Seven of those are based specifically in Munich.

While Frankfurt is commonly known to be Germany’s business capital, Munich can claim the title of Germany’s insurance capital, which is saying something, as Germany is home to some of the largest insurance firms in the world, like Allianz.

Beyond the state’s capital city, a number of international companies are based elsewhere in Bavaria, particularly in the Franken region, near Nuremberg.

Which companies actively hire English speakers?

Bavaria, and Munich in particular, is home to a number of companies at the forefront of international business. But the state is known for its traditional, sometimes conservative, culture, which affects its business culture as well.

Whereas companies embracing English as their primary business language are easy to find in Berlin, the practice is less common in the south. That said, there are some notable exceptions. 

Sportswear giants, Adidas and Puma, both have their headquarters near Nuremberg in Herzogenaurach, and regularly recruit English speaking international talent.

“As an international company, our teams reflect the rich diversity of our consumers and communities,” Jon Greenhalgh, Senior Manager Media Relations for Adidas told The Local. “Fostering a culture of inclusion where we value and leverage differences, ensures that we can authentically engage with our employees and truly connect with our consumers.”

He added that around 40 per cent of Adidas’ Germany-based employees are foreign nationals, from over 100 different countries.

Siemens and BMW rank among Bavaria’s top employers, and are also known to hire their fair share of foreigners.

“In Germany, we recently had around 2,000 open positions,” Konstanze Somborn told The Local on behalf of Siemens AG.

He added that Siemens operates in 190 countries. “That is why we value international teams very much…English as a common language is very usual.”

READ ALSO: ‘Which German companies want to hire foreigners?’

Similarly, BMW hires workers from a variety of backgrounds. 

“Every year, we hire lots of internationals and welcome them to the BMW Group,” Dr. Hans-Peter Ketterl, a press spokesman for BMW Group told The Local. 

But not all of these positions are available to non-German speakers.

Ketterl added that BMW’s working language is German in the country, even though, “English is an indispensable entry requirement as the second corporate language in many areas of the company.”

Check job boards and follow best practices

If it’s your first time applying for jobs in Germany, make sure to change your resume to the German format, even for English positions.

While Germany is home to its own job boards, like Xing, LinkedIn is probably the best place to start. In addition to searching for positions based in your preferred location, you can check relevant groups, like Munich Startups, to broaden your horizons.

The English Jobs in Germany website is also a good resource to start with. 

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