Volkswagen Group is offering €900 million ($936 million) worth of buyouts to its German employees to cut down its hulking bureaucracy.
Long-standing administration workers in the country will get a €50,000 ($53,302) premium if they decide to end their contracts early, according to an internal document seen by Bloomberg.
Employees have until the end of May to register for the bonus, which is paid on top of a severance package determined by pay grade and time spent at the company.
The provision for the buyouts will be made in the current quarter, Chief Financial Officer Arno Antlitz said Tuesday.
“We aim to compensate for those effects in the full year,” Antlitz said on a call discussing quarterly earnings.
The move is part of a push by VW’s namesake brand to lift returns and challenge Stellantis and more nimble Chinese competitors.
VW’s human resources chief Gunnar Kilian said late last year that the automaker would need to reduce its indirect personnel costs by 20 percent in order to reach the goal.
