Siemens ends reduced working hour schemes

Siemens is ending all reduced working-hour arrangements at its facilities in Germany. “The German government’s provision to extend funding for reduced working hour schemes helped us weather a difficult economic phase,” said Walter Huber, head of Human Resources for Germany. “The show of unity on the part of politicians, trade unions and the company enabled us to keep our employees’ expertise at the company. Now demand is on the rise again, and we’re ideally equipped in terms of personnel,” Huber continued.

In June 2009, at the height of the reduced working hour arrangements, some 19,000 Siemens employees were affected. The number of people working shortened hours at the company has steadily declined in recent months, dropping to just 600 in July 2010. The interim measure of cutting back on working hours enabled Siemens to keep the number of employees in Germany stable.  At the beginning of the crisis, in the fall of 2007, Siemens had roughly 126,000 employees in Germany, compared to the current figure of approximately 128,000.

Siemens emerged from the crisis with momentum in the third quarter of fiscal 2010 (end of June). Orders of nearly €21 billion were up 22 percent compared to the prior-year quarter, while revenue rose slightly to just over €19 billion. Total Sectors profit climbed 40 perrcent year-over-year, to a record high of slightly over €2.3 billion.