BMW recently found itself in an unusual situation. It planned to cut jobs, but to avoid legal issues, it emailed tens of thousands of employees asking whether they would consider taking a payout and leaving, and provided a website where they could register their interest.
After receiving the notice, everyone rushed to the website to see how much they could get, then happily headed for the exit—causing the site to crash under the traffic.
Some long-serving employees could even receive hundreds of thousands of euros.
BMW has now paused the voluntary departure scheme because so many people want to take the money and leave that HR simply can’t process all the applications.
The reason for this round of job cuts and cost-saving measures is quite straightforward: in China, once BMW’s biggest market, fewer and fewer people are buying its cars.
After receiving the notice, everyone rushed to the website to see how much they could get, then happily headed for the exit—causing the site to crash under the traffic.
Some long-serving employees could even receive hundreds of thousands of euros.
BMW has now paused the voluntary departure scheme because so many people want to take the money and leave that HR simply can’t process all the applications.
The reason for this round of job cuts and cost-saving measures is quite straightforward: in China, once BMW’s biggest market, fewer and fewer people are buying its cars.