- Pragmatic and constructive agreement
- Socially cushioned personnel adjustments without compulsory redundancies
- Improved order situation in the second half of the year
Through constructive cooperation with employee representatives, Koenig & Bauer has been able to implement economically unavoidable cost optimisation measures at Stuttgart-based subsidiary Koenig & Bauer MetalPrint without resorting to compulsory redundancies. Global economic changes and the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic had led to a slump in turnover for the particularly export-oriented company in 2020.
Job reductions were kept to a minimum through a series of measures designed to enable a socially cushioned transition. Most importantly, the introduction of a flexible system to reduce working hours (employment based on collective agreements with appropriate individual adjustments) avoided a situation in which key employees with priceless know-how would have left the company. The agreement gives the company the reassuring certainty that it can react flexibly to short-term turnover fluctuations, while at the same time safeguarding the customary high quality of customer support.
This arrangement was the outcome of countless constructive discussions between management representatives, the trade union IG Metall and the works council. Everyone involved contributed to this result on the basis of respectful, appreciative and open-minded negotiation. Managing director Ralf Hipp says: “By working together and not against each other, we have laid the foundations for a successful and promising future.” Board management spokesman Dr. Andreas Pleßke adds: “COVID-19 is a purely external factor, and so flexibility, common sense and a readiness to compromise were important guidelines for us going into the talks.”
A further indicator for the maximum commitment to jobs is the announcement that all trainees who complete their training this year will receive regular employment contracts. In this way, Koenig & Bauer continues to offer young people interesting career prospects even in economically turbulent times.
“After a difficult first half of the year, we are seeing improvement in the order situation and the global economy is coming back to life. In June, we recorded one of the best figures for incoming orders in the company’s history. This enables us to approach the future with confidence and optimism,” says managing director Pekka Hobbeling.