Siemens to cut 15,000 jobs worldwide by end 2014

BERLIN, Germany – German engineering giant Siemens said Sunday, September 29, it plans to slash 15,000 positions worldwide by late next year as part of a cost-cutting drive, including 5,000 in its home country.

The company aimed for many voluntary redundancies and to redeploy some staff within the vast company, which makes products from gas turbines to rail equipment to health care goods.

“The ongoing and planned workforce adjustments in the context of Siemens 2014 are about 15,000 positions worldwide, of which about 5,000 are in Germany,” the Munich-based company said in a statement.

The “Siemens 2014” drive in total aims to save more than six billion euros ($8.1 billion).

The conglomerate in July appointed Joe Kaeser as the new chief executive, replacing ousted Peter Loescher, days after Siemens had announced its second profit warning in two months.

Of the job cuts in Germany, 2,000 positions would be slashed in the company’s industry division, 1,400 in energy, 1,400 in infrastructure and cities and 200 in the corporate division, the spokesman said.

The steps had been “discussed with all those concerned”, with about half the redundancies to take effect in 2013 and the rest by the end of 2014, he said.

Earlier the Welt am Sonntag newspaper had quoted analysts as expecting about 10,000 job cuts next year.

Siemens has 370,000 employees worldwide, including 119,000 in Germany. – Rappler.com