BMW to reduce work hours for 26,000 employees

FRANKFURT: Carmaker BMW AG said Tuesday it would reduce the working hours for some 26,000 German employees as part of efforts to slow production amid a deepening economic downturn.

The Munich-based company said management and employee representatives had recently agreed to expand the initiatives to cut production volumes to include shorter work times at selected plants in Germany. It will also cut back the number of temporary workers.

``Safeguarding jobs even in difficult times by using a broad range of flexibility instruments has always been one of our key strengths,'' said Harald Krueger, a human resources director at BMW in a short statement.

``Our wide variety of work schedule models helps us to achieve that. In addition to these measures we are also using a sophisticated combination of flextime accounts, proactive leave planning and temporary short-time working at specific plants. I am confident we will emerge from the current difficult situation stronger than before not least as a result of these measures,'' Krueger said.