All 21,000 employees – from senior execs to cafeteria workers – will receive the same bonus after a record year of sales.
One of the world’s most prominent car manufacturers is making headlines all over the world after it pledged to give every employee a bonus of more than $13,000.
Porsche AG confirmed this week that it would be awarding employees a bonus of €9,111 – a nod to the car giant’s famous 911 model – following a record year of sales. In 2016, the firm racked up impressive profits of more than $17,000 per car sold.
The bonus is to be split into two components – €8,411 (NZ$12,097) will be paid out for the positive company result and exceptional performance from staff while €700 (NZ$1,006) will be paid as a contribution to employee pension schemes.
Around 21,000 employees are set to benefit from the bonus although Porsche noted it would be adjusted to factor in individual working hours and length of service.
“For Porsche, 2016 was an eventful, emotional and, above all, highly successful year,” said Oliver Blume, chairman of the executive board. “The expertise and passion of our staff forms the basis of a successful future for Porsche.”
Handing out four-figure bonuses isn't new to Porsche and last year, the luxury car giant gave every German employee €8,911 (NZ$12,815) in extra cash.
However, Uwe Hück – chair of the group works council – admitted the bonus did cause some difficulties since Porsche is inextricably linked with both Volkswagen and Audi.
“Negotiating a bonus is never easy,” he said. “However, this time it was particularly difficult to arrive at an outcome. In the end, no one in our large VW family received anywhere near as large a bonus as our employees at Porsche.
“We had to walk a very fine line during the negotiations,” he continued. “On the one hand, supporting the group is very important to me, something that leads to us taking on staff from Audi and Volkswagen. On the other hand, we want to reward our staff for their outstanding achievement. The result was this extraordinary and one-off, but completely justified, bonus. The aim was to show solidarity for colleagues in the group and at the same time to thank the staff at Porsche.”
