Swarovski reduced working hours for 250 employees

250 employees in production will work 80 percent until the end of August, and wages will be reduced to 90 percent. The reason is that orders have been postponed. The “Tiroler Tageszeitung” (TT) reported on Saturday, citing the company and the central works council.

There is a corresponding agreement with the group, Central Works Council Chairwoman Selina Stärz was quoted as saying. Instead of a six-day shift, a five-day model applies to those affected in the areas of grinding, apparatus engineering, finishing and quality assurance. In addition, overtime should be reduced and remaining vacation days should be reduced. The measures are intended to keep jobs. The company says it can “react more quickly and flexibly to constantly changing market conditions”. A total of around 3,000 people are employed in Wattens.

It is not an official “short-time work”, such was not applied for at the AMS Tirol, according to the “TT” report. At the beginning of March, Swarovski reported a ten percent increase in sales in the 2022 financial year. The crystal group achieved sales of 1.83 billion euros. After three years of significant losses, 2022 ended with a “very strong improvement to an almost positive result”, it said. In recent years, Swarovski had had to contend with some turbulence, on the one hand in the group management, on the other hand economically due to the corona pandemic.