Reduction in working hours: Bosch is reducing working hours for employees at headquarters

At the technology group Bosch, employees at the company headquarters now also have to prepare for austerity measures. As of March 1, 2025, 450 employees at several German locations will only work 35 hours per week, a company spokeswoman said. The vast majority of employees work in Gerlingen and Stuttgart. The affected employees currently have contracts that provide for a weekly working time of 38 to 40 hours. With the reduction in working hours, the salary also decreases accordingly. “Stuttgarter Zeitung” and “Stuttgarter Nachrichten” had previously reported on it.

In order to reduce costs, the automotive supplier has recently started shortening working hours at its wholly-owned subsidiary Bosch Engineering. Since October, 2,300 employees there have only been allowed to work 37 hours a week instead of 40. Here too, the shorter working hours are accompanied by a corresponding reduction in salary. The plan is to reduce weekly working hours again by another hour to 36 hours at the turn of the year. By far the largest proportion of employees affected by this work at the Bosch site in Abstatt near Heilbronn.

In recent months, Bosch’s plans to cut jobs worldwide have been announced several times. In total there are more than 7,000 jobs involved. German locations are largely affected – including in areas of the automotive supply division, but also in the tool division and at the household appliance subsidiary BSH. The company had not ruled out further job cuts.

Just a few days ago, Bosch boss Stefan Hartung said at an event hosted by the “Stuttgarter Zeitung” that reducing the working hours of employees with 40-hour contracts was fair. It is better to resort to such means first before cutting jobs. At the same time, he explained that the company stands by employment security contracts, as agreed for the German locations of the automotive division.