Manroland Sheetfed will return to normal working following a pick-up in orders.
Manroland Sheetfed GmbH, which imposed short-time working on over 800 staff at its headquarters and manufacturing facilities in Germany in January, announced today that it will be back to normal working from May 1st.
The company, which cited a drop off in demand from China for the short time working, says that despite China other markets have picked up sufficiently such that for the time being at least, normal hours working can be resumed.
A spokesman for the company said:
"Short-time working is just one of the tools at the company's disposal to match supply with demand. We will use other measures to avoid short-time working wherever possible, but in this case over capacity was unavoidable without it".
Apprentices and their trainers were exempted from the short-time measure, which was originally planned to be in effect until the end of June this year.
About Kurzarbeit
"Kurzarbeit", literally "short-time", is a form of government work subsidy in Germany in which employers are permitted to cut working time with employees placed on the scheme receiving between 60 and 67 percent of their net foregone wage from the German Federal Employment Agency. Employers also receive benefits from the social insurance through the scheme. Before the financial crisis companies in Germany could access subsidised short time working for up to 6 months and in June 2009 it was temporarily extended to up to 24 months for the rest of that year, although the scheme has since returned to 6 months. The short-term work instrument has been touted as one of the most efficient economic measures during and since the crisis.
Comment
While many countries are struggling with economic recovery, Germany seems to have a successful strategy that has put them in a good place for long term economic providence.
During the recession Germany implemented a controversial move to save the jobs of its highly skilled workers by funding companies to keep them employed while orders were down. The strategy, known as Kurzarbeit, has proved to be a resounding German success story.
The idea behind is to preserve the most vital asset of companies like Manroland Sheetfed, i. e. their highly skilled workers. These workers represent a large investment in long-term thinking businesses that are now ready to produce high quality products as exports begin to pick up.
Meanwhile the company has been keeping its head above water. According to its parent company, the British industrial group Langley Holdings PLC, Manroland Sheetfed has returned over €40 million since the business was acquired in January 2012.
www.manrolandsheetfed.com
