With an eye to reducing its staff level in France by between 6% and 7%, 800 to 900 people, this year, Compagnie des Machines Bull SA has announced it will open a period of voluntary departure between May 1 and June 30 (CI No 2,118). It is not the objective of the company to lay people off, but to reduce our costs, it said. Those employees that choose to leave will receive payments in addition to the compensations required by the French government for laid-off employees for a maximum total of 18 months of salary for managers. Bull has put in place some restrictions on which employees can accept the offer, in order to avoid the risk of losing the youngest and most talented staff, a problem experienced at other manufacturers such as IBM Corp. Only salaried employees with five years at Bull can apply for departure, and Bull will limit the numbers to 60% managers and 40% non-managers. And Bull has reserved the right to veto departure requests from those people in vulnerable positions or with sensitive skills. Bull is also asking salaried employees to reduce their work time or to take unpaid leave. According to Les Echos that could not be corroborated with information from Bull, employees that choose the first option will get three months salary for agreeing to reduce their work time for two years. Bull confirmed that those taking unpaid leave will get a bonus proportional to the duration of their absence (three months salary for a year, six months for two years, nine months for three years), but that they will have no guarantee of getting their job back after the leave. Bull will announce its 1992 results on Thursday.
