Germany’s Bayer AG announced on Jan. 17 that it has agreed with employee groups on a plan to cut a “significant” number of jobs as the company looks to streamline operations and improve its performance,” according to Bloomberg.
Bayer is establishing a new worldwide operating model, “Dynamic Shared Ownership” (DSO), that will mean slashing “many managerial employees,” the company said in a statement. The job cuts will begin in the coming months and will be completed by the end of 2025.
Bayer CEO Bill Anderson has repeatedly stressed that Bayer – and most big businesses – are plagued by bureaucratic systems that limit people’s ability to do their jobs well. He said power needs to be pushed down to workers who are closest to customers so that decisions can be made faster and that workers find their jobs more rewarding and fun.
Anderson implemented many of these approaches while head of Roche Holding AG’s pharma division, including getting rid of traditional annual budgeting processes and introducing 90-day cycles where workers are judged on how they spend the company’s resources.
“Bayer is currently in a difficult situation for various reasons,” said Heike Prinz, Bayer’s Labor Director and a member of its Management Board. “Far-reaching measures are necessary.”