German automaker Audi has launched a program to temporarily transfer its employees to defense industry enterprises. The company expects to provide work for specialists facing layoffs in the automotive sector, while helping weapons manufacturers cope with a shortage of qualified personnel.
Audi's press service reported this on October 29. Details of the program were published on October 30 by the German public broadcaster BR24.
As part of the initiative, a special job fair was organized on October 29–30 at the Audi plant in Ingolstadt. Representatives of the defense companies Diehl Defence, MBDA and KNDS met with automaker employees to offer them temporary work at their facilities.
More than 2,000 Audi employees registered to attend the event. According to Andreas Zeilzer, head of recruitment at the company, employee interest exceeded expectations. Audi expects that around 400 people will be able to temporarily move to the defense industry.
At the same time, registration at the event does not mean automatic employment. Specific candidates and transfer conditions will be negotiated separately.
The first transfers are planned to begin in 2027. Specialists will be able to work at defense enterprises for two to three years. They will retain their employment relationship with Audi, their previous level of pay, and the right to return to the automaker after the program ends.
Participation is entirely voluntary. The move requires the consent of the employee, Audi and the receiving company. The program is based on a special collective agreement developed with the participation of the German trade union IG Metall.
Defense companies are primarily interested in engineers, quality specialists, project managers and employees from technical development units. According to Audi, about 80% of participants on the first day of the fair were from technical professions.
At the same time, the automaker intends to retain software and electronics specialists mainly in its own workforce, as it needs such personnel for vehicle development.
One of the companies, Diehl Defence, has already announced more than 600 open vacancies. Its CEO Helmut Rauch noted that the company continues to expand and is interested in specialists from the automotive industry.
Another program participant, MBDA Deutschland, is increasing production capacity and headcount. The company develops and manufactures missile weapons. KNDS specializes in armored vehicles, including tanks and other military machines.
The initiative emerged against the backdrop of opposite trends in two sectors of the German economy. Automakers are facing declining demand, costs of technological restructuring and the need to optimize their workforce. At the same time, defense enterprises are expanding production and actively recruiting specialists.
According to BR24, about 691,500 people are currently employed in the German automotive industry. Around 100,000 specialists work in the defense sector. Therefore, even a rapid expansion of weapons production cannot fully compensate for job cuts in the automotive industry.
The program was developed with the participation of the Bavarian Ministry of Economic Affairs, the German Federal Employment Agency and the association of metal and electrical industry employers in the region.
Audi representatives expect that this model will help retain qualified personnel in Bavaria, avoid some layoffs and provide growing companies with the necessary specialists. In the future, other German industrial companies may use a similar approach.
