Nokia offering Voluntary Resignation Packages

Only for the first 1,000 Nokia employees — the Finnish company is offering voluntary resignation packages to about 1,000 of its employees globally including encouraging them to go on sabbaticals in an effort to reduce more cost.

This according to a press release sent out yesterday:

The global Voluntary Resignation Package will be made available for employees worldwide, with the exception of direct labour and senior executives. The terms and conditions of the package are in accordance with local practices and legislation. The Voluntary Resignation Package will be open for application from March 1 until 1,000 employees have applied, closing at the latest May 31, 2009.

During 2009, Nokia will also grant short-term unpaid leaves and sabbaticals of, for example, one month, more freely where operations allow and business continuity is not jeopardized. Furthermore, during 2009 the company will also encourage employees not to “cash in” their holiday but to take their holiday as time off, as it is intended.

The Voluntary Resignation Packages is a nice way of saying “resign or we’ll put you on the redundancy program”. Not sure if any employee will bite this but if the package has a nice lump sum in it and a glowing recommendation letter, enterprising people might just grab it while it’s hot.