Restructuring across Germany’s largest companies slowed in Q3 2025, but the pace remains high. According to BCG’s latest Personnel Restructuring Radar, workforce adjustments are becoming less reactive and more strategic. Companies are shifting from short-term cost measures to long-term transformation programs that aim to secure competitiveness in a changing industrial landscape.
The Personnel Restructuring Radar (PRR) is BCG’s quarterly, early-signal analytics tool powered by AI. It tracks workforce restructuring trends across Germany’s corporate sector, capturing both tactical moves and strategic shifts. Updated on a regular cadence, it provides an early view of emerging workforce dynamics and labor market signals.
In Q3, the Radar score held steady at 18 points, reflecting continued but more deliberate restructuring. Personnel cost reductions and site adjustments declined, while social-partner collaboration remained stable. Industrial and automotive firms still lead the activity, though with more selective and sequenced programs.
For the first time, the PRR breaks down workforce actions by sector. Consumer Discretionary and Industrials account for more than three-quarters of announced layoffs, while Financials focus on smaller, negotiated changes. Media coverage tells a similar story: restructuring remains a major theme, now framed as part of modernization and strategic renewal rather than crisis response.
Germany’s workforce transformation continues: less abrupt, more purposeful, and increasingly guided by long-term efficiency and social responsibility.