MILAN Luxury sportscar maker Ferrari said on Monday it would hire 250 people in the first six months of next year and announced progammes for workers including a new share ownership plan and an enhanced bonus scheme.

The announcement comes after workers' strikes halted operations at several North American plants of Stellantis, GM and Ford between September and October, and as Stellantis is reducing its workforce in Italy through voluntary redundancy plans.

Half of the new hires Ferrari announced are expected in January, the Italian company said in a statement. Ferrari has more than 5,000 employees, most of whom are in Italy.

The group said it would launch an employee share ownership plan in the early months of 2024, starting with its employees in Italy. Each employee will receive shares in the company worth up to a maximum of 2,065 euros ($2,208) free of charge.

Employees keeping the shares for at least 36 months will receive additional shares worth up to 15% of the value of the initial allocation.

The plan will be serviced by treasury shares and will be extended to Ferrari's employees outside Italy in the following months.

As part of the initiatives announced on Monday, the company also signed an agreement with the FIM, UILM and FISMIC unions to renew a competitiveness award scheme for its employees in Italy for the 2024-2027 period.

Based on the new deal the annual competitiveness bonus could theoretically top 17,000 euros, up from a maximum 13,500 euros for 2022 and 12,000 euros for 2021.

Employees will be able to voluntarily convert part of their bonus into Ferrari shares, for up to 3,000 euros.

($1 = 0.9354 euros)

(Reporting by Giulio Piovaccari; Editing by Jan Harvey)