Page 105 - Socially-responsible-restructuring-Effective-strategies-for-supporting-redundant-workers

Socially responsible restructuring
Effective strategies for supporting redundant workers

after an employee has left the transfer company, no matter whether he has
found a job or not;
(b) peer group meetings bring together a group of colleagues with the same
occupational and qualification background. This allows assessment of
individual progress in finding a new job and developing personal networks;
(c) job application training and assistance with job search are also organised;
(d) advice, counselling and training on business start-up were supported
through specifically developed software. There was high demand for this
service, probably reflecting the relatively high qualification of the workforce;
(e) in job fairs, potential employers were contacted actively and presented with
the transfer company members’ profiles;
(f) internships enabled soon-to-be redundant workers to get to know
prospective employers;
(g) qualification measures covered mainly key competences and foreign
languages, since formal education levels were already relatively high.
Cooperation with the local labour agency (PES) was close, especially in
placement activities and job fairs. While collaboration was defined as fruitful,
interviewees were critical about the efficiency of placement services by PES,
failing to suggest suitable job vacancies. An exception was the public placement
agency for executive positions, located at Frankfurt, which produced a higher
number of successful reintegration cases.
Qualification measures were carried out by external educational institutions
contracted by Train. Since Train’s mother company is an educational institution
itself, it has sound experience in the selection of these external partners.
Business start-up counselling and training was carried out with the assistance
of the University of Ulm, which developed a pedagogical software for the
courses. This accompanies every step in the preparation process, until the actual
start of own business.
ESF support through the Federal Labour Agency (ESF-BA) was comparatively
low, because most qualification measures needed by the participants were not
eligible for this kind of support. ESF funding through the Bavarian State was
higher (exceeding EUR 1 000 000). Considerably more important were the funds
from the European Globalisation Fund (EGF). These supports helped finance
continued counselling for up to five months after employees left the transfer
company, aw well as the peer group activities.
Although the EGF contributions were very important, administrative
procedures associated with it were judged too heavy. Application for funding is
very labour-intensive, decisions on granting support take too much time, and the
preparation and follow-up work of the restructuring process is not financed.

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