Page 108 - Socially-responsible-restructuring-Effective-strategies-for-supporting-redundant-workers

Socially responsible restructuring
Effective strategies for supporting redundant workers

significantly. From 2003, the number of employees in EnergoMont doubled, and
favourable development of the Slovak economy and improvements in the
business environment supported growth of most industrial producers. In 2007,
the company failed to retain the contract with one of its larger customers, and
management of the company decided that the loss of revenue could not be
recovered, at least in the short term. The only viable solution was to resize the
productive capacity of the company, with a projected loss from capacity closure
of 35 employees. There were 53 employees working in the production plant that
was planned to be closed. Most of the workforce holds intermediate vocational
qualifications, but 14% holds university-level qualifications. All redundant
employees from the closed production plant were regular employees with
permanent full-time contracts.
The company does not possess a separate HR department but does have
embedded HR resources. There is no special redundancy policy agreed within
workforce management arrangements. Redundancy procedure follows the legal
and administrative requirements set by the labour code. However, in the mass
layoff of 2008, the company decided to provide redundant employees with
additional assistance through a specially developed outplacement programme,
introduced as an exceptional arrangement for those concerned.

6.3.2. Restructuring and job losses
In December 2007, the company reported planned mass lay-offs to the local
labour office in accordance with administrative requirements set by the labour
code. The company subsequently announced its redundancy plan, including the
outplacement plan, to employees in January 2008. The downsizing process was
intensive and overall took three months from February 2008 to April 2008.
There were no designated safe or secured occupations in the company
downsizing arrangements. Job preservation emphasised employees with higher-
level qualifications and those with very good working performance who were
relocated to the main EnergoMont production plant in Slovakia. The impact of EM
downsizing on other companies is not measurable since the company does not
have any significant supply chain relationships with other designated employers.

6.3.3. Restructuring practices and processes
In Slovakia, this internal outplacement programme was one of the early and rare
examples of career support provided by a private company to redundant
employees. The programme was consequently seen as an innovation in relations
between companies and employees and the labour office was central to its
funding and delivery. Employees who underwent the outplacement admitted that

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