Page 124 - Socially-responsible-restructuring-Effective-strategies-for-supporting-redundant-workers

Socially responsible restructuring
Effective strategies for supporting redundant workers

required to possess certain quality credentials, which to date do not accurately
reflect their capacity to provide the requested service.
The Karmann transfer company is supported by the ESF; granting of EGF
support is pending. In Rheine the adviser employment is jointly funded by the
ESF via the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. What is described as a highly
bureaucratic ESF application process diverts efforts away from the actual
counselling activities. Nevertheless, Karmann viewed EU support as very helpful.
BA-ESF funds are essential to the high level and wide scope of the services
offered, raising the budget by up to 400% per employee. The intention is to
continue and extend the harnessing of EU support.

6.6.5. Impact and effects
The average re-employment rate for the three earlier Karmann transfer
companies has been 82.5%, while the rate of the last transfer company, running
throughout 2008, was 60%; this lower value – still comparatively high for a
transfer company – cannot be explained only by the onset of the financial crisis,
since labour markets remained fairly stable far into 2009. The current transfer
company so far has reached re-employment rates of 50% for skilled workers and
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employees in leading positions, and of 30% for unskilled workers ( ).
Silberstreif’s large contact network of possible employers is cited as a reason
why most transfer company leavers are employed directly and not via temporary
work agencies (less than 10%). Even so, most are employed on fixed term
contracts (more than 80%).
The focus on individual counselling is seen as crucial for successful re-
employment. Intensive, structured counselling sessions lead, among other
benefits, to appropriate qualification measures, greatly boosting efficiency by
preventing or drastically reducing misallocation of educational – and therefore
financial and time – resources. Interviewees also stressed the adjustment of
personal advisers to the specific social milieu of their clients; for example, in
terms of clothing and manner of speaking. This leads clients to view their
advisers more as partners than as ‘educators’ and raises acceptance of the new
situation.
According to interviewees, the company management continues to view
transfer companies primarily as an instrument to get employees off the payroll.
This leads to general disinterest in the quality of services offered by the transfer
services provider. Nevertheless, considerations of social responsibility are
sometimes shown as an, albeit secondary, motive. While the management’s
estimate of the overall benefits of the instrument has grown over the last years, it

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( ) Since this transfer company was running at the time, these are preliminary figures.

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