Page 129 - Socially-responsible-restructuring-Effective-strategies-for-supporting-redundant-workers
P. 129

Socially responsible restructuring
                                                          Effective strategies for supporting redundant workers




                        Swedbank also made sure that outsourcing some of its services did not cause
                     unnecessary  job  loss.  It  is currently planning to outsource its telephone bank
                     service to Lattelecom, a telecommunications company, but the agreement has a
                     requirement  that  most current telephone bank employees keep working for
                     Lattelecom on similar employment terms.
                        Support measures offered internally were not differentiated among groups of
                     employees. However, few of Swedbank’s employees could be considered at risk
                     of long-term employment, as they have been highly valued in the labour market.
                     Swedbank has not sought to participate in any European funding programme to
                     improve their internal support to the redundant employees.

                     6.7.4.   Cooperation and external capacity
                     The bank recognised the need of some of the redundant employees for career
                     guidance and counselling. The main beneficiaries  were  long-term  employees,
                     who had not experienced a work-life change of this sort for  many  years.
                     However, others who could not find work immediately chose to use the option
                     two to three months later, when they realised they might need such support; this
                     was not so much to find work as to rethink their lives due to their unemployment.
                        One reason for using an external provider of counselling services was that the
                     redundant employees could choose to attend counselling sessions  when  they
                     needed them most.  Additionally,  regardless of how well the employment
                     termination was prepared and what benefits were offered, many of these former
                     employees feel resentment towards their previous  workplace;  therefore,  it  was
                     important to offer a neutral environment to plan for the future. The bank  itself
                     lacked the specialists to offer such service internally. Moreover, the bank offered
                     an outplacement service for well-performing long-time managers, for whom there
                     was no other position available in the optimised structure.

                     6.7.5.   Impact and effects
                     According to the HRM Director, it has been difficult to assess reintegration in the
                     labour market, as there was no follow-up in place after contract termination. As
                     there has been very little differentiation of support activities among the redundant
                     employees, it is difficult to say which instruments work best.
                        Very solid results were achieved. On  job  preservation,  approximately  400
                     people in the 10 months of 2009 have been retrained to do the work required by
                     the  new  business  environment. These employees changed their profile (a
                     common example, from loan issue specialist to loan restructuring and collection
                     specialist) and never needed to be made redundant.









                                                           123
   124   125   126   127   128   129   130   131   132   133   134