Page 141 - Socially-responsible-restructuring-Effective-strategies-for-supporting-redundant-workers

Socially responsible restructuring
Effective strategies for supporting redundant workers

international work, which required new skills and activities. In 2007, the TSF
organisation was split into divisions (mobile division, broadband division,
business services, support function) which all report directly to TeliaSonera. This
was meant to optimise resources by creating smaller and more autonomous units
able to match competition, and by streamlining support functions. Given changing
market conditions, planning and forecasting of job bottlenecks and skills needs
are difficult beyond a 6- to 12-month horizon.
In the beginning of 2008, TeliaSonera announced measures to save nearly
500 million Euros, which would include 2 900 redundancies: 2 000 from Sweden
and 900 from Finland. The job profile of the company had been profoundly
transformed over the previous decade as a result of the above restructuring.
Whereas the company was dominated by male engineers and technical
personnel, most of these functions have been outsourced to subsidiaries since
the late 1990s. Only a limited number of staff with this background have been
retained within the company, and this has often entailed accepting new tasks and
developing new competences. The company now has a relatively young
workforce, graduating typically in business management, sales, customer service
and communication. The share of female employees has increased to 43%
today. Job rotation within the firm is widespread and over 1 000 employees
change jobs annually. The sector and company have also been characterised by
a relatively high turnover; about 6.5% of the workforce leave voluntarily every
year. In the current phase of economic downturn, turnover is at about 2%.
A significant alteration in the tasks allocated to an employee as a result of
changing market conditions is a legal ground for dismissals. In the event of
collective dismissals, the law requires the company to consult and negotiate with
employee representatives for two months before a decision is taken on how
many and which employees will be dismissed. The law requires that these
persons get financial compensation in the form of a severance payment
proportionate to their seniority in the firm.
TeliaSonera aims to promote a responsible approach to its restructuring
processes for a number of reasons:
(a) business image: TSF has three million customers in Finland for a total
population of 5.3 million people. Every Finnish person is directly or indirectly
aware, as client, employee or citizen, of TSF activities;
(b) employer image: TSF wants to preserve its image as a good employer in
order to attract experienced employees for new recruitment. Occasionally,
TSF has recruited again employees previously dismissed and it circulates a
list of open vacancies to all former employees every month;

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